 Israel Isaac Rabi was born on 29 July 1898 into a Polish @-@ Jewish Orthodox family in Rymanów , Galicia , in what was then part of Austria @-@ Hungary but is now Poland . Soon after he was born , his father , David Rabi , emigrated to the United States . The younger Rabi and his mother , Sheindel , joined David there a few months later , and the family moved into a two @-@ room apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan . At home the family spoke Yiddish . When Rabi was enrolled in school , Sheindel said his name was Izzy , and a school official , thinking it was short for Isidor , put that down as his name . Henceforth , that became his official name . Later , in response to anti @-@ Semitism , he started writing his name as Isidor Isaac Rabi , and was known professionally as I.I. Rabi . To most of his friends and family , including his sister Gertrude , who was born in 1903 , he was known simply as " Rabi " , which was pronounced " Robby " . In 1907 , the family moved to Brownsville , Brooklyn , where they ran a grocery store . 
