Science A New Golden Age on Superphysics

Science A New Golden Age

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Mr. President:

81 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a letter to Vannevar Bush, tasking him with reorganizing America’s scientific enterprise after World War II. Bush’s response was a report, titled Science: The Endless Frontier. It established the Federal Government’s role in supporting basic science, led to the creation of the National Science Foundation, and shaped our nation’s science and technology strategy for decades afterward. That report was foundational to the American Century and to the technological world in which we live today. Now, as we celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, we have the responsibility to renew our foundations once more. Never have science and technology been more central to our nation’s security and prosperity, and, although America continues to set the pace of scientific progress, global competitors are racing to challenge our leadership. This historical moment demands that we modernize our institutions to match the achievements of our past and the ambitions of our future. In your letter of March 26, 2025, on the occasion of my Senate confirmation as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, you challenged me to reexamine America’s research and development ecosystem in light of changes brought on by the 21st century.

Revitalizing Americ's Science And Technology Enterprise

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

To reverse stagnation and restore breakthrough momentum, the Federal Government must free American scientists to do their best work. Federal funding in academia remains anchored to mid-century assumptions, channeled through traditional disciplines and overly focused on short, project-based grants. Review panels often gatekeep proposals by consensus, disincentivizing transformative ideas. Agencies face little corrective pressure when portfolios underperform.

Securing U.S. Dominance In Critical And Emerging Technologies

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

America has the world’s most vibrant scientific enterprise and most dynamic private sector, which routinely turns novel ideas into new industries. But scientific leadership alone does not guarantee national strength or economic vitality.

Ensuring That Science And Technology Better The Lives Of All Americans

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

America’s scientific creativity and entrepreneurial culture position us to translate breakthroughs into technologies that enrich every American’s life.

That enrichment should include the creation of manufacturing jobs, not just the development of consumer products. By rebuilding the link between science and hands-on craft, federal leadership can ensure that the economic returns of discovery, including the jobs, supplier networks, and process knowledge encoded in the hands of workers, accrue to Americans in every region of the country and every sector of the economy, sustaining our technological leadership for generations to come.

A New Golden Age

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

America stands at the cusp of a revolution in science, in which AI will accelerate discovery, multiply human cognitive capabilities, and unlock solutions to some of our greatest challenges. But “AI for science” will still find itself subject to the frictions and inefficiencies of human institutions. We can only fully harness AI and its associated productivity uplift by boldly reforming our scientific institutions, building national-scale infrastructure, and ensuring rigorous verification of the knowledge base from which AI will learn.

Our Researchers Face Mounting Challenges

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

These rapid changes demand that our institutions adapt. As will be addressed in Chapter II, significant portions of our federal funding apparatus remain anchored to outdated assumptions. This is not an indictment of the talented scientists and grantmakers who staff these bureaucracies, but a product of institutional inertia, born from the lack of market selection pressure that drives constant experimentation.

Adapting To The Changing Nature Of Science

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The 19th and 20th centuries witnessed a series of institutional innovations that ushered in a fertile era of discovery. The natural philosophy of earlier ages, where a single scholar might range freely across what we now call physics, chemistry, and biology, had given way to specialized disciplines. Each had its own departments, journals, and staff. This transformation, pioneered primarily in German universities during the 19th century, laid the foundation for scientific professionalization.

Driving Constant Innovation

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The foundation of this portfolio should be a metascience unit in each federal science agency. Each unit should be highly empowered, reporting directly to the director or administrator to ensure cross-agency visibility and guard against capture by particular programs or constituencies. Each unit should be staffed with researchers possessing expertise in the science of science, program evaluation, and data analysis, supplemented by rotating program officers who bring operational knowledge of how grants actually get made.

Our National Character

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Alexis de Tocqueville observed nearly two centuries ago of America that “boldness of enterprise is the foremost cause of its rapid progress, its strength, and its greatness.” He marveled at a society where social station was not fixed by birth, where citizens formed voluntary associations to solve problems rather than waiting for direction from above, and where the frontier, both physical and intellectual, beckoned those willing to take risks.116 That culture persists. Americans believe that merit deserves an opportunity to show itself, that free inquiry produces truth, and that individuals who build useful things deserve reward.

Adapting Our Institutions

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Our task is to build a scientific enterprise that maximizes the marginal returns to intelligence, which means confronting, clearly, the factors that constrain its work. Three stand out. The first is the speed of feedback. Particle physicists have devised myriad theories about our universe, but we currently lack the experimental data to distinguish among them. No amount of intelligence can conjure observations that do not yet exist.

Ushering in a New Golden Age of American Innovation

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

Ushering in a New Golden Age of American Innovation: Fiscal Year 2028 Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities

Annex: FY 2028 R&D Priorities Memo