America’s #1 patriot and the people he doesn’t want here.

Name

Birthplace / Background

Contribution

Albert Einstein

Germany; Jewish

Relativity, quantum theory, photoelectric effect; transformed modern physics. Remained in America after 1933 and became a U.S. citizen in 1940.

Leo Szilard

Hungary; Jewish

Conceived the nuclear chain reaction; helped initiate U.S. atomic research; later advocated arms control and contributed to molecular biology.

John von Neumann

Hungary; Jewish family

Foundational work in mathematics, quantum mechanics, computing, game theory, nuclear science, and weather prediction.

Eugene Wigner

Hungary; Jewish family

Nobel physicist; nuclear theory and reactor design; key wartime scientific work in America.

Edward Teller

Hungary; Jewish

Nuclear physics, national laboratories, and U.S. defense science.

Stanislaw Ulam

Poland; Jewish

Mathematics, nuclear research, the Monte Carlo method, and early digital computation.

Theodore von Kármán

Hungary; Jewish family

Aerodynamics, rocketry, jet propulsion, and cofounding of what became NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Isidor Isaac Rabi

Austria-Hungary; Jewish

Nobel-winning magnetic-resonance research; groundwork for atomic clocks and MRI.

Emilio Segrè

Italy; Jewish

Nobel physicist; discovered technetium and antiproton; contributed to nuclear physics.

Bruno Rossi

Italy; Jewish

Pioneer of cosmic-ray and X-ray astronomy; helped create modern space science.

Felix Bloch

Switzerland; Jewish

Nobel-winning nuclear magnetic resonance, essential to MRI.

Walter Kohn

Austria; Jewish

Nobel-winning density-functional theory, central to chemistry and materials science.

Arno Penzias

Germany; Jewish refugee

Codiscovered cosmic microwave background radiation, major evidence for the Big Bang.

Polykarp Kusch

Germany; Jewish ancestry

Nobel-winning measurement of the electron’s magnetic moment.

Otto Stern

Germany; Jewish

Nobel-winning molecular-beam research and the Stern–Gerlach experiment.

Dennis Gabor

Hungary; Jewish family

Invented holography; Nobel Prize in Physics.

Roald Hoffmann

Poland; Jewish Holocaust survivor

Nobel-winning explanations of chemical reactions; major teacher and writer on chemistry.

Selman Waksman

Russian Empire (now Ukraine); Jewish

Discovered streptomycin and helped establish systematic antibiotic research.

Albert Sabin

Russian Empire (now Poland); Jewish

Developed the oral polio vaccine used worldwide.

Salvador Luria

Italy; Jewish

Nobel-winning bacterial genetics; helped establish molecular biology.

Rita Levi-Montalcini

Italy; Jewish

Nobel-winning discovery of nerve growth factor; spent decades conducting research in the United States.

Baruj Benacerraf

Venezuela; Sephardic Jewish family

Nobel-winning discoveries concerning genetic regulation of immune responses.

César Milstein

Argentina; Jewish

Nobel-winning development of monoclonal antibodies; worked for periods in the United States, though chiefly associated with Britain.

Chaim Weizmann

Russian Empire; Jewish

Chemist whose fermentation process aided Allied acetone production; worked and lectured extensively with American institutions.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

India; Hindu family

Nobel astrophysicist; explained stellar evolution and the Chandrasekhar limit.

Har Gobind Khorana

British India; Hindu family

Nobel-winning deciphering of the genetic code; synthesized artificial genes.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

India; Hindu background

Nobel-winning work on ribosome structure; conducted important research in the United States before moving to Britain.

Narinder Singh Kapany

India; Sikh

Pioneer of fiber optics, making modern telecommunications and medical endoscopy possible.

Kalpana Chawla

India; Hindu

Aerospace engineer and NASA astronaut; first woman of Indian origin in space.

Fazlur Rahman Khan

British India (now Bangladesh); Muslim

Revolutionized skyscraper engineering; designed the structural systems of the Sears Tower and John Hancock Center.

Ahmed Zewail

Egypt; Muslim background

Nobel-winning femtochemistry; showed chemical reactions on femtosecond timescales.

Aziz Sancar

Turkey; Muslim background

Nobel-winning discoveries about DNA repair.

Elias Zerhouni

Algeria; Muslim background

Medical-imaging researcher; Director of the National Institutes of Health.

Ayub Ommaya

British India (now Pakistan); Muslim

Neurosurgeon; invented the Ommaya reservoir for delivering medication to the brain and spinal fluid.

Nergis Mavalvala

Pakistan; Parsi/Zoroastrian

Astrophysicist central to gravitational-wave detection at LIGO; MIT dean.

Tsung-Dao Lee

China; Chinese non-Christian cultural background

Nobel-winning discovery that parity is not conserved in weak interactions; long career at Columbia University.

Chen-Ning Yang

China; Chinese non-Christian cultural background

Nobel physicist; parity violation and Yang–Mills theory.

Chien-Shiung Wu

China; Chinese non-Christian cultural background

Experimental physicist whose Wu experiment established parity violation; major Manhattan Project contributor.

