henry rearden

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.