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clark_dent 18 hours ago

A good proportion of the older generations still disdain or mock Germany as nazis-in-waiting. There may be an end to the damage done to their global reputation, but it's not here yet 80 years down the line.

SideburnsOfDoom 18 hours ago | parent [-]

> There may be an end to the damage done to their global reputation, but it's not here yet 80 years down

Let's not forget that in the early part of the 20th century, Germany was the powerhouse of mathematics and sciences such as physics and chemistry, to the extent that top scientists basically had to learn German (1) and/or study in Germany (2).

How long did it take Germany to recover that preeminent position?

Its a trick question: they did not recover it.

1) https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/162/how-did-german-b...

2) e.g.

> In 1926, Oppenheimer left Cambridge for the University of Göttingen to study under Max Born; Göttingen was one of the world's leading centers for theoretical physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer#Early_ca...

ModernMech 18 hours ago | parent [-]

> to the extent that top scientists basically had to learn German

That reverberates even toady -- I had a physics professor who who learned German precisely because he wanted to read some original texts written by Boltzmann. Apparently he thought he was missing some nuance in the translations.