Bush, Vannevar

U.S. Scientist

1890–1974

Vannevar Bush, creator of the Differential Analyzer, facilitator of the Manhattan Project, and developer of the National Science Foundation, is best known today for his prophetic anticipation of hypertext in a 1945 Atlantic Monthly article entitled “As We May Think.”

Bush began his work in engineering with his 1913 master's thesis from Tufts College that culminated in the development of a Profile Tracer, a machine designed to measure distance over uneven terrain. After receiving his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1916, Bush briefly worked as an assistant professor at Tufts before returning to MIT as an associate professor of electrical engineering in 1919. He contributed to the technological development of the military in World War I, working on the problem of submarine detection for the navy. This military work presaged the major role that he would later play in the negotiations between the military, business, and science during and after World War II.

During the interwar period, Bush made significant advances in analog computing with the creation of the Differential Analyzer, a computer designed to compute differential equations. The first prototype of the Differential Analyzer was developed at the University of Pennsylvania. Later, the Rockefeller Foundation funded advancements on the Differential Analyzer, and with the help of mathematician Warren Weaver, the Rockefeller Differential Analyzer was created. Weighing 100 tons and consisting of 2,000 vacuum tubes and relays, 150 motors, and 200 miles of wire, the Rockefeller Differential Analyzer was rendered obsolete in the 1950s with the emergence of the digital computer.

After the Differential Analyzer, Bush began work on the Rapid Selector, an analog device that could quickly search microfilm for relevant information that could then be read by the user. Along with John H. Howard, Bush built and patented the Rapid Selector in 1938. Although the Rapid Selector attracted the interest of the Navy's Communication Security Group for the purpose of cracking Japanese codes, the machines were unsuccessful in Bush's eyes. In response to the need to break encrypted messages, Bush proposed a new device, the Comparator.

In 1939, Bush proposed to President Roosevelt that a committee be created to encourage military-related scientific exploration; the following year, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was created, with Bush installed as chairman. The NDRC can be credited with such wartime technologies as proximity fuses, designed to detonate explosives close to their target, as well as the application of RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) to aircraft detection. In 1941, Bush was appointed director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), a unit that focused scientific and technological resources on weapons development.

During World War II, Bush rose to national prominence as a regular adviser to President Roosevelt. Bush's own technological creations during the war continued with his work on antenna profiles and the calculation of artillery firing tables. However, his inventions took a back seat to his commitment to bring academic and scientific researchers together with the military. The epitome of the interconnectedness of the military and science can be seen in Bush's involvement in the top-secret Manhattan Project, which supervised the development and implementation of the atomic bomb.

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