Figure 1.-- America by the turn-of-the 20th century was the world's leading industrial power. And an increasingly demanding industrial economy needed science to advance. This all began long before the Space Race dazeled the world with America's scientific prowess. As a result by the time of World War II, the United Stares had a significant scientific establishment. And this was incredibly boosted by the large numbers of scientists the NAZIs drove out of Germany and other European countries. Before World War II, Germany was the world's leading country in science as can be see by Nobel Prize awards. After World War II no country even approached the Nobel Prize awards earned by American scientists.

Science has created technologies that have played a central role in creating the modern effectively defined the modern world. Modern science centered on the scientific method was invented in Europe by Galileo and other Renaissance luminaries. Other socities were important canters of technology, especially China. But it is the West that science was invented. The United States inherited that precious technological body of learning. As a result, science and technology has a long history in America, beginning even during the colonial era. Benjamin Franklin was a well respected scientist (18th century). America arose in a Western world being turned on end by the Enlightenment (1685 to 1815). The European inteligencia began rejecting many of the accepted 'truths' of medieval Europe. Power began to shift from the airistocracy and church to rational thinkers often of humble backgound. Well before the American and French evolution a revolution began on the cultural, intellectual, and scientific life of the West. The central idea was that reason, not aristocratic birth or religious scripture became the central source for legitimacy and authority. Enlightenment authors argued for a 'republic of science,' in which people could freely excahnge ideas and knowledge for the benefit of the public. The Enligtenment with its political, economic, and scientific componnts strongly influenced the men who made the Revolution (1776). And it was these Enlightemebt thinkers who constructed the new American Republic. In no other country were leaders embracing the Enligtenment not only fully in cahrge, but able to build a new government tructure from the ground up--the Constitution (1789). The United States Constitution expressed the desire to promote science. The new Congress was authorized by the Constitutiin 'to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.' This Constittional charge was the legal authority for the U.S. patent and copyright system. It gave creators of original art and technology essentially a government granted monopoly for a limited period. After this the creation would become available for free to all citizens. The impact was to both encourage creation and invention and to enriching the public domain. Even without the universities and acadamies active in Europe, America became a hotbed of tinkers and inventors that made significant contributions to many scientific fields. Even a young Abraham Lincoln filed a technological pattern (to lift river boats). American inventions were mostly practical inventions, pure science and scientific theory for most of the 19th century was the preserve of European academics. But the American inventions had a huge impact on lives first in the countru itself, but eventually around the world. The American university system began to achieve its current lofty staure in the early-20th century. America by the turn-of-the 20th century was the world's leading industrial power. And an increasingly demanding industrial economy needed science to advance. This all began long before the Space Race dazeled the world with America's scientific prowess. As a result by the time of World War II, the United Stares had a significant scientific establishment. And this was incredibly boosted by the large numbers of scientists the NAZIs drove out of Germany and other European countries. Before World War II, Germany was the world's leading country in science as can be see by Nobel Prize awards. After World War II no country even approached the Nobel Prize awards earned by American scientists. And the technology developed by American sciece has changed out lives through transistors, computers, mucrowaves, smartphones, renewable energy, wonder drugs, high-yield crops, and much more. These advances have not only saved hundreds of millions of lives, but improved quality of life for us all. Notice that virtually none of these ground breaking advances thing has come from the Soviet space and other scientific efforts effort.

Created: 1:56 AM 7/28/2019
Last updated: 1:56 AM 7/28/2019