[LS]

Well, this was my point, that you can "control" and "drive" SOME innovation, but the genuine breakthroughs never come from leaders in the field (at least, none of the top 50 technological breakthroughs in the U.S. in the 20th century did, according to Burton Klein's rather thick study.)

[NukeMan]

Burton Klein, huh? Sounds interesting...do you have a link? Thanks!

[Physicist]

the genuine breakthroughs never come from leaders in the field (at least, none of the top 50 technological breakthroughs in the U.S. in the 20th century did, according to Burton Klein's rather thick study.)

Nuclear chain reactions surely must have made that list, but Enrico Fermi was already a world-famous physicist at the time he did it. Perhaps that loses on a technicality, however, as Fermi was reknowned as a theorist before he changed the world with his experiment.

The theory of superconductivity may not have made that list, although it arguably should have; John Bardeen had already received the Nobel Prize for the invention of the transistor (a strong contender for #1 on any list) when he, Cooper and Schrieffer developed it, earning him another Noble Prize.