I figure they had enough backing to attract some pretty good scientific talent. They must have at least made some progress in developing new technology.
I think they did, but put frankly, it wasn’t enough to end up with her actually living up to the hype. She was first, overeager to make a name for herself and she obviously had some serious mental problems that were going to manifest once her ‘view’ of reality was in fact reinforced through all of the hype/adulation that she received as a result of her good PR.