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In 1899, Isidor Rabi, who would become one of the twentieth century’s most famous physicists, came to the United States and grew up on New York City’s Lower East Side. Rabi is responsible for the discoveries necessary for inventing the microwave oven and MRI imaging, among other important work. He was a consultant on the Manhattan Project — the top-secret World War II program in which the United States rushed to develop and deploy the world’s first atomic bomb. After the war, he worked for peace and for limitations on nuclear weapons. He followed Robert Oppenheimer as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission and was a science advisor to President Eisenhower. He was once asked in an interview how a poor immigrant boy was able to become one of the leading physicists in the world. He said, “I couldn’t help it. It was because of my mother. She had a deep appreciation for the search for truth. And every single day when I came home…