Why does the government fund research at universities?

American universities are where people go to learn and teach. They're also where research and development happens. Over the past eight decades, universities have received billions in federal dollars to help that happen. Those dollars have contributed to innovations like: Drone technology. Inhalable Covid vaccines. Google search code. The Trump administration is cutting or threatening to cut federal funding for research. Federal funding for all kinds of science is at its lowest level in decades. Today on the show: when did the government start funding research at universities? And will massive cuts mean the end of universities as we know them? We hear from the man who first pushed the government to fund university research and we talk to the chancellor of a big research school, Washington University in St. Louis. He opens up his books to show us how his school gets funded and what it would mean if that funding went away. This episode is part of our series Pax Americana, about how the Trump administration and others are challenging a set of post-World War II policies that placed the U.S. at the center of the economic universe. Listen to our episode about the reign of the dollar. (https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/125019...) Find more Planet Money: Facebook (https://n.pr/3h92GwS) / Instagram (https://n.pr/3FqLuws) / TikTok (https://n.pr/3sGZdrq) / Our weekly Newsletter (https://n.pr/3zrFvUB) . Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts (http://n.pr/PM-digital) , Spotify (https://n.pr/3gTkQlR) , the NPR app (https://n.pr/3Bkb17W) or anywhere you get podcasts. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts (http://n.pr/PM-digital) or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney (https://n.pr/3HlREPz) . See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy (https://www.npr.org/about-npr/1798784...)