George Washington Carver — Scientist · Educator · 1864–1943
He gave his genius away on purpose.
Born into slavery, Carver became the scientist who saved Southern soil — teaching crop rotation and coaxing hundreds of uses from the peanut and sweet potato. He refused to patent nearly all of it: *"God gave them to me. How can I sell them to someone else?"*
3 U.S. patents · a fortune in discoveries he never charged for.