Memorial Day in the US is the day we honor and remember those who have fought and died for our country in the armed forces. I think we should also remember the scientists whose efforts have also helped preserve freedom. Here’s just a few from WWII.
Robert Watson-Watt, a British scientist who pioneered the early development of effective radar.
Alan Turing, a British mathematician who contributed massively to Allied codebreaking efforts, possibly shortening WWII by a year or more.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American physicist, along with the other scientists of the Manhattan Project, who developed the atomic bomb. Though they have often been questioned for inventing such a terrible weapon, it would certainly have been developed eventually, probably by the Soviet Union years later. Their work in nuclear physics has also yielded many peaceful applications since that time.
Howard Florey, an Australian pharmacologist, who lead the development of the mass production of penicillin. This allowed treatment of many bacterial infections and saved many lives.
We owe them and thousands of other wartime scientists a great debt of gratitude.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Memorial Day « Twisted One 151’s Weblog // May 26, 2008 at 7:02 pm
[...] freedoms. From the VA webpage: Fact Sheet: America’s Wars. Matt at Built on Facts also reminds us of the wartime scientists who have, through their efforts, also helped to preserve our [...]
2 Dawna Watkins // Nov 12, 2008 at 9:28 pm
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