October 12, 2007
50 Years After Sputnik, America Sees Itself in Another Science Race
The government's latest push falls far short of its reaction to the Soviet satellite
Fifty years ago this month, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, an event that transformed American higher education. Americans felt threatened by the "red moon" overhead and communist know-how, and Congress supported a flurry of federal spending that helped to greatly expand the number of American research universities and scientists.
Today the country
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