What Have You Accomplished? (Part 1)
At Age 21:
- English chemist Humphry Davy discovered nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”), and suggested that it may have use as an anesthetic.
- College dropout Steven Jobs co-founded Apple Computer.
- French mathematician Evariste Galois developed group theory (and many other theorems) before his death at the age of 21.
- John Singleton directed his first film, “Boyz ‘N the Hood.”
- Orson Welles produced and performed his “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast, terrifying millions of people. He also got his face on the cover of Time Magazine.
- Francois-Louis Cailler manufactured the world’s first eating chocolate to be commercially produced.
- By this age, Charles Chaplin had appeared in 35 films.
- P. T. Barnum bought a “160-year-old” slave woman and began a career in show business.
- Bavarian painter Aloys Senefelder invented the lithograph.
- Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.
- Ernest Hemingway published his first novel, The Sun Also Rises.
- Memphis millionaire Frederic W. Smith, whose father built the Greyhound bus system, founded Federal Express.
- The Buddha decided to renounce the world and abandon family and possessions. Seven years later, he realized this brought him no closer to the wisdom he sought.
- Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first complete sentence by telephone.
- British physician Thomas Wedgwood produced the first photograph.
- Eli Terry produced clocks with interchangeable parts. He also introduced the free-trial, no-money-down sales method.
- Gregory Pincus achieved in-vitro fertilization of rabbits. Later he invented the birth control pill.
- Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic alone.
- Successful merchant Cyrus West Field retired at age 33 to devote himself to laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his essay, “Nature,” encouraging readers to see the miraculous in the common.
- Frederic William Herschel, an English astronomer, invented the contact lens.
- Amedeo Avogadro developed Avogadro’s hypothesis.
- Margie Profet proposed a new theory of menstruation which claims that menstruation protects against infection and won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.
Next week we’ll spotlight all the even ages from 22 to 34! So stay tuned for Part 2.