Spring 2025

Articulating to the public the value of government-funded research has always been critically important. Today, with big changes looming regarding how the U.S.A. funds science, articulating the value of science seems more important than ever.

One part of doing that lies in making it easy to find examples of the many benefits that research has brought. A searchable repository of easy-to-read, clearly explained examples of the many tangible benefits that have come from government-funded science should be invaluable. This would be a resource for anyone who is interested: for the public; for scientists; for journalists; for Congress, even, as decisions about scientific funding are debated.

The vision for this website is to build, through crowd-sourcing, as large a possible list of examples, which would be that resource. A resource where, for example, a high schooler in any state in our nation could find stories and pointers to world-class research carried out in their state. A resource where all our citizens can feel pride in the many inspiring achievements that federally-funded research has brought about. A resource where the enormous scope and number of advances that have been made can be appreciated.

While the site seeks to advocate for science in general, and for the value of government funding for science in particular, it is non-partisan, and follows a long tradition of bipartisan support for science in the U.S.A. The goal is simply to make it easy to find information about the value of science.

If you are a scientist (or even if you're not), please help us by contributing an example — whether large or small. And spread the word. Ask your friends and colleagues to also contribute an example. Together, let’s build an information resource we can all be proud of. And enjoy! There's so many great stories to share.

Summer 2025

In collecting examples of tangible benefits the US government has helped to create by funding research, one big challenge is tracking down information about who and what led to a given breakthrough. Often, there is one clear person or organization who led the charge in developing a technology, or one person who had a brilliant insight while being financially supported by the government. But in many cases, attributing credit is not so simple.

In reality, innovation is always the product of an accumulation of knowledge over the course of years of scientific study. For example, the invention of external defibrillators would not have happened without the understanding that the heart uses electricity to set its rhythm. Designing a genetic treatment for inherited blindness by targeting a dysfunctional gene depended on earlier work identifying that gene as critical to the visual cycle (also federally funded).

Although we do our best to give credit where credit is due, it is impossible to fully list every individual or research organization that has had some role in developing each example. We encourage readers to use the links associated with each page to read more about the history and to do their own research to gain a fuller sense of how federal funding was involved.

As an additional note, this point about pre-existing knowledge is particularly relevant to our goal of compiling federally-funded breakthroughs. One of the main benefits of federal funding is that it doesn’t have to be incentivized by for-profit financial gain. This means it can fund projects with the goal of building knowledge, rather than developing a product. For this reason, many of the products we benefit from in society that may not be listed on this site, actually did depend on federal funding, if you trace their scientific roots back far enough.