James Dyson

Frustrated with his family's vacuum, Dyson set out to invent a better version in 1978 using a cyclone to lift dirt.

Dyson employs more than 5,800 engineers around the world and says it invests about $10 million a week in product development.

In 2019 Dyson scrapped plans to build electric cars after telling staff they were not commercially viable.

Dyson, who attended art school in London, does not have an engineering degree.

Dyson's popular line of intelligent air purifiers claims to have used the data to create the most accurate picture of indoor air quality worldwide.