When the United States faced the looming threat of World War II in the 1930s, it bet big on science — and won. The nation invested billions of dollars in research at universities and in industry. That influx of funds led to multiple advances in weaponry, including the atom bomb. Less morally fraught innovations included radar, computer technologies and large-scale production of penicillin.
Near the war’s end, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked science advisor Vannevar Bush to chart a path forward. Bush said that investing federal dollars in training and supporting scientists and engineers would deliver a bigger payoff over time than focusing on a new weapon or product. The scientists’