>Any idea how much the Federal R&D budgets for the past 50 years
>would come to in today's dollars?
The NSF's series begins in 1955. Between 1955 and 1996, federal R&D spending totaled $2.3 trillion in 1996 dollars, an average of 1.3% of GDP over the period. Of course, $2.3t sounds a lot more impressive than 1.3% of GDP, if you're looking for a gee-whiz figure.
Doug