Pynchon-related, real world

[Mark Kohut]

It's mid-century in America. Exactly 1950 and
the Atomic Energy Commission and the military between
them accounted for some 90 percent of all federal dollars going
into scientific research and training......*Time *
magazine wondered whether the military was "about to take over US
science lock, stock and barrel, calling the tune for US universities and
signing up the best
scientists for work fundamentally aimed at military results."
.......federal R &D expenditures
were up almost 50% from 1946.....half from DoD, another 40% from the AEC.