Pieces of the Action

Vannevar Bush (1890– 1974) was an engineer, inventor, and architect of public-sector funding for scientific research. As chairman of the US National Defense Research Committee and director of the US Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, he oversaw a wide-ranging R&D program that paired government funding with scientific research, resulting in the development of radar and the initiation of the Manhattan Project. He conducted foundational research in computer science, including the invention of the differential analyzer. He served as vice president of MIT and first dean of the MIT School of Engineering, president of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, and chairman of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. His 1945 essay “ As We May Think” in the Atlantic Monthly is credited with anticipating aspects of personal computing and the internet, while his government report Science, The Endless Frontier laid the groundwork for the founding of the National Science Foundation.