摘要 : From time to time, the U.S. government has initiated aparticularly large, ambitious program, not as part of the normal R&Dprocess, which tries to anticipate future needs, but in direct responseto an immediate known national need. ... 展开 From time to time, the U.S. government has initiated aparticularly large, ambitious program, not as part of the normal R&Dprocess, which tries to anticipate future needs, but in direct responseto an immediate known national need. Such programs began with theidentification of a compelling goal, then created and applied knowledgeand expertise for the purpose of achieving it. In some cases, thisapproach led to remarkably successful accomplishments for the UnitedStates and at the same time gave a very large impetus to both theapplication and development of technology. There are two apparentreasons for the technological benefit. First, the suitability of therelated research and development was guaranteed by its directassociation with the goal, so the problem of agreeing on allocationcriteria was avoided. And second, having the stated goal constantly inview made it safer to make larger investments, perform bolder researchand development activities, and generally surpass in scope and speed theaccomplishments that would have resulted from incremental, ad hocactivities. It is natural to ask what factors made these programssuccessful. One characteristic of these successful U.S. programs is thatthey call on the utmost creative capability of the nation to accomplisha task of great importance to the country. The author considers thehistory of these programs, the manner in which they were accomplished,how each one was conceived, how it was conducted, and how it advancedthe state of society through technology 收起