Ummm...The transistor, that nifty little thing that allowed Mr. Easterbrook to type his article, forget post it for public consumption on the internet, was invented/created through the government funding allocated to Bell Labs. In fact, the process took so long, and the expense was so high, to develop a working prototype that I would argue no company with shareholders or a (entirely reasonable) piercing eye at it's bottom line would have ever undertaken the process. And there will never be a windmill created that is more important than the transistor.

Sometimes the best, and most important, research and development is done WITHOUT an eye towards the bottom line.

Regards,

Jay Doyle