How the U.S. Became a Science Superpower

Re:How the U.S. Became a Science Superpower by metrognome on Tuesday April 15, 2025 @08:23PM (#43699997)

I'm surprised that there's been no mention of Operation Paperclip, neither in the article nor in the comments here. Seems like a huge part of the story to leave out.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the U.S. Became a Science Superpower by mberning on Tuesday April 15, 2025 @10:55PM (#43700942)

Hard to overstate how much effort the US put into collecting all the best scientists in the post WWII world.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the U.S. Became a Science Superpower by sinuhe69 on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @04:38AM (#43702999)

Yes, including surrounded and forcibly brought them into US camps. But yeah, the Soviets did the same and we had the nuclear bomb race, the space race and the Cold War.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How the U.S. Became a Science Superpower by hliyan on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @02:13AM (#43702051)

This is the first thing that struck me. Dangerous to weave narratives where large scale phenomena are elegantly explained by a single cause. It's always a confluence of multiple factors: influx of Nazi scientists, the policy mentioned in the article, the fact that Europe was recovering from a war, and perhaps others we're failing to notice.

A favorite example of mine is the idea that World War 1 would not have happened if only Duke Ferdinand's driver had been told of the route change during the Sarajevo visit.

[ Parent | on HN ]