Lord Of Cyberia said:
Nikola Tesla made all his inventions here. IN YOUR FACE, CROATIA!
Why the hell does the U.S. import half its' scientists? Where are all the great scientists of U.S?
The US is a melting pot culture by it's very nature, the number of original colonists were pretty small, and as many people point out nearly everyone in the US is the result of the immigration. Those who can trance their lineage back to the original colonies/conquerers like me are pretty rare, this is why my mother being invited to join organizations like "Daughers Of The American Revolution" were a relatively big deal. For all the claims people make very few people can prove it, and by the numbers most who make the claim are liars (intentionally or not).
Due to our policies the greatest minds from all over the world generally came to the US to flee their own culture, limitations, and philosophies. One of the big arguements about innovations is that when people talk about Americans inventing things, the parent nation of immigrants who moved around are quick to try and claim it was one of them who did it, even if the person had left their homeland specifically so they could do that research and had become an American.
Guys like Alexander Grahmn Bell are an example because he was born in Scotland (as I recall) and moved around the world, staying in Canada, before eventually putting down roots in the US where he invented the phone. For business related reasons he apparently tried to get the patent passed in Europe BEFORE the US because of British Laws requiring a patent they accepted not be filed (at that time) anywhere else. The idea being he could do Britan first and the US second in order to cover as many bases as possible, but things didn't work out and he wound up apparently getting on file in the US before anywhere else.
As a result the US, Scotland, Canada, and England all try and claim him, but he was an American.
When it comes to Nikola Tesla and a few others, there can be a LOT of debate on that subject. There is no doubt that the man was a genius, but to an extent I think there has been a lot of historical re-inventionism to get around American inventors like "Thomas Edison". Basically Americans can claim (with a lot of truth) to have invented the Modern World, by allowing the greatest minds to do their thing in the US if nothing else. Of course the "Old World" has objections to this, and it leads to a lot of massive debates.
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At any rate for those who read this far, I'll say the greatest thing the US has ever done is come into existance. Like it or not it's principles and the fact that it's made it's system of checks, balances, and liberties work have set an example that will last long after it disappears.
Basically I think the idea America represents by it's simple existance, is the greatest thing it has ever achieved, above and beyond everything else, including Electicity, Planes, Double Action revolvers, phones and other things.
