Science and technology in the United States
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Science and technology in the United States has a
The
Early American science
In the early decades of its history, the United States was relatively isolated from Europe and also rather poor. At this stage, America's scientific infrastructure was still quite primitive compared to the long-established societies, institutes, and universities in Europe.
Eight of America's founding fathers were scientists of some repute. Benjamin Franklin conducted a series of experiments that deepened human understanding of electricity. Among other things, he proved what had been suspected but never before shown: that lightning is a form of electricity. Franklin also invented such conveniences as bifocal eyeglasses. Franklin also conceived the mid-room furnace, the "Franklin Stove". However, Franklin's design was flawed, in that his furnace vented the smoke from its base: because the furnace lacked a chimney to "draw" fresh air up through the central chamber, the fire would soon go out. It took David R. Rittenhouse, another hero of early Philadelphia, to improve Franklin's design by adding an L-shaped exhaust pipe that drew air through the furnace and vented its smoke up and along the ceiling, then into an intramural chimney and out of the house.[3]
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), was among the most influential leaders in early America; during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83), Jefferson served in the Virginia legislature, the Continental Congress, was governor of Virginia, later serving as U.S. minister to France, U.S. secretary of state, vice president under John Adams (1735–1826), writer of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president. During Jefferson's two terms in office (1801–1809), the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory and Lewis and Clark explored the vast new acquisition.
After leaving office, he retired to his Virginia plantation, Monticello, and helped spearhead the
Like Franklin and Jefferson, most American scientists of the late 18th century were involved in the struggle to win American independence and forge a new nation. These scientists included the astronomer David Rittenhouse, the medical scientist Benjamin Rush, and the natural historian Charles Willson Peale.[6]
During the American Revolution, Rittenhouse helped design the defenses of Philadelphia and built telescopes and navigation instruments for the United States' military services. After the war, Rittenhouse designed road and canal systems for the state of Pennsylvania. He later returned to studying the stars and planets and gained a worldwide reputation in that field.[6]
As
Charles Willson Peale is best remembered as an artist, but he also was a natural historian, inventor, educator, and politician. He created the first major museum in the United States, the Peale Museum in Philadelphia, which housed the young nation's only collection of North American natural history specimens. Peale excavated the bones of an ancient mastodon near West Point, New York; he spent three months assembling the skeleton, and then displayed it in his museum. The Peale Museum started an American tradition of making the knowledge of science interesting and available to the general public.[6]
Science immigration
American political leaders' enthusiasm for knowledge also helped ensure a warm welcome for scientists from other countries. A notable early immigrant was the British chemist Joseph Priestley, who was driven from his homeland because of his dissenting politics. Priestley, who migrated to the United States in 1794, was the first of thousands of talented scientists drawn to the United States in search of a free, creative environment.[6]
Other scientists had come to the United States to take part in the nation's rapid growth.
Into the early 1900s, Europe remained the center of science research, notably in England and Germany. From the 1920s onwards, the tensions heralding the onset of
Several scientific and technological breakthroughs during the Atomic Age were the handiwork of such immigrants, who recognized the potential threats and uses of new technology. For instance, it was German professor Einstein and his Hungarian colleague,
When World War II ended, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were all intent on capitalizing on Nazi research and competed for the spoils of war. While President Harry S. Truman refused to provide sanctuary to ideologically committed members of the Nazi party, the Office of Strategic Services introduced Operation Paperclip, conducted under the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency. This program covertly offered otherwise ineligible intellectuals and technicians whitewashed dossiers, biographies, and employment. Ex-Nazi scientists overseen by the JIOA had been employed by the U.S. military since the defeat of the Nazi regime in Project Overcast, but Operation Paperclip ventured to systematically allocate German nuclear and aerospace research and scientists to military and civilian posts, beginning in August 1945. Until the program's termination in 1990, Operation Paperclip was said to have recruited over 1,600 such employees in a variety of professions and disciplines.[13]
In the first phases of Operation Paperclip, these recruits mostly included aerospace engineers from the German
In the post-war era, the U.S. was left in a position of unchallenged scientific leadership, being one of the few industrial countries not ravaged by war. Additionally, science and technology were seen to have greatly added to the Allied war victory, and were seen as absolutely crucial in the Cold War era. This enthusiasm simultaneously rejuvenated American industry, and celebrated Yankee ingenuity, instilling a zealous nationwide investment in "Big Science" and state-of-the-art government funded facilities and programs. This state patronage presented appealing careers to the intelligentsia, and further consolidated the scientific preeminence of the United States. As a result, the U.S. government became, for the first time, the largest single supporter of basic and applied scientific research. By the mid-1950s, the research facilities in the U.S. were second to none, and scientists were drawn to the U.S. for this reason alone. The changing pattern can be seen in the winners of the
The American Brain Gain continued throughout the Cold War, as tensions steadily escalated in the Eastern Bloc, resulting in a steady trickle of defectors, refugees and emigrants. The partition of Germany, for one, precipitated over three and a half million East Germans – the Republikflüchtling - to cross into West Berlin by 1961. Most of them were young, well-qualified, educated professionals or skilled workers[16] - the intelligentsia - exacerbating human capital flight in the GDR to the benefit of Western countries, including the United States.
