[dswilkerson]

Benjamin Franklin. Went from being a runaway boy to the only person to sign all four documents of the founding of the United States. He dropped out of second grade and taught himself math and reading/writing. He says in his autobiography how he taught himself to write: just rote copying of other people's writing.

His family was not wealthy, but he did have a solid upbringing in a stable family and knew a trade at the professional level by the age of 17, plus has apprenticed at several other trades. He says that his apprenticeship at many trades helped his ability to do science as he could build the experiments himself without asking for help.