Question - Not sure about forum placement

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a homework assignment that prompts participants to consider the implications of restricting immigration to the USA in 1905, specifically focusing on a scientist, mathematician, or engineer whose absence would have altered their achievements and the world today. The scope includes historical analysis and speculative reasoning regarding the impact of immigration on scientific progress.

Discussion Character

  • Homework-related
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests Einstein as a potential subject but expresses difficulty in finding alternatives.
  • Another participant lists Igor Sikorsky, Wernher Von Braun, and Enrico Fermi as possible figures to explore.
  • A participant argues that these individuals would likely have found alternative routes to the US, such as through Canada, questioning the premise of the assignment.
  • Another participant expresses skepticism about the teacher accepting the idea of individuals circumventing immigration restrictions by going to Canada.
  • A participant humorously reflects on their personal connection to the topic, stating that their existence would be affected by such immigration policies.
  • One participant provides a detailed account of Fermi's life, highlighting his unique experiences and contributions to physics, suggesting he would be a compelling subject for the paper.
  • Another reiterates the idea that individuals would still reach the US via Canada, expressing a critical view of the immigration scenario presented in the assignment.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the assignment's premise, with some arguing that the selected figures would still have made it to the US through alternative routes, while others focus on the implications of their absence. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best approach to the assignment.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the teacher's expectations and the implications of the assignment's hypothetical scenario, which may depend on interpretations of historical immigration patterns.

dtl42
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I am not sure where to put this. Its for homework, but its a research paper. we have this topic

"If in 1905 we had closed out American borders and ended immigration to our shores, choose one scientist, mathematician, engineer, or architect that would have been prevented from coming to the USA. Explore how this would have affected their acheivements, and how the world would be different today?"


I thought of Einstein immediately, but sinceforth have been stumped for ideas. Any help? I really want to do a scientist, mathematician or engineer, not so much an architect. The paper has to be around 6-8 pages long so I also need to find information on them fairly easily.


PS - I am sorry about not knowing where to post this, If it needs to be moved somewhere more appropriate, please direct me on how to move it.
 
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Off the top of my head:

Igor Sikorsky
Wernher Von Braun
Enrico Fermi
 
None. They would all go to Canada and then the US.
 
Some how I don't think my english teacher will accept that, or she'll say "explain how going through Canada changed their lives, and in turn the world" or something crazy like that. Or they would go through mexico, and prolly not make it to the US
 
Ooh, pick me, pick me! I would have never been born had that happened, because my grandmother would not have been in the US, but my grandfather would have been, so my mom would have never been born, and thus I would have never been born. :biggrin:

Oh, your teacher is probably looking for someone a little more famous than me. :redface: :frown:
 
Fermi has a great story. Under Mussolini's regime he was given the title of "His Excellency" (Sua Eccelenza) - a title he was very embarrassed about, and once announced to the guards that he was His Excellency's driver, in order to enter the premises of a party thrown for him. Then there's the priceless story about Fermi learning to speak English through reading Winnie the Pooh stories and naming many of his instruments after Pooh characters. And finally, there's the whole saga of the chain reaction (don't miss the bit about the code phrase "The Italian navigator has landed in the New World"). Add to all this, the incredible physicist that Fermi was (among the preciously tiny handful that were both excellent experimentalists as well as brilliant theorists) and his contributions to the tapping of nuclear energy as well as the fundamental physics of Fermionic systems (eg: semiconductors) and you've got yourself a great deal of really neat stuff to write about.
 
JasonRox said:
None. They would all go to Canada and then the US.

Go canda. taking in all the people we are too lazy to help
 

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