The Linguistic Culture-12 (American Science) (1157938)
Текст из файла
LECTURE N 12American ScienceRead and translate the following key words and word combinations:Scientific establishments , to lag behind , challenges of World War I ,Scientific undertakings, to follow the suit, under the auspices [ ‘o:spisэs], to regainmomentum , to pave the way ,to be second to none.In the American colonies approach to science was practical. The trade wasassociated with sailing so scientific interest focused on astronomy,mathematics, topography, meteorology and stimulated usefulness fornavigation and agriculture.
Almost all scientific activities in New Englandwere concentrated in Boston, which from the beginning became theintellectual capital of New England. Another cultural center was inPhiladelphia, which had more political, cultural and intellectual ties withEurope.After the revolution and independence new favorable conditions fororganization science were gradually created. In the late 18th and the early19th centuries new ideas and technology demanded new approaches andteamwork. In 1848 the American Association for the Advancement of Sciencewas founded.In 1863 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was organized. The creation ofthe Academy originated from the immediate practical problems of the time of theCivil War. It also reflected the fact that at that time the US was beginning toemerge as a technological country.
The Academy created departments related toscientific and technological problems (the Geological Survey, the National Bureauof Standards, the US Weather Bureau, the Patent Office, etc.). The need forscientific instruction led to the organization of scientific schools and centers oflearning and research (at Yale and Harvard Universities).In 1861 theMassachusettsInstituteofTechnologywasfounded.The challenges of World War I had a far-reaching effect on the development ofscience in the USA. During the war and after it American universities producedthe great number of well-trained scientists and engineers. With the introductionof graduate schools into American education scientific research began to play amajor role in many universities.
American industry began to have a scientificfoundation; several of the larger industries established research laboratories ofinternational level. The Federal Government also developed a number of scientificagencies.Like education, the US scientific establishments have always been seriousresponses to society’s practical needs. Since America was rich in natural resourcesbut relatively poor in personnel for education and research, the FederalGovernment did a lot to master resources for the guidance of the nation’sscientific community.
A few scientists from other countries were invited. Amongthem the inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell from Scotland, adeveloper of alternating-current electrical systems Charles Steinmetz fromGermany, the creator of television camera Vladimir Zworykin,.
the serb NikolaTesla who invented brushless electrical motor based on rotating magnetic fields.During World War II a lot of leading European scientists, many of them of Jewishdescent, fled to America from the regimes of their countries. One of the first to doso was Albert Einstein. After him a good percentage of Germany’s theoreticalphysics community left for the US as well This circumstance gave Americanscience in general and the American academy in particular a mighty boost.In the mid-1950s the US government gave huge investments to the sciencesector, which attracted scientists from all over the world to work there. Theresearch facilities in the US were second to none, and scientists were drawn tothe US for this reason alone. That led to the situation that since 1950, Americanshave won approximately half of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences.
(so far over 781).It is also worth mentioning that among the American Nobel Prize winners thereare not a few Russian former compatriots (over 60), who moved to the USAduring different periods of time and under different circumstances. Undoubtedly,they have left a considerable “Russian” trace both in American and the worldscience.
Alexander Seversky (1894-1974) was a designer of military aircraft.Among his ideas were the autopilot system disprove in the air. StepanTimoshenko (1878-1972)-scientist-metallurgist, the largest specialist in theworld of resistance materials. Nobel laureate economist Leontief, theinventor of television Zworykin, aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky, the greatophthalmologistElenaFedorovich,NinaFedorova-geneticist,academician of the National Academy of Sciences, physicist GeorgeGamow and many others.Being one of the few industrial countries not crashed by war, the US began tooccupy a position of unchallenged leadership in the post-war period. Althoughthe USA does not exercise a centralized science and technology policy, it isimpossible to say that there is absolutely no central monitoring of science andtechnology there. The Federal government spends huge amounts of moneyon science.
It is the main source of funding for fundamental research andthe biggest customer of military programs.Modern network of scientific organizations in the United States includesfederal financed research centers, state laboratories, private industrial firmsand non-profit organization. The US government maintains its own laboratories(such as the Oak Bridge National Laboratory, the National Research Laboratoryor the Brookhaven National Laboratory). The governmental and militarycontracts also encourage the growth of science-oriented industries (e.g.
