Dr. Sal Restivo
Professor of Sociology and Science Studies, RPI
Special Professor of Mathematics Education, Nottingham University, UK

I was a senior at Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957.  The news of Sputnik made a bigger splash at  our science and engineering school than in most high schools.  When the U.S. launched Explorer I (Satellite 1958 Alpha) on January 31, 1958, Brooklyn Tech was represented at the Cape Canaveral launch site.  We were informed, at an assembly as I recall, that the button launching Explorer had been pushed by a Brooklyn Tech graduate.  I have no independent way to verify this, but it became part of the mythology of Brooklyn Tech and its place in the history of American
science and engineering exploits.   Explorer was one result of the United
States' increased investment in science and engineering in the wake of
Sputnik.  That investment actually shows up as a "Sputnik blip" on most
graphic indicators of science and engineering funding and activities for
the period during which these initial space launches occurred.   The
increased investment in physical science, engineering, and mathematics
spilled over into the social sciences.  In 1965, I was awarded a three
year fellowship for graduate studies in Comparative Social Structures
under the National Defense Education Act.  I owe my doctorate in part to
the Sputnik blip.