Happy Interdependence Day (July 5th)!  In recognition of its fruits, we’re starting a database in honor of the citizens who, by definition, started their American journey from zero–the immigrants, who have contributed so much to our country and inspired us with their stories of how far they’ve come.   

We know there are many more world-beaters worthy of inclusion, and hope you’ll help us build out this ‘honor roll’ with thoughts and suggestions in the virtual suggestion box below.  We’re particularly interested in adding immigrants who became US citizens, who did at least some of the major work they’re known for here, and whose work itself has had a significant impact on our country, plus any first generation contributors from countries subject to the Muslim ban.  We’ll be adding names as well–and photos, too!

Daniel Aaron—Germany

Madeleine Albright—Hungary

Ernst Alexanderson—Sweden

Isabel Allende—Chile

Christiane Amanpour—England, Iran

Micky Arison—Israel

John James Audubon—Haiti

Ralph Baer—Germany

Alexander Graham Bell—Scotland

Irving Berlin—Russia

Hans Bethe—Germany

Elizabeth Blackburn—Australia

Len Blavatnik—Ukraine

Ettore Boiardi—Italy

Carl de Boor—East Germany

Amar Bose—India

Nadia Boulanger—France

Sergey Brin—Russia

Yul Brynner—Russia

Adolphus Busch—Germany

Albert Butz—Switzerland

Frances Xavier Cabrini—Italy

Frank Capra—Italy

Stokely Carmichael—Trinidad

Andrew Carnegie—Scotland

Jim Carrey—Canada

John Catsimatidis—Greece

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar—India

Charlie Chaplin—England

Steve Chen—Taiwan

Andrew & Peggy Cherng—Myanmar, China

Louis-Joseph Chevrolet—Switzerland, France

Liz Claiborne—Belgium

Albert Claude—Belgium

Roberto Clemente—Puerto Rico (territory)

William Colgate—England

Gerty Cori—Czech Republic

Alfonso Cuaron—Mexico  

Nathan Cummings—Canada, Lithuania

Theodore and Milton Deutschmann—England

Carl Djerassi—Bulgaria

Emmanuel Dongala—Congo

Francisco D’Souza—India

Albert Einstein—Germany

Gloria Estefan—Cuba

Charles Feltman—Germany

Enrico Fermi—Italy

Reginald Fessenden—Canada

Marc Forster—Germany

Michael J Fox—Canada

Felix Frankfurter—Austria

Carl Joachim Friedrich—Germany

James Gamble—Ireland

Marcus Goldman—Germany

Cary Grant—England

Andy Grove—Hungary

Victor Gruen—Austria

Alexander Hamilton—Nevis

George Hatsopoulos—Greece

Salma Hayek—Mexico

Henry John Heinz—Germany (1^st generation, shortly after parents’ arrival)

Alfred Hitchcock—England

James Hoban—Ireland

David Ho—Taiwan

Bob Hope—England

Arianna Huffington—Greece

Ben Huh—South Korea

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu—Mexico

Frank Islam—India

Steve Jobs—Syria (1^st generation, pre-Muslim ban)

Jawed Karim—East Germany

Shahid Khan—Pakistan

Vinod Khosla—India

Maxwell Kohl—Poland

Willem de Kooning—Netherlands

Jan Koum—Ukraine

James Kraft—Canada

Mila Kunis—Ukraine

Jhumpa Lahiri—India

Fritz Lang—Germany

Louis Lassen—Denmark

Ang Lee—China

Rita Levi-Montalcini—Italy

Max Levchin—Ukraine

Adolph Levitt—Russia

Phil Libin—Russia

Ernst Lubitsch—Germany

Andrew Ly—Vietnam

Yo-Yo Ma—France, China

Adrian Malone—England

Thomas Mellon—Northern Ireland

Charles & Alexander Meston—England

Joni Mitchell—Canada

Mario Molina—Mexico

Rita Moreno—Puerto Rico (territory)

Nigel Morris—England

John Muir—Scotland

Rupert Murdoch—Australia

Elon Musk—South Africa

Dikembe Mutumbo—Congo

Vladimir Nabokov—Russia

Sayta Nadella—India

James Naismith—Canada

John von Neumann—Hungary

Indra Nooyi—India

John Nordstrom—Sweden

Luke Nosek—Poland

Hakeem Olajuwon—Nigeria

Ann-Marget Olsson—Sweden

Ilhan Omar—Somalia

Pierre Omidyar—France, Iran

Gholam Peyman—Iran

I.M. Pei—China

Alberto Perez—Columbia

Thomas Peterffy—Hungary

Charles Pfizer—Germany

Sundar Pichai—India

E.I. du Pont—France

Natalie Portman—Israel

Otto Preminger—Austria-Hungary

William Procter—England

Joseph Pulitzer—Hungary

Ayn Rand—Russia

Oscar de la Renta—Dominican Republic

John Augustus Roebling—Germany

Mark Rothko—Latvia

Helena Rubinstein—Poland

Edward Said—Israel/Palestine

Carlos Santana—Mexico

Arnold Schwarzenegger—Austria

Sol Shenk—Russia

Arnold Schoenberg—Austria

Isaac Schoenberg—Romania

M. Night Shyamalan—India

Luther George Simjian—Armenia

Gene Simmons—Israel

Charles Simonyi—Hungary

Jeffrey Skoll—Canada

Patrick Soon-Shiong—South Africa, China

George Soros—Hungary

Art Spiegelman—Sweden

Elizabeth Stern—Canada

Levi Strauss—Germany

David Sun—Taiwan

Leo Szilard—Hungary

Jack Szostak—Canada, England, Poland

Edward Teller—Hungary

Nicola Tesla—Croatia

Charlize Theron—South Africa

Peter Thiel—Germany

Elihu Thompson—England

Alex Trebek—Canada

John Tu—Taiwan

Steven Udvar-Hazy—Hungary

Hamdi Ulukaya—Turkey

Eddie Van Halen—Netherlands

Roger Wang—China

Billy Wilder—Austria-Hungary

Chien-Shiung Wu—China

William Wyler—Germany

Jerry Yang—Taiwan

Fareed Zakaria—India

Fred Zinneman—Poland

Who are we missing? We welcome your suggestions here, and thank you in advance for your thoughts!