Abstract
The US lagged behind the European powers, Germany, Britain and France, in scientific research and development at the beginning of the 20th century. Why this occurred and how Germany and Britain supported their flourishing scientific research cultures are discussed. The first serious expansion in basic scientific research in the US occurred with the influx of European Jewish scientists fleeing Nazism in the 1930’s. They specifically brought with them knowledge of atomic physics. The influence of Vannevar Bush, who was Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War Two proved crucial for the expansion of civilian research and development after the War, supported by the Federal Government. Also after the War, Operation Paperclip brought German scientists to the US and they had significant influence on developments in aeronautics, rocketry and space exploration.
Highlights
Americans are used to thinking of their country as the greatest in the world, both in terms of economic clout and military strength
The great attempt to expand American science was made during and after World War Two by Vannevar Bush, an extraordinary intellect, who envisaged an early version of the internet, and who was appointed Adviser for Science and Development by President Roosevelt.[5]
The most famous American physicist, Robert Millikan, who had won the Nobel prize in 1923 for measurement of the electron, was quoted as saying in 1929, “There is no likelihood to me that man can ever tap the power of the atom, there is no appreciable energy available to man through atomic disintegration.”[31]. Ernest Rutherford himself was skeptical that splitting the atom would result in large amounts of available energy
Summary
Americans are used to thinking of their country as the greatest in the world, both in terms of economic clout and military strength. The great attempt to expand American science was made during and after World War Two by Vannevar Bush, an extraordinary intellect, who envisaged an early version of the internet, and who was appointed Adviser for Science and Development by President Roosevelt.[5] His influence caused a revolution in how science was thought of in America, both by the Government and its people. Most people would be shocked to discover that the US became the great scientific and technological power it is today by ironically exploiting two groups of Germans, first German (and other European) Jewish émigré scientists before World War Two and German scientists, German rocket and aeronautical engineers, after World War Two. I endeavor to tell the story of how America became the world’s scientific superpower through these developments in science and technology
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