4 ms·
It wasn't just the U.S. receiving that talent. Latin America, particularly Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile also saw 10s of millions of European immigrants.
by wahern 6y ago
It wasn't just the U.S. receiving that talent. Latin America, particularly Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile also saw 10s of millions of European immigrants.[1] Germans, Italians, Jews, Poles, etc, as well as Japanese and Chinese. Canada and Australia also saw significant migration.
So the mere fact of the emigration of European talent doesn't quite answer the question. The role of European conflict driving emigration isn't at question here. But what distinguished U.S. schools? Why were they better able to leverage this accidental human bounty than other systems? It's not like there was a complete dearth of higher education institutions in Latin America. In the first few decades of the 20th century Argentina and Chile were some of the most well-developed nations on earth, scientifically and politically.
[1] Circa 2003 I met a 90-ish-something Mexican born, ethnic Irish docent in the Bisbee, AZ museum. His parents fled Ireland to Mexico and worked a farm in Sonora, then killed in conflict between the Mexican Army and, IIRC, Apaches. He and his older brother trekked through the desert for several days to cross (illegally, I might add) to the U.S. I always thought that was a fascinating story--a nexus of different historical threads that, as an American, you would never really consider together.
- 908B64B197 6y agoYou might be interested by Operation Paperclip [0]. The US was actively looking for key scientific talent in then devastated Germany to bring back home after World War II. This concentration of talent, coupled with intense investments in fundamental research during the Cold War and better living conditions for scientists made it an obvious choice for any academic to relocate to the United States. Even today, the US immigration system still has a preference for foreigners who can meaningfully contribute to the advancement of science. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip
- jhbadger 6y agoAlthough the Soviets had a very similar system (Operation Osoaviakhim) to get German scientists after the war, although less well known (and also a bit less voluntary on the part of the scientists) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Osoaviakhim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Osoaviakhim
- flohofwoe 6y agoThe Soviet's didn't really know how to properly make use of "their" Germans though, at least for working on concrete projects. Only very few designs of German teams actually made it into production (like the turboprop engines used in the Tu-95: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-95 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-95), but the Soviets never trusted their Germans enough to really integrate them longterm with Russian teams, instead the goal was to extract the German knowledge as fast as possible and then "dump" them (most German engineers and researchers captured by the Soviets were allowed to return to Germany around the mid- to late-50s, leading to interesting, but ultimately doomed projects like the first German jet airliner Baade 152: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baade_152 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baade_152). Meanwhile the "American Germans" were welcomed, decided to make the US their new home and contributed heavily to the US space programme.
- rurban 6y agoEasy to explain because the German fascists made a perfect match with the American fascists, whilst Russian communists had a problem with German fascists, plus under Stalin/Berisha everybody had a problem, also communist Germans and communist Russians. They nevertheless built up the Russian rocket and nuclear program. In the US the germans could build the rocket program by their own without much US interference, until Lyndon Johnson broke it up.
- cema 6y agoCould you please elaborate on how "American fascists" are playing a role here? Sounds far fetched.
- webmobdev 6y agoI think s/he is hinting at the fact that many Europeans and Americans believed that Hitler had the right idea about race and religion. Eugenics was a big thing in the US between WW1 and WW2. I also remember reading that one of the main reasons the ivy-leagues decided to change its admission system from money and meritocracy to the "search for all round candidate" also partially stemmed from anti-semitism - all the essay and interview bullshit that we see today was created to find reasons to reject the "wrong kind". Some old Harvard or Yale (don't remember which) admission applications of candidates rejected even had hand written notes, "looks too much like a jew". ( https://www.businessinsider.in/education/harvard-is-being-accused-of-treating-asians-the-same-way-it-used-to-treat-jews/articleshow/45379590.cms https://www.businessinsider.in/education/harvard-is-being-ac... ).
- OnACoffeeBreak 6y agoI don't have any sources to back this up, but it seems to me that you highlight this fact yourself in your argument. The US had the stability, the institutions and finances to enable the emigres talent to do the work instead of (in the extreme example) of fleeting for their lives.
- ungamedplayer 6y agoWhat made you think it was schools that took advantage of the situation ?
- asdff 6y agoI think a huge fact is simply the massive population and tax base. A lot of academic research is funded by the federal government. Most countries simply do not have the population or means to afford such a wide variety of directed research programs as the NSF, NIH, DOE, NOAA, USDA, etc., not to mention research grants from defense agencies. Academics from other countries regularly move their careers here to get research funding, we don't even produce enough local talent for some fields to meet the need for research.
- KingOfCoders 6y agoMost of the european scientists went to the already famous US universities, not to Argentina, Brazil or Chile. Europe basically lost every scientist before, during or after WW2 to the US. Probably the biggest brain drain in history. e.g. "Operation Paperclip was a secret US intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians, [...]" -Wikipedia
- edwinyzh 6y agoYes, so obvious.