Maya Lin had an early start. Lin’s design has become so celebrated that it’s easy to forget how young she was when she first proposed it. The national contest to design a Vietnam memorial drew ...

Lin won a national contest to design the Vietnam memorial in 1981 when she was a 21-year-old senior at Yale University. Lin designed the memorial as part of a class project.

Lin won a national contest to design the Vietnam memorial in 1981 when she was a 21-year-old senior at Yale University. Lin designed the memorial as part of a class project.

The design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was controversial. The names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial aren’t hand-carved. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication ceremony took nearly a week.

Vietnam veteran Verlin Maglitz of Jacksonville, Ill., takes a rubbing of those he fought with in Vietnam during his visit to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, Friday, May 25, 2012.

Sculptor and architect Maya Lin is best known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, D.C., but modern viewers may not know about her rise to prominence and the ...