While the American medical community has been making strides in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, the American public also has become more aware of the relationship between disease and personal behavior.

Running almost in tandem with the Atomic Age has been the Space Age. American Robert H. Goddard was one of the first scientists to experiment with rocket propulsion systems. In his small laboratory in Worcester, Massachusetts, Goddard worked with liquid o

As in physics and chemistry, Americans have dominated the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine since World War II. The National Institutes of Health, the focal point for biomedical research in the United States, has played a key role in this achievement

During the 19th century, Britain, France, and Germany were at the forefront of new ideas in science and mathematics. But if the United States lagged behind in the formulation of theory, it excelled in using theory to solve problems: applied science.