Although Howard Schultz, 64, did not launch the Starbucks coffeehouse chain, he did join the company fairly early on. During his two stints as CEO, Starbucks experienced much of its exponential growth (it now has more than 24,000 locations worldwide). Currently, Schultz is the company’s executive chairman. He is also the former owner of the…
Andrew “Andy” Grove (1936 – 2016) was a Hungarian Jew who hid from the Nazis during World War II and escaped the Communists in 1956. After immigrating to the U.S. he became a founder and CEO of the Intel Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors. He has been called the “guy who drove the…
In 1969, Donald Fisher (1928–2009) and his wife Doris F. Fisher (born 1931) founded the Gap with one store after they’d had a hard time finding jeans that fit right. The chain now operates more than 3,700 stores worldwide. In addition, the company operates subsidiaries Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and Intermix. Doris F. Fisher…
As chair of NBCUniversal Cable, Bonnie Hammer oversees the cable brands USA, The Sci-Fi Channel, E!, Bravo, Oxygen and several others. She also is in charge of Universal Cable Productions and Wilshire Studios. The 66-year-old Hammer has played a prominent role in public campaigns to fight hate, discrimination and bullying. She has been the recipient…
Larry Page (right) and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, could not have developed the indispensable search engine had they not been brilliant computer scientists. Brin, 44, is a Russian American who immigrated with his Jewish parents to the United States when he was six. Page, also 44, was born in East Lansing, Michigan, to…
Since 2011, Jeremy England has been an assistant professor at M.I.T.’s Physics Department. He is widely known for his hypothesis about the spontaneous emergence of life (which he calls “dissipation-driven adaptation”). One Pulitzer-prize winning science historian said “[England] could be the next Darwin.” Although England’s mother was Jewish (and the daughter of Polish Holocaust survivors),…
In the first half of the 20th century, parents worldwide were terrorized by the prospect of their children contracting poliomyelitis, a devastating viral disease that often resulted in paralysis or death. Thanks to Dr. Jonas Salk (1914–1995), creator of the world’s first anti-polio vaccine, the scourge of polio has been almost completely eradicated today. Dr.…
WOW! FACTS
Inventor of the mobile phone, “Father of the Internet,” inventor of the video game cosole, inventor fo the laser, inventor of the gramophone, creator of the Barbie Doll, creator of the cruise ship, “Father of Immunology,” inventor fo the modern condom (!), a prime minister of the U.K., a three-time prime minister of France, a president of Switzerland and the primary financier of the American Revolution?
We knew you could guess… all of them are (or were) Jews!
To learn about these and many more AmazingJews, watch a compilation put together by JewOfTheWeek.net in 2015 and posted on YouTube. >>
Nobel Prizes
Although Jews are less than two-tenths of one percent of the world’s population, more than 20% of Nobel Prize winners have been Jewish. Source: Google
Polio Vaccine
Millions and millions of people worldwide have been spared the ravages of poliomyelitis — including paralysis and even death — thanks to research conducted by Jewish scientist Dr. Jonas Salk and his team. The Salk vaccine entered widespread use in the U.S. in 1955. Source: Wikipedia
Miss Liberty
The words “…give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…” on the Statue of Liberty were written by Emma Lazarus, a Jew. Source: BuzzFeed
Blue Jeans
Levi Strauss, an immigrant from Germany, invented his blue jeans in 1873. Source: BuzzFeed
Start-Up Nation
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world. It has the highest rate of entrepreneurship among women and people over 55 in the world. Source: BuzzFeed