The following graphs illustrate the time history of funding of various science agencies in the US. We begin with the big picture:



Before the NSF was founded in 1950 under the National Science Foundation Act, the US Department of Defense (DOD) funded much of the nation’s scientific research. The National Science Foundation (NSF) gave academics a voice in determining how research was funded. Academic oversight and peer review have always been critical aspects of NSF function. NSF funding has changed only a number of times since its origin

• The SLM moment as seen in yellow above
• In 1982, President Reagan cut the NSF budget for all education funding except for graduate fellowships.
• In 1988, the NSF Authorization Act, also signed by Reagan, doubled its budget over 5 years (NSF).
• In 1998 the NSF advanced a number of new initatives (including the previously mentioned KDI approach) which temporarily caused steady budget increase.
  
  
• Then around 2014 a series of bills were introduced by Republicans that targeted specific research awards and programs and claimed that NSF had spent taxpayer dollars on research grants with little merit. The bills insisted that government-funded research should only be directed towards strengthening the economy, national defense, or advancing the health and welfare of the country. However, Democrats and members of the scientific community interpreted the language and provisions of these bills as an indication of mistrust and hostility towards the scientific community and as a lack of appreciation for basic scientific research. These bills and battles eventually shaped the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA) of 2017.
  
  
  
  Now over the years the NSF has evolved to its own set of "directorates" that now don't talk to one another (Just like a Unversity has its own departments)
  
  
  
  

  NASA Funding:

  
  
  
  
  
  • 2018 = 0.5
  • 2019 = 0.47
  • 2020 = 0.48
  
  
  
  
  And yes, the FY2021 budget once again shows that NASA is NOT A SCIENCE AGENCY
  
  
  
  NOAA Funding = a Political Victim
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Comparative Summary:

  
  
  
  
  
• There was a "high period" 2004-2012 and are now about 10% less than that high period
• The high period was about twice as much as 1976; the number of PHD scientists in the US in 2010 indeed was wabout 2x (30 vs 15).
  
  
  
  But, the number of international S&E PHDs working in US intitutions as substantially higher now.
  
  And now the red line is creeping up again:
  
  University Research
  
  
• Federal Funding declining slightly
• Rich Private Universities do better (gray)
• Essentially Universities as a place to do research have had flat budgets last 10 years i.e. not growing.
• Historically Biology,etc departments generate the bulk of University "Overhead" (more on this later)