Bush, Vannevar (1890–1974)
One of the most powerful members of the American scientific and technological
elite to emerge during World War II. An aeronautical and electrical engineer
on the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bush lobbied
to create and then headed the National Defense Research Committee in 1940
to oversee science and technology in the federal government, including the
initial stages of the atomic bomb project. Later, the Committee's name was
changed to the Office of Science Research and Development and Bush used
it as a means to build a powerful infrastructure for scientific research
in support of the federal government. He was president of the Carnegie Institution
(1938–55), and remained a strong force in shaping post-war science
and technology by serving on numerous federal advisory committees and preparing
several influential reports.
In the 1930s Bush and some of his students developed the Differential Analyzer,
which was one of the first analog computers.
Reference
- Petechuk, David. "Vannevar Bush." In Notable Twentieth-Century
Scientists, edited by Emily J. McMurray et al. New York: Gale Research,
1995, 285-88.
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