"Hand the little lady a cigar!  Dr. Mary Jane Lyle Smith.  She knew she had something important, even though development work remained to be done on it.  So before she left on the expedition, she applied for a dozen odd basic patents and placed it all in a corporate trust - not a non-profit corporation, mind you - then assigned control and interim income to the Science Foundation.  So eventually the government got control of it - but your friend with the face of an angel owns it.  No possible doubt.  It's worth millions, maybe hundreds of millions; I couldn't guess."