Hyman George Rickover (1900-1986) was an officer in the U.S. Navy who played a significant and controversial role in ushering the Navy into the nuclear age. On active duty for almost 60 years, Rickover greatly influenced many nuclear power technicians who later served in the nascent military and civilian nuclear power industries.

Hyman George Rickover was born on January 27, 1900 (1898 according to school records), in the village of Makow, then in the Russian Empire, some 50 miles north of Warsaw. His father, Abraham, a tailor, emigrated to New York at the turn of the century. Around 1904 the senior Rickover sent for his family, wife Rachel (née Unger), daughter Fanny, and Hyman. Four years later they moved to the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, where Hyman attended public schools while working at various jobs as he grew older. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1918.

Accounts of his years...