Ever wonder where mainstream science fiction acquired the trope of "a highly advanced civilization whose discoveries were ignored by primitive surrounding peoples until it abruptly faded into obscurity, only to be discovered and plundered by intrepid explorer heroes?" The answer is probably "from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center."
Xerox PARC saw the development of graphical user interfaces, computer mice, and, oh, I don't know, everything that distinguishes the machine you're reading this on from UNIVAC. However, Xerox sat on these technologies for almost a decade without producing a desktop microcomputer, ceding the field to upstarts such as Apple. Apple executives arranged a deal in which Xerox got a chance to buy into the company exchange for opening PARC to Apple's engineers; Apple used the opportunity to copy Xerox's technology for its own use. Xerox would, much later, wade into the 1994 Apple-Microsoft lawsuit in an attempt to assert that Apple had stolen its intellectual property, but a judge ruled that the statute of limitations was long past.
Now, Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world, and Xerox, um, makes photocopiers. Sorry, guys!
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