Ralph Nelson Elliott, the founder of the Wave Theory, was born on July 28, 1871, in Marysville, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.  

In 1891, at the age of 20, Elliott left home to work for a railroad company in Mexico. Around 1896, he began his career as an accountant. Over the next 25 years, Elliott worked for many companies (primarily railroads) across Mexico, Central America, and South America. Later, he fell seriously ill in Guatemala and retired in 1927. After retirement, he returned to his hometown in California to recuperate. It was during this extended period of recovery that he developed his theory of stock market behavior. He believed the Wave Theory was a necessary complement to Dow Theory.  

In 1934, Elliott contacted Charles J. Collins, then an editor of a stock market newsletter at an investment advisory firm, and shared his discoveries. By 1938, Collins was thoroughly convinced and helped Elliott launch his Wall Street career, agreeing to publish *The Wave Principle*. Collins also recommended Elliott as an editor for *Financial World* magazine.  

In 1939, Elliott published 12 articles in the magazine to meticulously promote his theory. In 1946, two years before his death, he completed his magnum opus on the Wave Theory, *Nature's Law—The Secret of the Universe*.  

*"After experiencing many unimaginable and unpredictable economic cycles—such as depressions, crashes, post-war reconstruction, and booms—I found Elliott's Wave Theory to be remarkably aligned with the pulse of real economic development. I have great confidence in the analytical and predictive power of the Elliott Wave Theory."* — *The Elliott Wave Principle—A Critical Appraisal*  

If I were to select the most valuable discovery of the 20th century, I would choose the *Elliott Wave Theory*. It is essentially a 'mathematical expression model' approximating the natural laws of fluctuation. Fundamentally, it operates on a different level compared to other stock market analysis methods. If illustrated as a set, it would resemble Figure 1. In fact, it might have been sheer luck that Ralph Nelson Elliott, during his three-year convalescence, discovered what we now call the 'Wave Theory' through meticulous study of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Much like the 'golf ball landing problem,' we may never know exactly how Elliott made this discovery—it can only be attributed to his extraordinary luck.