Use of nickel (as a natural meteoric nickelâiron alloy) has been traced as far back as 3500 BCE. Nickel was first isolated and classified as a chemical element in 1751 by Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who initially mistook the ore for a copper mineral.
One of the most powerful bankers of his era, J.P. (John Pierpont) Morgan (1837-1913) financed railroads and helped organize U.S. Steel, General Electric and other major corporations.
From 1938 to 1968, Fannie Mae held a virtual monopoly on the secondary mortgage market. When Fannie Mae was made into a private corporation in 1968, the government wanted to provide competition in the mortgage market, and so founded the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or Freddie Mac, in 1970.