Yuan T. Lee

Taiwan; Chinese traditional background

Nobel-winning chemical dynamics research; major career at Berkeley.

Flossie Wong-Staal

China; Chinese cultural background

First scientist to clone HIV and establish the role of HIV in AIDS.

Min Chueh Chang

China; Chinese cultural background

Reproductive biologist whose research helped produce the oral contraceptive pill and modern in-vitro fertilization.

An Wang

China; Chinese cultural background

Computer engineer; invented magnetic-core memory devices and founded Wang Laboratories.

Qian Xuesen

China; Chinese cultural background

Helped establish American jet propulsion and rocket science before being deported to China; important example of American gain followed by American loss.

Shing-Tung Yau

China; Buddhist family background

Fields Medalist; transformed differential geometry and mathematical physics during a long U.S. academic career.

Terence Tao

Australia; Chinese family background

Immigrated to the United States; Fields Medalist whose work spans analysis, number theory, and combinatorics.

Katalin Karikó

Hungary; reportedly secular upbringing

Immigrated to the United States and pioneered messenger-RNA technology underlying effective COVID-19 vaccines.

Name

Birthplace / Background

Contribution

Sergey Brin

Soviet Union; Jewish

Cofounded Google; transformed access to information and internet advertising.

Andrew Grove

Hungary; Jewish Holocaust survivor

Helped build Intel and the modern semiconductor industry.

Jan Koum

Soviet Ukraine; Jewish

Cofounded WhatsApp, expanding inexpensive worldwide communication.

George Soros

Hungary; Jewish

Investment management, support for democratic institutions, education, public health, and civil society worldwide.

Levi Strauss

Bavaria; Jewish

Founded Levi Strauss & Co.; helped create durable mass-market work clothing and a lasting American industry.

David Sarnoff

Russian Empire; Jewish

Led RCA and helped develop American radio and television broadcasting.

Samuel Goldwyn

Russian Empire (now Poland); Jewish

Major film producer; helped build the American motion-picture industry.

Louis B. Mayer

Russian Empire; Jewish

Cofounded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and helped establish Hollywood’s studio system.

Max Factor

Russian Empire (now Poland); Jewish

Developed modern cosmetics and makeup adapted to film, photography, and mass markets.

Helena Rubinstein

Poland; Jewish

Built an international cosmetics company and became a major patron of art and philanthropy.

Joseph Pulitzer

Hungary; Jewish family

Newspaper publisher; established the Pulitzer Prizes and helped finance Columbia’s journalism school.

Vinod Khosla

India; Hindu

Cofounded Sun Microsystems; major venture-capital investor in technology and clean energy.

Sundar Pichai

India; Hindu family

Led Google and Alphabet, among the world’s most consequential technology companies.

Satya Nadella

India; Hindu family

Led Microsoft’s cloud-computing transformation and renewed its technological competitiveness.

Indra Nooyi

India; Hindu

Led PepsiCo; prominent corporate strategist.

Sabeer Bhatia

India; Hindu

Cofounded Hotmail, one of the first major webmail services.

Ajay Banga

India; Sikh

Led Mastercard’s global expansion; later became president of the World Bank.

Shahid Khan

Pakistan; Muslim

Built a major automotive-parts company; prominent employer, sports owner, and philanthropist.

Hamdi Ulukaya

Turkey; Kurdish Muslim background

Founded Chobani; expanded American yogurt manufacturing and refugee employment.

Pierre Omidyar

France; Iranian family; Bahá’í background

Founded eBay; major philanthropist.

Anousheh Ansari

Iran; Muslim cultural background

Technology entrepreneur, philanthropist, and first Iranian-born person in space.

Dara Khosrowshahi

Iran; Muslim family background

Business executive who led Expedia and Uber.

Jensen Huang

Taiwan; Chinese/Taiwanese non-Christian family background

Cofounded NVIDIA; central figure in graphics processing and AI.

Jerry Yang

Taiwan; Chinese cultural background

Cofounded Yahoo, a formative internet company.

Eric Yuan

China; Chinese cultural background

Founded Zoom, critical for remote work, education, and medicine.

Do Won Chang and Jin Sook Chang

South Korea; religion at birth (requires verification)

Founded Forever 21;

Name

Birthplace / Background

Contribution

Irving Berlin

Russian Empire; Jewish

Wrote ‘God Bless America,’ ‘White Christmas,’ and much of the American popular-song canon.

Isaac Asimov

Russian Soviet Republic; Jewish family, secular

Prolific science-fiction and science writer; formulated the Three Laws of Robotics and popularized science.

Ayn Rand

Russian Empire; Jewish family, atheist

Influential novelist and political philosopher; highly consequential though controversial.

Elie Wiesel

Romania; Jewish

Nobel Peace laureate, Holocaust witness, author, and human-rights advocate.

Saul Bellow

Canada; Jewish immigrant family

Nobel- and Pulitzer-winning novelist; immigrated as a child.

Jerzy Kosiński

Poland; Jewish

Novelist and Holocaust survivor; important though later surrounded by authorship controversies.

Vladimir Horowitz

Russian Empire (Ukraine); Jewish

One of the twentieth century’s most influential concert pianists.