Technology inflows from abroad have played an important role in the development of the United States, especially in the late nineteenth century. A favorable U.S. security environment that allowed relatively low defense spending. High trade barriers encouraged the development of domestic manufacturing industries and the inflow of foreign technologies.[17]
American applied science
During the 19th century,
Edison was not always the first to devise a scientific application, but he was frequently the one to bring an idea to a practical finish. For example, the British engineer
Another landmark application of scientific ideas to practical uses was the innovation of the brothers
An American invention that was barely noticed in 1947 went on to usher in the
Part of America's past and current preeminence in applied science has been due to its vast research and development budget, which at $401.6bn in 2009 was more than double that of China's $154.1bn and over 25% greater than the European Union's $297.9bn.[25]
The Atomic Age and "Big Science"
One of the most spectacular – and controversial – accomplishments of US technology has been the harnessing of nuclear energy. The concepts that led to the splitting of the atom were developed by the scientists of many countries, but the conversion of these ideas into the reality of nuclear fission was accomplished in the United States in the early 1940s, both by many Americans but also aided tremendously by the influx of European intellectuals fleeing the growing conflagration sparked by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Europe.
During these crucial years, a number of the most prominent European scientists, especially physicists, immigrated to the United States, where they would do much of their most important work; these included
, among many, many others. American academics worked hard to find positions at laboratories and universities for their European colleagues.After German physicists split a
The development of the bomb and its use against
Along with the production of the atomic bomb, World War II also began an era known as "
The first US commercial nuclear power plant started operation in
Meanwhile, American scientists have been experimenting with other renewable energy, including solar power. Although solar power generation is still not economical in much of the United States, recent developments might make it more affordable.
Telecom and technology
For the past 80 years, the United States has been integral in fundamental advances in
In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone. From 1983 to 2014, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over seven billion; enough to provide one for every person on Earth.[32]
The Space Age
During the Cold War, competition for superior missile capability led to the
As Allied forces advanced during World War II, both the American and Russian forces searched for top German scientists who could be claimed as
Expendable rockets provided the means for launching artificial satellites, as well as crewed spacecraft. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1, and the United States followed with Explorer 1 in 1958. The first human spaceflights were made in early 1961, first by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and then by American astronaut Alan Shepard.
From those first tentative steps, to the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon and the partially reusable Space Shuttle, the American space program brought forth a breathtaking display of applied science. Communications satellites transmit computer data, telephone calls, and radio and television broadcasts. Weather satellites furnish the data necessary to provide early warnings of severe storms. The United States also developed the Global Positioning System (GPS), the world's pre-eminent satellite navigation system.[37] Interplanetary probes and space telescopes began a golden age of planetary science and advanced a wide variety of astronomical work.
On April 20, 2021, MOXIE produced oxygen from
Medicine and health care
As in physics and chemistry, Americans have dominated the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine since World War II. The private sector has been the focal point for biomedical research in the United States, and has played a key role in this achievement.
As of 2000, for-profit industry funded 57%, non-profit private organizations such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute funded 7%, and the tax-funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded 36% of medical research in the United States.[40] However, by 2003, the NIH funded only 28% of medical research funding; funding by private industry increased 102% from 1994 to 2003.[41]
The NIH consists of 24 separate institutes in Bethesda, Maryland. The goal of NIH research is knowledge that helps prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability. At any given time, grants from the NIH support the research of about 35,000 principal investigators. Five Nobel Prize-winners have made their prize-winning discoveries in NIH laboratories.
NIH research has helped make possible numerous medical achievements. For example, mortality from
With the help of the NIH,
Research conducted by universities, hospitals, and corporations also contributes to improvement in diagnosis and treatment of disease. NIH funded the basic research on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (
See also
- Science policy of the United States
- Biomedical research in the United States
- Technological and industrial history of the United States
- Timeline of United States inventions
- Timeline of United States discoveries
- National Inventors Hall of Fame
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- NASA spinoff technologies
- Yankee ingenuity
References
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- ^ Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and His Universe (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 407
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- ^ Hunt, Linda. Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1990 (New York: St.Martin's Press, 1991).
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Almost 40 percent of the world's population, 2.7 billion people, are online. The developing world is home to about 826 million female internet users and 980 million male internet users. The developed world is home to about 475 million female Internet users and 483 million male Internet users.
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