Roosevelt to the director of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development.

FORBES: Trips To Mars And RoboSquirrels Are Great, But They're Not The Job Of Government

Before he died (and before the first ignition in New Mexico), he wrote a letter to Vannevar Bush, director of the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development, which oversaw building of the atomic bombs.

FORBES: Big Science, Big Government