The Resume

(July 29, 1898-January 11, 1988)
Born in Rymanow, Poland
Birth name was Israel Isaac Rabi
Discovered nuclear magnetic resonance
Received the Nobel Prize in Physics (1944)
Chair of the Physics Department at Columbia University (1945-49)
Member of the President's Science Advisory Committee (1952-68)

Why he might be annoying:

While a college student, he lost several teeth to malnutrition: 'I was living on a dollar a day, and I didn't see wasting the money on vegetables.'
His lectures as a professor at Columbia were described as 'simply awful' and 'pretty dreadful,' with students immediately heading to the library to try to figure out what Rabi had been talking about.
He believed women could not be physicists, never had a female doctoral or post doc student, and opposed women as candidates for faculty positions.
He refused to join the Manhattan Project because he believed atomic weapons were immoral, but had no qualms about urging other scientists, like Hans Bethe, to join.

Why he might not be annoying:

He published his first scientific paper while in elementary school.
He presented himself as a classic immigrant success story, saying 'It takes a person like me to understand what a wonderful country America is.'
He was married to Helen Newmark for 61 years until his death.
In defending Manhattan Project leader J. Robert Oppenheimer against charges of disloyalty, he noted, 'We have the A-bomb.... What more do you want, mermaids?'
He refused to take out patents on his discoveries.
His discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance made atomic clocks, lasers and GPS possible.
He said, 'I think physicists are the Peter Pans of the human race. They never grow up and they keep their curiosity.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Scientists
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 48]
• I am a Jewish Atheist
• I am an Atheist
• I am of Polish Extraction
• I Attended Columbia
• I Attended Cornell
• I Died in 1988 (Ranked: 89)
• I Earned a Doctorate
• Look at My Blackboard or Whiteboard
• Nobel Prize for Physics (Ranked: 1944)
• Profiles 34251-34500 (Ranked: 34491)
• Scientists
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 19880111)

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 21 Votes: 52.38% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 23 Votes: 56.52% Annoying