Michael Stonebraker is a prodigy in this field. He did something very rare - he took a concept deep within the academia and made it a blockbuster product in the real world.
The man writes small databases for fun over a weekend, I mean, come on.
His interview on Software Engineering Radio is still one of the best episodes I have listened to. Decades of wisdom, right there:
https://www.se-radio.net/2013/12/episode-199-michael-stonebr...