Notes on the development of American science.

18.4.1. Today, American school of science is considered to be one of the leading in the world. There are dozens of American names among the Nobel Prize winners, especially in the second half of the XX century. One should note that the variety of sciences is great indeed. For instance, Carl Anderson won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of positron (1936), Charles Towns for inventing the laser (1964), Robert W. Holley for his work on the genetic code (1968), and Simon Kuznets for the achievements in the field of economics (1971). In 1985 a group of American physicians was also awarded with Nobel Peace Prize for their activity against the nuclear threat.

18.4.2. Ironically, it was the American scientists who helped usher in the Atomic Age. In the late 1930s, a number of scientists concluded that a nuclear chain reaction was feasible and possible. Albert Einstein warned that this breakthrough would permit the construction of "extremely powerful bombs." This warning inspired beginning of the Manhattan Project led by the American scientist Robert Oppenheimer. The project bore fruit when the first atomic bomb was exploded in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Later, Oppenheimer resigned, chiefly in protest against using the atomic energy as a weapon of mass destruction. He remains an iconic figure as a brilliant scientist who had great social responsibility.

18.4.3. The Atomic Age has also been characterized by peaceful uses of atomic energy, as in nuclear power and nuclear medicine. The first US commercial nuclear power plant started operation in 1956. At the time, the future for nuclear energy in the United States looked bright. But opponents criticized the safety of power plants and questioned whether safe disposal of nuclear waste could be assured. A 1979 accident at Three Mile Island turned many Americans against nuclear power. Other, more economical sources of power began to look more appealing. Plans for several nuclear plants were cancelled, and the future of nuclear power remains in a state of uncertainty in the United States.

18.4.4. For the past 80 years, the United States has been integral in fundamental advances in telecommunications and technology. For example, AT&T's Bell Laboratories spearheaded the American technological revolution with a series of inventions including the transistor. Laboratories in Silicon Valley helped give birth to the personal computer industry. In fact, it was an American invention that went on to usher in the Information Age. In 1947 three scientists invented the transistor, which eventually made it possible to package enormous amounts of electronics into tiny containers. As a result, book-sized computers of today can outperform room-sized computers of the 1960s, and there has been a revolution in the way people live – in how they work, study, conduct business, and engage in research itself.

LECTURE 19

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