Mikhail Koshkin
Engineer
Russian engineer who designed what became the famed T-34 tank.
He started out as a candy maker before studying engineering.
His T-34 models were arguably the best tanks of WWII after the Tiger tank.
His father died in a timber cutting accident when Mikhail was seven.
In WWII his T-34s battled German Tiger tanks designed by Ferdinand Porsche, who later started his eponymous car line.