Austria-Hungary without a World War I: a physics superpower?

[David T]

Seen on the Web:

Seriously, consider a few of the great physicists and mathematicians from Austria-Hungary:

Leo Szilard - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

John von Neumann - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Edward Teller - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Erwin Schrödinger - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Kurt Gödel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Richard von Mises - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Philipp Frank - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In a no-WW1 timeline,with Austria-Hungary surviving (whether it was destined to break up even without a world war is of course a question but let's just assume such a breakup was not inevitable) could we even have a Habsburg A-Bomb? (Of course some of the scientists mentioned might find greener pastures in a presumably continuing Wilhelmine Germany--indeed some of those mentioned worked in Germany before Hitler's rise to power.)

 

[Sarthak]

Austria-Hungary was the center of electrical engineering throughout the world before ww1. It's pretty obvious they had some well learned physicists. And yes probably vienna would become hub for physics. It almost was otl.

 

[The Tai-Pan]

I wonder how many of those men would still have emigrated anyway, to richer lands. Say a richer and stable Germany or the United States. Those nations will have more scope for them, anyway.

 

[Marko]

While the country as a whole was poorer than Germany or the US, I do not think A-H would fall behind in providing incentives for these people to stay.

 

[marathag]

While the country as a whole was poorer than Germany or the US, I do not think A-H would fall behind in providing incentives for these people to stay.

Besides the whole not putting Jews into Camps thing, like 'Greater Germany' after 1938

 

[Nelson Mikeson]

Seen on the Web:

View attachment 648227

Seriously, consider a few of the great physicists and mathematicians from Austria-Hungary:

Leo Szilard - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

John von Neumann - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Edward Teller - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Erwin Schrödinger - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Kurt Gödel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Richard von Mises - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Philipp Frank - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In a no-WW1 timeline,with Austria-Hungary surviving (whether it was destined to break up even without a world war is of course a question but let's just assume such a breakup was not inevitable) could we even have a Habsburg A-Bomb? (Of course some of the scientists mentioned might find greener pastures in a presumably continuing Wilhelmine Germany--indeed some of those mentioned worked in Germany before Hitler's rise to power.)

Keeping Nikola Tesla in Austria-Hungary would also help it.

 

[Gancio The Ranter]

yeah, that's a tral possibility, but a think AH would be a scientific and industrial powerhouse in general, whether the A bomb would be built there or not is a metter of politics. Something like the Manhattan project would be inpossible in peace time, even for the US or Germany, so I think that commercial reactors would be built before any kind of nuclear armament.

 

[Gancio The Ranter]

While the country as a whole was poorer than Germany or the US, I do not think A-H would fall behind in providing incentives for these people to stay.

AH was among the fastest growing countries in Europe, and AH had a nice georgraphy and enough resources to turn the country into an industrial powerhouse comparable to Germany.

 

[mrmandias]

Aha, I know what you read on the web.

 

[David T]

Keeping Nikola Tesla in Austria-Hungary would also help it.

True, but Tesla emigrated as early as 1884. It would also have helped if Isidor Rabi's parents had stayed in Austria-Hungary instead of moving to America not long after his birth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidor_Isaac_Rabi But I am only counting post-World War I emigrants.