> Once people realized academics could be leveraged to do cool shit like build A-Bombs, it was over.

Arguably, it's the opposite. Once people realized academics could do this kind of cool shit, they got showered with money and told to do whatever the they want. That's how we got the incredible scientific and engineering advances of the second half of 20th century.

Then the beancounters started asking questions about what the money actually buys, and research quickly turned into another short-term, self-contained, profit-chasing game, starved for resources and only occasionally producing something actually useful.