American researchers completed a clean sweep of the 2006 Nobel science prizes, extending a dominance that has held for decades. Of the 513 individuals awarded science Nobels since 1901, 232 have been US citizens. Americans have shared or won the medicine prize in 17 of the past 20 years, have claimed chemistry honors every year since 1992, and have taken physics in all but one year over the past 13.
Analysts attribute the record largely to spending. In 2004, the United States invested 301.5 billion dollars in research and development, surpassing the combined totals of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. That money funds well-equipped laboratories and attracts top researchers from around the world.
Peter Bowler, a science historian at Queen's University in Belfast, said America draws the brightest minds globally: "They just flock there." One French cardiologist moved to Emory University in Atlanta in 2003 after finding per-capita research funding there was triple what he received in France.
Beyond money, experts point to an open campus culture, free exchange of findings, tolerance for unconventional thinking, and the absence of political persecution as factors difficult to replicate elsewhere. Concerns remain about declining domestic science graduates and ethical disputes hampering life-sciences research, but no clear challenger to US scientific leadership has yet emerged.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.