Science and technology in the United States See also: Technological and industrial history of the United States

Infrastructure

Science and technology

Main article: Science and technology in the United States

See also: Technological and industrial history of the United States

Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon.

The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late 19th century. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone. Thomas Edison's laboratory developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera.^[178] Nikola Tesla pioneered alternating current, the AC motor, and radio. In the early 20th century, the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds andHenry Ford popularized the assembly line. The Wright brothers, in 1903, made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight.^[179]

The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led many European scientists, including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann, to immigrate to the United States. During World War II, theManhattan Project developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age. The Space Raceproduced rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and computers. IBM, Apple Computer, and Microsoft refined and popularized the personal computer.

The United States largely developed the ARPANET and its successor, the Internet. Today, 64% of research and development funding comes from the private sector.^[180] The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor.^[181] As of April 2010, 77% of American households owned at least one computer, and 68% had broadband Internet service.^[182] 85% of Americans also own a mobile phone as of 2011.^[183] The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food, representing half of the world's biotech crops.^[184]