Carnegie emigrated to the United States with his very poor parents in 1848.

Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe.

He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million (the equivalent of approximately $13.6 billion today), creating the U.S. Steel Corporation.
Carnegie devoted the rest of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research.

With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall, and founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others.

His life has often been referred to as a true rags to riches story.