BellLaboratories).Scientific organizations formally classified as “independent research institutes“but nicknamed as “Think Tanks” or “Brain Factories” were organized. The mainaims of TT or BF, attached to the Federal government and its Agencies by annualcontracts, are long-range analysis and ideas necessary for policy-making, problemsolving and decision-making. The largest of the “Think tanks” is the RANDCorporation (Research and Development). RAND employs a lot of prominentscholars: mathematicians, chemists, physicists, social scientists, computer expertsand others. The most important researches carried out by RAND are connectedwith military tasksThanks to large-scale federal sponsorship the nature of academic research hasgone a very substantial change.The American Academy of sciences occupies at present a whole quadrangle atConstitution Avenue in Washington D.C.
It has a great number of programs thatinclude the participation in international scientific undertakings, the developmentof relationships with other academies, cooperation in worldwide scientificproject. Although it does not maintain direct research programs of its own, as, forexample, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy plays its leading role invarious advisory governmental committees and determining scientific policymatters in general. The Academy also established a number of its Councils andFoundations.The National Research Council. NRC was intended to strengthen and enlargethe role of the Academy in public affairs by adding to its staff a much larger bodyof American scientists and engineers and acting as the center for intersocietyscientific activities.The National Science Foundation (NSF) is responsible for the progress of scienceacross astronomical, space, earth and ocean sciences; programs concerned withbiological and social sciences; investigations in engineering; encouraging thetraining of engineers at undergraduate and graduate levels through grants.
NSFsponsors work in mathematical sciences, computer research and chemistry;manages and funds the US activities in Antarctica. NSF also administers programsfor exchange with other countries of students, scholars and teachers.The American Physical Society (APS) pursues the mission “to advance anddiffuse the knowledge of physics”, to be active in public and governmental affairs,and in the international physics community. There is a long list of the names ofprominent American physicists awarded with different national and internationalprizes: Gorge Pullin working on gravitational waves, Kris Larsen, studyingastronomy and black holes, David Landau, the Director of the Center forSimulational Physics at the University of Georgia, Timothy Gay with his groupinvestigating polarized electron molecules (e.g.
DNA) and many others.The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964 as an organizationof distinguished engineers, sharing with the National Academy its responsibilityfor advising the Federal government.A great part of Research and Development is done at the US universities,sponsoredmainlythroughcontractsystems.The organization of research in universities is carried out in two forms: onthe basis of grants and contracts.
Universities conduct research not only intheir laboratories, but also in laboratories belonging to different governmentdepartments. The largest Federal research centers are managed undercontracts of University administration. An example is the Laboratory LincolnattheMassachusettsInstituteoftechnology.Thanks to the cooperation of University research with industry there is therapid growth of scientific and industrial complexes. Among such complexesthe most important are: the Cambridge-Boston, San Francisco, LosAngeles, Princeton and Houston.
Big science research is mainly funded notonly by the Federal government agencies and private business enterprises, butalso by some international organizations, e.g. UNESCO. A considerable part of themoney comes from the Pentagon, which remains the biggest supporter of newtechnologies and developments.One of the most spectacular-and controversial- accomplishments of US federaltechnology became the harnessing of nuclear energy. The development of theatomic bomb and its use against Japan in 1945 initiated the Atomic Age, a time ofanxiety over weapons of mass destruction. Fortunately, besides military aims, thesophisticated advantages of atomic energy led also to its peaceful uses ineconomy and medicine.Almost in tandem with the Atomic Age there has been running the Space Age.American scientist Robert Goddard was one of the first to experiment with rocketpropulsion systems even before the Second World War.
Характеристики
Тип файла PDF
PDF-формат наиболее широко используется для просмотра любого типа файлов на любом устройстве. В него можно сохранить документ, таблицы, презентацию, текст, чертежи, вычисления, графики и всё остальное, что можно показать на экране любого устройства. Именно его лучше всего использовать для печати.
Например, если Вам нужно распечатать чертёж из автокада, Вы сохраните чертёж на флешку, но будет ли автокад в пункте печати? А если будет, то нужная версия с нужными библиотеками? Именно для этого и нужен формат PDF - в нём точно будет показано верно вне зависимости от того, в какой программе создали PDF-файл и есть ли нужная программа для его просмотра.
![](https://s.studizba.com/z.php?f=/templates/si/i/noavatar.png&w=100&h=100&t=1"){kind=avatar}
