Who Was Vannevar Bush?
Dr. Vannevar Bush (March 11 1890 — June 30 1974) was an American engineer, scientist, politician, and visionary of the 20th century. Throughout his lifetime, he made vital contributions to academia, industry, and the highest levels of government. Vannevar Bush played a critical role in helping the United States transition from wartime research during WWII to research with applications in the civilian domain. His students and those he influenced, including Claude Shannon, Douglas Englebart, and many others, went on to contribute great things to science and the world, such as information theory and hypertext. Vannevar Bush received 18 honorary degrees from American universities; special recognition or awards from 3 American presidents; served as chairman or director on the boards of numerous private and governmental science and technology-related organizations; and helped found the National Science Foundation. Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1890, Vannevar Bush graduated from Tufts Col
Bush became well known in the 1930s for creating one of the most well known analog computers, at the MIT Electrical Engineering department. It was called the “Differential Analyzer” a machine invented to help solve differential equations (see Paul Edwards, Closed World p. 46ff for more details). During WWII, he oversaw the creation of a variety of different calculating devices for use in the war effort: fire control tables for anti-aircraft guns, calculations for radar data. He was head of the Office of Scientfic Research and Development during the war – a government office that Bush eventually helped transform into the National Science Foundation. Bush was a great politician as well as a scientist; we speak often today of “basic research” but it was a concept no one used before Bush argued that it should be the Government’s responsibility to fund it. His famous phrase: “Science, the endless frontier.
