Mass Migration of Continental European Scientists to the U.s. and Elsewhere

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Mass Migration of Continental European Scientists to the U.s. and Elsewhere

Overview

Hans Bethe (1906- ), Felix Bloch (1905-1983), Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Niels and Aage Bohr (1885-1962 and 1922- ), Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), Emilio Segrè (1905-1989), Eugene Wigner (1902-1995). All won the Nobel Prize in physics, all were involved with the Manhattan Project in some manner, and all were born in Europe, driven out by the rise of Fascist governments in the 1930s and 1940s. These were the proverbial tip of the iceberg; many more distinguished scientists fled Europe to escape the Fascists and more were captured by Allied armies. Of these scientists, most came to the United States, where they became prominent in physics, mathematics, and engineering. These scientists not only helped the Allies win World War II, but also helped the U.S. achieve and maintain technological superiority over its foes for over 50 years. They accomplished this by bringing their intelligence, ambitions, and hatred of Hitler and Communism to the U.S. and by taking their talents from the countries they fled in what may well have been the greatest transfer of intellectual power the world has known.

Background

Central Europe at the end of the nineteenth century was the home of great universities and a great intellectual tradition.

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