Sputnik moment

English 2016 October 4 thumb|A model of Sputnik 1 at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., USA Etymology A reference to the Soviet Union's launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 which caught the US unprepared. The event ignited the Space Race during the Cold War, and led to the US successfully launching Explorer 1 into space in 1958. Pronunciation en /ˈspʊtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/ /ˈspʌtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/ RP en /ˈspʊtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/ /ˈspʌtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/ GA en en-au-Sputnik moment.ogg AU en Sput nik mo ment Noun Sputnik moment The moment when a country or a society realizes that it needs to catch up with apparent technological and scientific developments made by some other country or countries by increasing its investment into education, innovative research and development, etc. en iPhone moment en wake-up call en http://www.nlconference.org/docs/Holts_remarks.doc 4 w:Rush Holt 22 June 2004 Immediately after September 11, 2001, Americans found themselves again facing a Sputnik moment. They realized that they were caught flat-footed, unprepared to confront Al Qaeda terrorists. Suggested Remarks for Rep. Rush Holt: Is American Security Being Lost in Translation? National Language Conference, U.S. Department of Defence 4 October 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20081227230528/http://www.nlconference.org/docs/Holts_remarks.doc 27 December 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR2005052501812.html 25 May 2005 Robert J. Samuelson Sputnik Scare, Updated Americans are having another Sputnik moment: one of those periodic alarms about some foreign technological and economic menace. It was the Soviets in the 1950s and early 1960s, the Germans and the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and now it's the Chinese and the Indians https://web.archive.org/web/20250223180643/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR2005052501812.html 23 February 2025 en w:Barack Obama; Jon Favreau, speechwriter Remarks by the President in State of Union Address https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-state-union-address https://web.archive.org/web/20160506185049/https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-state-union-address 6 May 2016 White House Office of the Press Secretary, WhiteHouse.gov 5 January 2011 Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn't exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. Claire Cain Miller Computer studies made cool, on film and now on campus http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/technology/11computing.html https://web.archive.org/web/20110611111454/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/technology/11computing.html 11 June 2011 11 June 2011 "It's a national call, a Sputnik moment," said Mehran Sahami, associate chairman for computer science education at Stanford, referring to the Soviet satellite launching in 1957 that pushed the United States into the space race. en Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen may have said it best. "DeepSeek-R1 is AI's Sputnik moment," he posted to X on Sunday, referring to the satellite which kicked off the space race. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd643wx888qo https://web.archive.org/web/20250128051611/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd643wx888qo 28 January 2025 Lily Jamali China's DeepSeek AI shakes industry and dents America's swagger w:BBC News Online 28 January 2025 en Cold War