Blog Post #8

The first part of this section was very disheartening and uninspirational. This was a time when Mortenson spant months trying to follow up with his promise, but had just barely enough money to live off of. He was sending out letters to people with money that seemed willing to  help with the trip and the school. The whole time he was painstakingly writing letters to each person individually (he was computer illiterate) until he came across a man at a copying shop that helped him. The man found out his reason for needing to write so many letters and was touched because he came from a village near to the one Mortenson working to help and had the same hardships living there. Mortenson seemed to be almost envious of a man that did nearly the same thing, but instantly gained endless support and sponsorships, Sir Edmund Hillary.  

Unfortunately, none responded except for Tom Brokaw who only gave a hundred. After months a rich man, Jean Hoerni, who discovered the silicon chip contacted Mortenson about wanting to support him. This man made hundreds of millions for selling his discovery to companies such as Intel. I looked him up and he is very famous for the discoveries he made. http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1959-invention-of-the-planar-manufacturing-process-24.html  Hoerni asked the aount he needed and Mortenson said 12 grand, Hoerni was amazed by how little, while others would be astounded by the amount.