Arthur Rubinstein

Poland; Jewish

Internationally celebrated pianist who settled in the United States.

Jascha Heifetz

Russian Empire (Lithuania); Jewish

Transformative violin virtuoso and educator.

Rudolf Serkin

Bohemia; Jewish ancestry

Pianist and educator; helped establish the Marlboro Music School and Festival.

George Balanchine

Russian Empire; Georgian Orthodox background

EXCLUDE under present definition despite enormous contribution to ballet.

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Soviet Latvia; Russian Orthodox cultural background

Probably EXCLUDE under present definition.

Yo-Yo Ma

France; Chinese family background

World-renowned cellist and educator; (background verification desirable.)

I. M. Pei

China; Chinese ancestral/non-Christian cultural background

Designed the National Gallery East Building, Kennedy Library, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and other landmarks.

Marcel Breuer

Hungary; Jewish

Bauhaus architect and furniture designer; transformed American modernism.

Victor Gruen

Austria; Jewish

Architect and planner credited with developing the modern enclosed shopping mall.

Richard Neutra

Austria-Hungary; Jewish family

Major modernist architect whose California houses shaped American design.

Rudolph Schindler

Austria-Hungary; Jewish ancestry

Experimental modernist architect influential in California architecture.

Marcel Duchamp

France; secular/nonreligious background

Major influence on American modern art; eligibility (requires religious-background verification.)

Marc Chagall

Russian Empire; Jewish

Influential painter who found refuge in America during WWII.

Mira Nair

India; Hindu family

Film director expanding American cinema’s treatment of immigration and identity.

Ang Lee

Taiwan; Chinese traditional family background

American-based filmmaker; directed Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Life of Pi.

M. Night Shyamalan

India; Hindu family

American filmmaker noted for suspense films.

Deepa Mehta

India; Hindu family

Filmmaker; perhaps better placed in a world-contributions appendix.

D. T. Suzuki

Japan; Zen Buddhist

Influenced American understanding of Zen, psychology, art, and philosophy.

S. I. Hayakawa

Canada; Japanese Buddhist family background

Semanticist, educator, university president, and U.S. senator.

Khaled Hosseini

Afghanistan; Muslim

Physician, bestselling novelist, and humanitarian.

Fareed Zakaria

India; Muslim

Journalist and author influential in American foreign-policy discussion.

Jhumpa Lahiri

United Kingdom; Bengali Hindu family

Pulitzer-winning American author.

Viet Thanh Nguyen

Vietnam; Vietnamese Catholic family

EXCLUDE under strictly non-Christian definition.

Ha Jin

China; Chinese cultural background

National Book Award-winning American novelist and poet.

Bei Dao

China; Chinese cultural background

Poet and dissident who taught for years in the United States.

Name

Birthplace / Background

Contribution

Felix Frankfurter

Austria-Hungary; Jewish

Harvard law professor, civil-liberties advocate, adviser to presidents, and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Henry Kissinger

Germany; Jewish refugee

National Security Adviser and Secretary of State; major influence on U.S. foreign policy, though his record remains controversial.

Hyman G. Rickover

Russian Empire (now Poland); Jewish

Created and directed the U.S. nuclear Navy; transformed engineering standards and technical education.

Dalip Singh Saund

British India; Sikh

First Asian American, first Indian American, and first Sikh elected to the U.S. Congress.

Mazie Hirono

Japan; Buddhist family background

Immigrated as a child; U.S. senator and advocate on immigration, health, and civil rights.

Ilhan Omar

Somalia; Muslim

Refugee and member of Congress; among the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Civic milestone is objective though political views are debated.

Pramila Jayapal

India; Hindu family background

Immigrant-rights advocate and first South Asian American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Elaine Chao

Taiwan; Chinese family background

Immigrated as a child; first Asian American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet.

Norman Mineta

United States-born

EXCLUDE: U.S.-born despite major public service.

Zalmay Khalilzad

Afghanistan; Muslim

Diplomat and scholar; U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations.

Fouad Ajami

Lebanon; Shiite Muslim family

Scholar whose work influenced American understanding of the Middle East.

Hannah Arendt

Germany; Jewish refugee

Political philosopher; major analysis of totalitarianism, authority, revolution, and statelessness.

Theodor Adorno

Germany; mixed Jewish/Christian family; baptized

Eligibility ambiguous; refugee scholar who contributed to American sociology and media research before returning to Germany.

Herbert Marcuse

Germany; Jewish

Political philosopher and wartime U.S. government analyst; influential teacher and critic of authoritarianism.

Erich Fromm

Germany; Orthodox Jewish family, later secular

Psychologist and social philosopher; influential work on freedom, love, and authoritarianism.

Bruno Bettelheim

Austria; Jewish

Psychologist and Holocaust survivor; influential but later controversial due to challenges to aspects of his work and conduct.

Abraham Maslow

United States-born

EXCLUDE: child of Jewish immigrants, but not an immigrant.

Pitirim Sorokin

Russia; Russian Orthodox background

EXCLUDE under the present non-Christian-at-birth definition.