1934: William F. Sharpe is born in Boston. He goes on to develop many of the principles of modern finance, including the Capital Asset Pricing Model (which implies that broad diversification and index funds offer the best blend of risk and return) beta (a measure of volatility) and the Sharpe ratio (which compares risk and reward). Sharpe shares the 1990 Nobel Prize in economics.

1903: Henry Ford launches the Ford Motor Co. in a refurbished wagon factory in Detroit, with $28,000 raised from 12 investors, including a coal dealer, a carpenter, and a man who made windmills.

1812: The State of New York charters a new institution called City Bank of New York, capitalized at $2 million, with $800,000 already raised. Today it's a global behemoth called Citigroup.