Henry Rearden is one of the main protagonist in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Rearden is an industrialist and a "man of the mind."
Rearden began working at an ore
mine at fourteen years
old. For the next sixteen years, Henry Rearden disregarded weariness, and became an expert in metallurgy.
When Rearden was thirty years
old, he bought the ore
mine that he worked at. The
mine had nearly been closed down, but under his management, it flourished.
Later in life, Rearden bought an abandoned steel mill. Ten years later, he produced the first pour of Rearden Metal, a
new product that was stronger and lighter than steel.
Rearden Metal became very
popular, and as a result, it was stolen from its maker. The rights to Rearden Metal were taken away from Mr. Rearden in the name of the "people."
Seeing as how Mr. Rearden was no altruist, he did not like that one
bit. He joined the strike with John Galt, and he gave a big middle finger to the commies.