[strikelaserclaw]

throughout history, depending on what country/civilization was at the top, a lot of scientific achievements came from there (egypt, china, india, Greece, rome, muslim cultures, portugal, england, france, germany, and finally usa etc...). I'm going to say a-lot of scientific innovation is sociological in nature. Meaning the confidence of a country is directly correlated to the amount it invests in scientific research and corresponding results. Once that confidence runs out, due to a host of reasons, the country falls into a decline and scientific pedigree moves to a different place.