HERBERT SPENCER

Herbert Spencer became a hero to industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who judged his steel business the apotheosis of survival of the fittest. But on a visit in 1882, the sage of social Darwinism proved a great disappointment to Carnegie. The heat, noise, and pollution of Pittsburgh reduced Spencer to near collapse, and he could only choke out, "Six months' residence here would justify suicide." Hulton Archives/Getty Images.