Vannevar Bush was an American engineer and science administrator whose ideas and wartime leadership shaped both the early history of computing and the postwar organization of American scientific research. Starting in 1927 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bush built the differential analyzer, a large mechanical and electromechanical analog computer capable of solving complex differential equations with as many as eighteen independent variables, one of the most advanced calculating machines built before the electronic digital computer era. During the Second World War, Bush headed the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development, the federal agency through which nearly all American wartime military research and development was organized and funded, and in that role he was instrumental in initiating what became the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. In a widely read 1945 essay titled As We May Think, published in The Atlantic, Bush described a hypothetical device he called the memex, an imagined desk-sized machine that would let a user store, annotate and link together vast amounts of documents and information through associative trails the user created, an idea later recognized as a direct conceptual forerunner of hypertext and the World Wide Web. Bush's 1945 report to the president, Science, the Endless Frontier, also laid out the rationale and institutional model for sustained federal government funding of basic scientific research in peacetime, directly shaping the creation of the National Science Foundation.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account FieldSourced to the subject's own account Death PlaceSourced to the subject's own accountBelmont, Massachusetts, U.S. 1 NationalitySourced to the subject's own account Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own accountHeaded the Office of Scientific Research and Development in World War II and initiated the Manhattan Project 1 BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own accountEverett, Massachusetts, U.S. 1 Connections
Associated With
Source National Science Foundation (Wikipedia)
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1. Vannevar Bush (Wikipedia)
WikipediaEarly life section (birth year)
Vannevar Bush was born in Everett, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1890.
Early life section (birth date)
Vannevar Bush was born in Everett, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1890.
Early life section (birthplace)
Vannevar Bush was born in Everett, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1890.
death sentence (year)
After suffering a stroke, Bush died in Belmont, Massachusetts, at the age of 84 from pneumonia on June 28, 1974.
death sentence (date)
After suffering a stroke, Bush died in Belmont, Massachusetts, at the age of 84 from pneumonia on June 28, 1974.
death sentence (place)
After suffering a stroke, Bush died in Belmont, Massachusetts, at the age of 84 from pneumonia on June 28, 1974.
lead sentence (nationality)
Vannevar Bush (March 11, 1890 - June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including important developments in radar and the initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project.
lead sentence (field)
Vannevar Bush (March 11, 1890 - June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including important developments in radar and the initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project.
lead sentence (notable work)
Vannevar Bush (March 11, 1890 - June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including important developments in radar and the initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project.
View the Source National Science Foundation (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: National Science Foundation, History sectionQuote, Associated With: National Science Foundation, History section
Narratives about the National Science Foundation prior to the 1970s typically concentrated on Vannevar Bush and his 1945 publication Science, The Endless Frontier.
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