I think the original in this was C S Lewis’s That Hideous Strength. Lewis was not a fan of modern science, and in his book unwitting scientists are guided to provide a conduit for the forces of evil to try to take over England. It is, in places, quite a good satire on the British upper classes and the inability of academics to withstand the offer of money and status. But there’s a whole lot of junk in there too and it doesn’t read too well nowadays. (Nor to my mind does Heinlein and for similar reasons.)
However, there’s a detached functioning head in there along with a psychopathic coterie who think they are in charge but are in fact being used by the forces of evil, so the parallels are obvious.
