[jveritas]

The ion engine is still a concept on paper thus it is not an invention until we have a real one. This concept was first introduced in the US many years ago and I bet you that if it will become a real thing it will be first built here in the US and not anywhere else. Regarding the Internet, it was used first by the US military in the 60's and came into limited civilian use in the 80's and it was not made world wide until the US made it so in the early 90's. Anyone who claim invention, developing or spreading of the Internet other than the US is living in a fantasy world of delusions.

[dead]

The ion engine is still a concept on paper thus it is not an invention until we have a real one.

Only the European ion engine is still a concept on paper.

The US launched Deep Space One in 1998 with an ion propulsion engine built by Hughes Space and Communication. It was the first craft to use an ion drive as its primary propulsion. It successfully rendezvoused with two asteroids and outperformed all expectations on a mission that was extended twice.

[Jordi]

Same for the telephone. You say it was invented by Graham Bell didn'you? Inventions are not created from cosmic vacuum. Sometimes there are parallel developments ,other times a "new" invention is simply an add-on to older ones. Usually packing up known technologies with improvements is "inventing". If I were a Nazi nostalgic I would say the US-USSR space race of the 60's started with rocket technology stolen from the Nazis,and in the early years the Soviets made a better use of it (remember Sputnik?).

A better measure of technology developments than listing up inventions is how many things you do and at what cost.

[dead]

I should add that I have little doubt that, despite the success of Deep Space One (which was retired in 2001), the Europeans will "invent" the ion propulsion system in a decade or so.

[toadthesecond]

The ion drive was tested in space on the Russian Zond probe wasn't it?

[propertius]

The worldwide web was invented by the Brits.