Born in Dumfermline, Scotland, Andrew Carnegie was poor as a child and received only a limited education. In 1848 he moved to the United States, where he worked in a cotton factory and in a telegraph office in Pennsylvania. Later he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad and soon became its superintendent. In the early 1860s he entered the iron and steel business and formed his own company. Carnegie became chief owner of the Homestead Steel Works in 1888 and established Carnegie Steel in 1889. In 1901 Carnegie Steel merged with United States Steel Corporation. That same year, Carnegie began to distribute much of his wealth for the betterment of society. He founded the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh in 1900 and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., in 1902. Carnegie financed the Temple of Peace at The Hague, Netherlands, in 1903. He established the Carnegie Hero Funds in the United States in 1904 and in Great Britain in 1908 and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 1905. He also made large contributions for the establishment of public libraries. Between his retirement in 1901 and his death in 1919, Carnegie donated about $350 million to charitable causes.
