Muslim American Heritage has a great website about Muslim Americans who have succeeded and contributed to American society.
There is no simple way to capture the impact of American icon Muhammad Ali .One of the most recognizable and charismatic figures of the 20th Century, the boxer from Louisville, Kentucky, was also the first prominent American to become Muslim. As such, he brought Islam and Muslim culture to popular attention for the first time in American society.
Nicknamed “The Greatest,” Ali is considered the best heavy weight boxer of all time. Beyond his legendary exploits in the ring, he was also a consummate celebrity–quickly emerging as a pop culture star. With a compelling attitude and distinctive look, Ali joked around with The Beatles, sparred with Howard Cosell, and cracked up Billy Crystal.
The AP reported he was one of the top three most recognized athletes in American history, and Voice of America dubbed him the “Most Famous Person Ever”–a remarkable feat accomplished before the rise of the Internet.
There may never again be a Muslim American icon–let alone a global icon–quite like Muhammad Ali.
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Every morning, millions of Americans wake up to NBC “Today” show anchor Hoda Kotb. The Oklahoma native born to Egyptian immigrant parents has become a television icon.
After building up her career at local affiliates in Mississippi and New Orleans, Kotb joined NBC News as a correspondent for Dateline–before eventually rising to co-anchor the network’s flagship morning show. She has won awards for her reporting, including an Emmy, and been named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.
”Part of Kotb’s unique appeal is how she opens up to her audience. The “Today” show followed her struggle with breast cancer, as well as her recent decision to adopt two baby girls. Despite a name that many Americans may initially find hard to pronounce, Kotb has become an “all-American” media personality with whom millions of viewers feel an intimate connection.
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“Kareem”–this American icon needs only one name. One of the greatest basketball players of all time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made a name for himself on and off the court. He is instantly recognizable, both for his patented hook shot and his prominent pop culture appearances.
Born Lew Alcindor, Kareem converted to Islam during college. Then, at age 24, after leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their first-ever NBA championship in 1971, he publicly adopted a Muslim name, instantly becoming one of the most prominent Muslims in American society.
In addition to shattering scoring records and winning MVP awards in the NBA, Kareem became an actor, with cameos in Airplane!, Fletch, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He has also published several non-fiction books, on topics ranging from the Harlem Renaissance to World War II, and written a regular column for Time Magazine. In 2016, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
With the world crippled by a devastating new virus, Mouncef Mohamed Slaoui stepped up to serve as chief science advisor for “Operation Warp Speed,” the US’s emergency push to rush the development of a vaccine. Hailed as one of the more successful vaccine developers in the world, Slaoui had previously served as chairman of Global Vaccines at biotech giant Galxo SmithKline (GSK).
A native of Agadir in southern Morocco, Slaoui was inspired to study immunology after losing a sister to whooping cough. He pursued university studies in Europe and then moved to the US, soon joining GSK as are searcher. He rose through the ranks and oversaw the development of vaccines to prevent cervical cancer, gastroenteritis, Ebola, and malaria. In 2016, GSK opened the Slaoui Center for Vaccines Research in Maryland in tribute to his pioneering work.
Slaoui’s expertise is being put to the test in a race against time to develop and distribute a vaccine in record time.
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When NASA sent the Apollo 11 mission to land a man on the moon for the first time, the space agency turned to Farouk El-Baz to identify the right landing spot for the lunar craft. El-Baz studied thousands of satellite images of the moon’s surface and trained astronauts to prepare them for lunar geological conditions. Because of his talent for explaining advanced scientific concepts, El-Baz was also often in charge of briefing the media during Apollo lunar missions.
A native of Egypt’s Nile Delta, El-Baz came to the US for graduate school to study geology. Today he directs the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University. Inspired by his experience going on hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca and touching the legendary Black Cornerstone of the Kabah shrine, El Baz developed the concept of museum exhibits where visitors could touch moonrocks.
El-Baz has received NASA’s Apollo Achievement Award; the Geological Society of America has established an annual prize Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Research; and astronomers have named an asteroid in his honor. Perhaps most importantly, Star Trek: Next Generation name done of its shuttle craft “El-Baz” in homage to the extra-terrestrial pioneer.
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People told Rouzbeh Yassini that it could not be done: cable TV wires could never transmit both video and data. But Yassini persisted, launching his own company LAN city to develop the cable modem and the core building blocks of the broad band industry. Thanks to his vision, widespread high-speed Internet access is a reality.
A Tehran native, Yassini immigrated to the US during college. Known as the “father of the cable modem,” he drove the price of cable modem from $15,000 to $500 in just five years, making the product accessible to the masses. He also developed the Cable Modem Industry Standards DOCSIS as a common international standard. In 1996, he founded YAS Corporation (inspired by the Persian name for a jasmine flower) to develop numerous tech start-ups, and in 2013 he opened the University of New Hampshire’s Broadband Center of Excellence.
Yassini authored the book Planet Broadband to chronicle his transformational work in the industry. He dreams of a future where all human beings, wherever they live, can enjoy reliable high-speed Internet connections.
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In 2006, Anousheh Ansari lifted off in a rocket ship to the International Space Station, becoming the first female private astronaut in history. On her nine-day mission she became the first person to publish awe blog in space and conducted scientific experiments. To help inspire private spaceflight, Ansari sponsored the $10 million Ansari X-Prize award for the first non-governmental project to launch a reusable spacecraft in orbit twice in two weeks.
Ansari immigrated to the US from Iran as a teenager. In 1993, with US telecoms undergoing deregulation, she saw the need for new technology to meet the industry’s increasing digitization. She convinced her husband and brother-in-law to launch a new start-up, drawing on their own retirement accounts to fund the venture. The company took off, and Ansari eventually enjoyed a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars–enabling her to self-fund her space mission.
Ansari’s memoir My Dreams of Stars recounts her remarkable journey from refugee to serial entrepreneur to astronaut. The National Space Society awarded her its “Space Pioneer Award, ”and she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her philanthropic work.
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Ahmed Hassan Zewail won the 1999 Nobel Prize for Chemistry thanks to his groundbreaking laser technique for observing the behavior of the atoms and molecules in chemical reactions. For this breakthrough he has been hailed as the “father of Fem to chemistry,” a field he pioneered.
The son of a mechanic who assembled bicycles in Egypt’s Nile Delta, Zewail came to America to complete his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. He eventually became the first-ever Linus Pauling Chair of Professor in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology and an American citizen. In 1991, he designed the four-dimensional ultra-fast electron microscope. He also served on the Presidential Council of Advisors in Science and Technology.
Zewail authored the memoir Voyage through Time: Walks of Life to the Nobel Prize.
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