Self-taught people are also called autodidacts. Below is a list of some of the most notable autodidacts.
Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall is one of the most successful self-taught people in the world. She is a prominent Primatologist. She holds a doctorate degree but she achieved a lot before she attained her college degree. She was selected to study primates in the wild due to her lack of formal training to avoid any academic bias in the research findings.
Ernest Hemingway
Earnest Hemingway was one of America’s most celebrated writers. He was the author of Old Man, For Whom the Bells Toll and The Sun Also Rises. He skipped college with an intention of learning from experience. He received a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
Nazir Naji
Nazir Naji is a leading columnist in Pakistan Urdu and an intellectual who is popular for his writing prowess. It is alleged that he never attended any formal school due to the abject poverty of his parents. He has served as a journalist for over half a century. He even served as speech writer for Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sir Terry Pratchett
Sir Terry Prachett is a writer of children’s books, science fiction and fantasy. He never completed A-levels or even attended university.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain was a self-taught writer. He was regarded to be the father of American literature.
August Wilson
August Wilson was a school dropout who continued learning by spending many hours in at the Pittsburg’s Carnegie Library reading books.
George Bernanrd Shaw
George Bernard Shaw dropped out of school to become e a clerk at an estate company. He always compared schools to prison .
Louis L’Amour
Louis L’Amour is the author who left his home as a kid to work and educate himself.
Ray Bradbury
Ray was an author of horror, mystery and science fiction novels. He graduated from high school but never attended college. He was raised by libraries. He went to the library three days a week for 10 years.
Other autodidacts are:
George Orwell, Ron Hubbard, Maxim Gorky, Mukul Deva, Gert Verhulst, Frank Zappa is a musician who advocated for people educating themselves in libraries.
Steven Spielberg dropped out of college but later became a famous filmmaker.
Mikhail Krichman became a prominent Russian cinematographer. He taught himself by reading technical books, watching movies and magazines.
Robert Lewis was a radio producer and writer
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor as well as businessman.
Nikola Tesla was an inventor of alternating current. He never graduated from University.
Konstatin Tsiolkovsky was a self-taught Soviet Rocket Scientist. He was not admitted to elementary schools because he had a hearing problem. He went a head and taught himself.
Henry Ford, billionaire founder of Ford Motor Company never attended college.
Elon Musk is self-taught in rocket science.
Francis Hedgeworth was a self-taught economist.
Hermann Grassmann was a self-taught polymath.
Michael Faraday was a Chemist and Physicist who was self-taught. He was one of the best experimentalists in science.
Jane Jacobs was a writer in economics, city planning and sociology.
Antonnie van Leewenhoek was a cloth merchant who developed the most powerful microscope which he used to make great biological discoveries. He is regarded to be the father of Microbiology.
Karl Marx spent over 10 years in a British Library acquiring education.
R.G. LeTourneau was a self-taught engineer who invented many technologies in earth moving equipment. Alaska Highway in Canada was constructed using his equipment. During his lifetime he secured 299 patents.
John Smeaton was the first Civil Engineer. He was self-taught.
James Watt was a Scottish Inventor and Chemist. He improved the performance of the steam engine.
Eminem is a self-taught musician and one of the best-selling music artiste of all time. He spent 3 years in grade 9 due to poor grades and truancy. He dropped out of Lincoln High School.
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