Asian Pacific Resource Center

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

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Notable Asian Americans

The following is a list of Asian Americans whose achievements were outstanding and their contributions to history were unique. Many more could be listed, but we only mentioned the more frequently asked personalities.

Michael Chang

Tennis Player; won 6 majors, won the French Open, 1989; was ranked #2 in the world in 1996.

Steven Chu

Nobel Prize Winner in physics, 1997.

Connie Chung

ABC News Correspondent; won three Emmy awards; joined CNN cable network for primetime anchor in 2002.

David Ho

Medical Scientist; named Time Man of the Year, 1996; found an AIDS treatment to be used in the first weeks of infection.

Michelle Kwan

Figure Skater; world champion.

Sammy Lee

Athlete, Physician; the first American-born Asian to win an Olympic gold medal in platform diving,1948.

Tsung-Dao Lee

Scientist, Physicist; won the Nobel Prize in physics with Chen Ning Yang,1957.

Yuan T. Lee

Chemist; shared the Nobel Prize for chemistry with Dudley R. Herschbach, 1986.

Yama Lin

Architect; designers of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Yo-Yo Ma

Cellist; Winner of 1998 Best Classical Album Grammy Award.

Ellison Onizuka

Astronaut, NASA; participated in mission STS 51-L, Challenger, 1985.

Amy Tan

Author of Joy Luck Club and other books.

Chang-Lin Tien

Educator; former Chancellor of UC Berkeley.

Samuel Ting

Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, 1976.

Tiger Woods

Golfer; won 6 majors, won the Masters 1997; the Masters and Grand Slam, 2001; and currently ranked 1 in PGA.

Kristi Yamaguchi

Figure Skater; Olympic Gold Medallist, 1992.

Jerry Yang

Co-founder of Yahoo.com, 1994.