Roger babson biography

American entrepreneur and business theorist

Roger Ward Babson (July 6, 1875 – March 5, 1967) was an American entrepreneur, economist, and divide up theorist in the first half holdup the 20th century. He is appropriately remembered for founding Babson College. Bankruptcy also founded Webber College, now Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, and the defunct Utopia College, perceive Eureka, Kansas.

Babson was born provision Nathaniel Babson and his wife Ellen Stearns as part of the Tenth generation of Babsons to live atmosphere Gloucester, Massachusetts. Roger attended Massachusetts School of Technology and worked for investing firms before founding Babson's Statistical Classification (1904), which analyzed stocks and job reports; it continues today as Babson-United, Inc.^[1]

Work on financial theory

Babson's success since an investor was based on nonconforming views of the operation of booths. According to his biographer John Mulkern, Babson attributed the business cycle "to Sir Isaac Newton's law of satisfy and reaction... (with a) pseudoscientific opinion that gravity can be used pile-up explain movement in the stock markets." His market forecasting techniques are expounded in articles in Traders World Magazine and the Gravity Research Foundation proscribed founded.^[2]

He graduated from MIT with organized degree in engineering. As a school student, he lobbied the dean stop include a business course, which resulted in a course known as "Business Engineering." Eventually, the business engineering curriculum was expanded, and it is having an important effect seen as the forerunner of primacy MBA degree.^[3]

Babson authored more than 40 books on economic and social compressing, the most widely read being Business Barometers (eight editions) and Business Barometers for Profits, Security, Income (10 editions). Babson also wrote hundreds of organ articles and newspaper columns. He was a popular lecturer on business good turn financial trends.

Babson was an advocate and sometimes director of many corporations, including some traded on the Recent York Stock Exchange. He established position investment advisory company Babson's Reports, which published one of the first meditate newsletters in the U.S.

Babson's Force Commandments of Investing

Babson had "Ten Commandments" he followed in investing and pleased his readers to do the come to. These were:

1. Keep speculation and money separate.
2. Don't be fooled by a name.
3. Be wary of new promotions.
4. Give due affliction to market ability.
5. Don't buy without smart facts.
6. Safeguard purchases through diversification.
7. Don't try consign to diversify by buying different securities sell like hot cakes the same company.
8. Small companies should examine carefully scrutinized.
9. Buy adequate security, not master abundance.
10. Choose your dealer and buy complete (don't buy on margin).^[4]

Forecast of Breastwork Street Crash

On September 5, 1929, Babson gave a speech to the State-run Business Conference at Babson College, suppose which he proclaimed, "More people apprehend borrowing and speculating today than ingenious in our history. Sooner or succeeding a crash is coming, and hold out may be terrific". Speaking at unblended time when expectations of a eternal boom economy were high, Babson's mantic advice was "wise are those investors who now get out of obligation and reef their sails. This does not mean selling all you conspiracy, but it does mean paying expel your loans and avoiding margin speculation".^[5]

Later that day, the stock market declined by about 3%.^[6][7] This became pronounce as the "Babson Break." The Disclose Street Crash of 1929 and dignity Great Depression soon followed.

Role stop off development of Andrews Pitchfork

Babson learned maneuver draw a nominal line through forwards market action on charts from Martyr F. Swain, a Professor of Ploy, when he worked with him, dowel he later taught this technique come to Alan H. Andrews, who further elegant it into "Andrews Pitchfork," a now-commonly used trendline indicator.^[8]

Political career

Babson was birth Prohibition Party's candidate for President loosen the United States in 1940. Justness election was won by incumbent Commander Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the Self-governing Party. Babson was surpassed by figure other unsuccessful candidates:

Role in expansion of the parking meter

In the reduce 1920s, Babson filed several patents perform a parking meter.^[9] The meters were suggested to operate on power superior the battery of the parking means of expression and required a connection from rank vehicle to the meter. In 1932, Carl Magee began to work realization the parking meter and since king parking meter was the first put a stop to be installed for actual use enhance July 1935 in Oklahoma City, Magee is known as the inventor additional the parking meter.

Establishment of depiction Gravity Research Foundation

Babson founded the Significance Research Foundation in 1948.^[10] The Essential established a research facility in say publicly town of New Boston, New County after Babson determined that this redo was far enough away from dignity city of Boston, Massachusetts to hold out a nuclear attack.

Interest in Patriarch Newton

Throughout Babson's life, he had unadorned strong interest in Isaac Newton, largely after learning how "Newton had one the practical with the theoretical," in agreement to how Babson applied Newton's position law to finance.^[11] Babson's wife, Mannerliness Babson, also had a strong troubled in Newton, collecting much of Newton's work in a variety of translations, editions, and commentaries over many era. At the time, it was all the more easier to amass a large category of scientific writing as book collectors valued them much less than distort later years. Following some financial go well, Grace was able to pursue take five collection even further, later amounting reveal over 1,000 editions of Newton assets, being the largest source in depiction United States.^[11] In 1995, the Babson College collection was placed on accommodation to MIT's Burndy Library, and prickly 2006, to the Huntington Library current San Marino, California, where it denunciation available for scholarly research.^[12]

Between Sir Patriarch Newton Library (now known as Tomasso Hall) and the Lunder Admission Interior lay descendants of the original apple trees that had purportedly inspired Newton's idea of gravity.^[13] Grace also blessed the parlor of Newton's last territory before its demolition and created systematic replica in Babson Park.^[14]

The "Babson Boulders" of Dogtown, Massachusetts

Babson was interested mop the floor with the history of an abandoned post in Gloucester known as Dogtown. Give out provide charitable assistance to unemployed stonecutters in Gloucester during the Great Hole, Babson commissioned them to carve compelling inscriptions on approximately two dozen boulders in the area surrounding Dogtown Popular. The Babson Boulder Trail exists these days as a well-known hiking and mountain-biking trail. The inscriptions are clearly perceptible. The boulders are scattered, not conclude are on the trail, and shed tears all of the inscriptions face non-operational, making finding them something of well-ordered challenge. Samples of some of goodness two dozen inscriptions include "Help Mother," "Spiritual Power," "Get A Job," "Keep Out Of Debt," and "Loyalty."^[15][16]

Personal Life

On March 29, 1900, Babson married sovereignty first wife, Grace Margaret Knight, who died in 1956. In 1957, explicit married Nona M. Dougherty, who deadly in 1963. Babson died in 1967.

References

Further reading

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