Immigrant influence: Shaping US innovation and scientific legacy

President Donald Trump caused controversy in British and New Zealand scientific circles by claiming that the splitting of the atom was an American achievement. In fact, this milestone was reached in 1917 by Ernest Rutherford, a British scientist of New Zealand origin, and a pioneer in nuclear physics.

There would be similar, if not greater, confusion in attributing all of Albert Einstein's successes to the United States. It's well known that he was born in Germany, yet not everyone is aware that he became an American citizen only in 1940. Before then, Einstein often visited the USA but published the General Theory of Relativity in 1915 while living in Berlin. He decided to permanently stay in the USA in 1933 following Hitler's rise to power.

It is unsurprising that Benjamin Franklin, one of the 18th-century Founding Fathers of the United States, was a descendant of immigrants. The immigrant community has been a significant force in American science throughout the country's 250-year history. Alexander Graham Bell, born in Scotland, moved to the USA in 1871 and invented the telephone in 1876, even before becoming a citizen. Joseph Henry, an American physicist of Scottish descent, constructed an early prototype of a direct current motor.

Misunderstandings can arise when people are unfamiliar with American history because nearly every American can trace foreign roots. Samuel Morse and Thomas Alva Edison were Americans for many generations, but the renowned Henry Ford was the son of immigrants from Ireland and Belgium. Similarly, Nikola Tesla, who was born in Serbia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was of immigrant origin.

Many scientists found success before arriving in the USA. John Ericsson, from Sweden, was one of the inventors of the propeller and the designer of the USS Princeton, the first American steam-powered ship. John von Neumann, a Hungarian-American scientist, developed foundational concepts for computer science in the 20th century.

Research from Harvard University shows that between 1880 and 1940, almost 20% of patents were filed by immigrants, a figure that has now risen to 30%. Immigrants tend to be both more productive and more innovative than US residents, despite earning lower incomes. Historically, 40% of American Nobel laureates are immigrants.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were periods of significant scientific advancement, with European science playing a vital role. However, political unrest encouraged emigration.

The Manhattan Project during World War II attracted many foreigners. Directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American whose family emigrated from Germany, the project involved contributors like Richard Feynman (of Polish-Russian Jewish descent), Enrico Fermi (from Italy), Edward Teller and Leo Szilard (born in Hungary), Stanislaw Ulam (from Poland), and Hans Bethe (from Germany), all of whom later became American citizens.

Following the Third Reich’s surrender and through Operation Paperclip, over 1,600 German scientists joined the USA, many from the rocket industry, led by Wernher von Braun. He played an essential role in NASA’s early years, particularly in developing the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo programme.

Many immigrants are among the founders of major tech companies such as Intel, Google, eBay, Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems, Apple, and Nvidia. However, the contributions of immigrants extend beyond big names. Foreigners join scientific communities and American companies, utilising their education and experience often gained abroad. In tech-related firms, immigrants make up approximately 25% of the workforce.

The percentage of doctorate holders in the USA who were not born there is even higher, approximately 57% (2024 data). About 30% of scientific and engineering personnel are foreigners (2020 data), with most coming from Asia, followed by the Americas outside the USA, and then Europe. Receiving a postdoctoral position does not automatically confer immigrant status; visa and residency requirements also play crucial roles. These matters are expected to become more challenging under the new president.

The strongest supporter of the current US President was not born on American soil. Elon Musk is originally from South Africa. At 17, he avoided mandatory military service by moving to Canada, where he began his studies before finishing in Philadelphia.

Musk’s path to success started in 2002 with the founding of SpaceX, now a dominant player in the private spaceflight market. That same year, he became an American citizen. His early achievements, like Zip2 and PayPal, which amassed significant wealth, were realised while he was an immigrant. Interestingly, he initially lacked a US work visa. In Trump’s America, Musk’s story might have unfolded differently. This led outgoing President Joe Biden to criticise Musk for double standards during his campaign.

The United States is often considered a prime location for developing tech-related businesses and commercialising scientific breakthroughs. This is due to factors such as economic stability, a robust investment system favouring private capital, and a supportive grants system, where private capital plays a negligible role.

A supportive legal system, conducive business environment, and a "science for society" ethos aid this development. Numerous universities and research centres, with budgets comparable to the entire science budgets of some states, provide an ideal setting for both scientific and commercial growth.

The USA exhibits stark contrasts. Despite heavy investment in science promotion, a sizeable portion of the population doesn't value it highly. The current president has backing from Musk and other technology leaders, like Sundar Pichai of Alphabet and Satya Nadella of Microsoft, who emigrated from India. These figures are among the "technology oligarchs," leaders in Big Tech who are influential in politics.

China has leveraged these cracks in the USA’s image, creating a welcoming scientific environment that attracts Chinese experts back home and lures American and European scientists to its institutions. Yet, the notion that the USA is losing its appeal for science and technology is exaggerated. In 2022, China allocated 2.5% of its GDP to research and development, while the USA spent 3.5%.

Donald Trump's decisions will shape the USA's role in global science, technology, and possibly space exploration in the coming years, potentially influencing the technological rivalry with China. The Stargate initiative, announced with OpenAI, plans to invest $600 (€570) billion in AI development by 2029. This plan was not enthusiastically endorsed by Elon Musk, who sees a lack of investors with such vast resources, although he is pleased with the president’s support for the Starship rocket project, which is expected to revolutionise space transport.