I whanau a Arthur Ashkin i Brooklyn, New York, i te tau 1922, ki te whanau o te whanau Hurai-Ukraine. Ko ona matua ko Isadore raua ko Anna Ashkin. E rua ona tuakana, he tuakana, ko Julius, he kairangahau hoki, me tetahi tuahine, ko Ruth. Ko tetahi tuakana, ko Gertrude, i mate i a ia e tamariki ana. Ko te whare o te whanau i Brooklyn, New York, i 983 E 27 Street. I heke mai a Isadore (né Ashkinazi) ki te United States mai i Odessa (i taua wa ko te Russian Empire, inaianei ko Ukraine), i te 18 o ona tau. Ko Anna, e rima tau te pakeke, i ahu mai i Ukraine o tenei ra, ka Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. I roto i te tekau tau o tana taenga mai ki New York, kua riro a Isadore hei tangata whenua o Amerika, kei te whakahaere i tetahi taiwhanga niupepa i te 139 Dely Street i Manhattan. I tutaki a Ashkin ki tana wahine, a Aline Cornell, i te Whare Wananga o Cornell, me tana mokopuna, a Gertrude
Ko Isadore