Movers & Shapers
One hundred immigrants and first-generation Americans whose work materially expanded U.S. wealth, productivity, technology, health, culture, and global influence — organized by the industries they helped build. They arrived from every continent, in every era, speaking dozens of languages. What they shared was the ambition to make something in America that had not existed before.
About 46 of the 100 never attended college or left without a degree.
This is an estimate compiled from numerous biographies and reference sources.
Try a last name, a country or a field such as physics.
Next to the fugitives whom Moses led out of Egypt, the little shipload of outcasts who landed at Plymouth are destined to influence the future of the world.
Browse by Industry
Select a category to open its page. Each page covers the immigrants whose contributions most shaped that field of American life.
Industry, Manufacturing, Transportation & Communications
The builders of American industrial capacity — steel, power, communications, aviation, automobiles and mass-market manufacturing.
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Technology, Computing & the Internet
Entrepreneurs and engineers who helped define semiconductors, networked computing, the internet, digital marketplaces, mobile technology and artificial intelligence.
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Science, Physics & National Technology
Scientists whose work in physics, mathematics, nuclear science, astronomy and aerospace changed American research and national technology.
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Medicine, Biology & Pharmaceuticals
Researchers, physicians and pharmaceutical pioneers whose discoveries prevented disease, extended life and transformed modern medicine.
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Banking, Finance, Investing & Economics
Financiers, bankers and economists who built institutions, markets and tools that supplied capital to a growing nation.
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Retail, Consumer Goods & Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs who changed how Americans bought, financed, marketed, wore and consumed everyday products and services.
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Film, Television & Hollywood
Studio founders, producers, directors and performers who helped create Hollywood and the language of American film.
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Music, Theater & Popular Culture
Composers, performers and entertainers whose work became part of the American musical and popular-cultural vocabulary.
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Journalism, Publishing & Communications
Publishers, editors and broadcasters who changed American newspapers, magazines, television news and the meaning of a free press.
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Architecture, Engineering, Design & the Built Environment
Architects and engineers whose buildings, bridges and structural systems reshaped the American landscape.
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