Mansfield Amendment (1969): Difference between revisions

From 1945 to 1969, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) served as a primary sponsor of unrestricted basic research in universities, particularly in physics, mathematics, materials science, and computer science. Agencies such as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, established 1958), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and the Army Research Office provided long-term funding with minimal requirements for immediate applicability. This support enabled high-risk, curiosity-driven work, including developments in quantum field theory, general relativity, and early computing. Historians of science, such as Daniel Kevles and Paul Forman, have described this period as one of exceptional productivity in fundamental physics, supported by annual DoD basic research obligations that reached hundreds of millions of dollars (in then-year terms).

'''[https://www.gao.gov/assets/b-167034-d12080.pdf The Mansfield Amendment]''' (Section 203 of Public Law 91-121, enacted November 1969 and effective for FY1970) required that DoD-funded research demonstrate "a direct and apparent relationship to a specific military function or operation." This provision effectively prohibited support for purely basic research without clear, short-term military relevance. Subsequent legislation softened some restrictions, but the core change persisted.