Vannevar Bush was an American engineer, scientist, politician, and visionary who made vital contributions to academia, industry, and government. He played a pivotal role in transitioning the US from wartime research to civilian research, and his work influenced many scientists, including Claude Shannon and Douglas Englebart. Bush was a professor at MIT, developed the differential analyzer and the Memex, and served as chairman of the President’s National Defense Research Committee. He proposed the creation of the National Science Foundation and is considered one of the greatest champions of science in the 20th century.
Dr. Vannevar Bush (March 11, 1890 – June 30, 1974) was a 20th-century American engineer, scientist, politician, and visionary. Throughout his life, he made vital contributions to academia, industry and the highest levels of government.
Vannevar Bush played a pivotal role in helping the United States transition from wartime research during World War II 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. Bush received 18 honorary degrees from American universities; special recognition or awards from 3 American presidents; he has served as chairman or director on the boards of numerous private and government science and technology organizations; and helped found the National Science Foundation.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1890, Bush graduated from Tufts College in 1913 with a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering. Soon after, he began teaching math and electrical engineering at Tufts College. Between 1916 and 1917 he earned degrees in engineering from both Harvard and MIT. Between 1913 and 1917 it was he with the test department of General Electric and as an inspector for the US Navy; and during World War I he worked on submarine detection.
In 1919, Bush joined the electrical engineering department of MIT. In 1923 he was appointed professor of electric power transmission. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Bush and his students developed the differential analyzer, a mechanical device that used a variety of complex gears and other analog instruments to solve differential equations with up to 18 variables . This was inspired by Charles Babbage’s difference engine and was an obvious forerunner of the modern digital computer.
In 1932, Vannevar Bush was named vice president of MIT and dean of the School of Engineering. Throughout the 1930s, he focused on the information storage capacity of microfilm, and in 1938 he developed and patented a device called a quick selector, another forerunner of computers and the Internet. This device moved quickly between microfilm cartridges, displaying their contents on a screen. He referred to this as a “device in which an individual stores all his books, records and communications and which is mechanized so that it can be accessed with extraordinary speed and flexibility.” This device became commonly known as the Memex.
Vannevar Bush was elected president of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, DC, in 1938, one of the largest scientific institutions in the world at the time. He influenced President Roosevelt to focus more attention on science, creating a relationship between science and government that persists to this day. In 1940 he was appointed chairman of the President’s National Defense Research Committee, which oversaw the Manhattan Project and many other major research projects during World War II. At the end of the war, Bush proposed the creation of a fundamental alliance between government, business and academia, which ultimately led to the creation of the National Science Foundation.
Vannevar Bush is considered by many to be the best engineer of the 20th century and the greatest champion of science since Einstein.
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