To the editor: What made America great?

A list of the great scientists and inventors of the past 250 years is dominated by Americans. There are dozens, but here is a sample: Benjamin Franklin, Eli Whitney, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Samuel Morse, Robert Fulton, Charles Goodyear, the Wright Brothers, Jonas Salk, Bill Gates, James Watson, and yes, some women: Maria Telkes (solar energy technology), Alice Parker (the gas furnace), Patricia Bath (cataract laser surgery), Jennifer Doudna (CRSPR 9 gene editing).