Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bushwas an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project. He is also known in engineering for his work on analog computers, for founding Raytheon, and for the memex, a hypothetical adjustable microfilm viewer with a structure analogous to that of hypertext. In 1945, Bush published the essay...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth11 March 1890
CityEverett, MA
CountryUnited States of America
Basic scientific research is scientific capital.
The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, [but] the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in the days of square-rigged ships.
Thus science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores, and consults the record of the race.
To pursue science is not to disparage things of the spirit.
Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that isthe essence of ourbeing.None candefine its limits, or set its ultimate boundaries.
The scene changes but the aspirations of men of good will persist.
Putting a man in space is a stunt: the man can do no more than an instrument, in fact can do less. There are far more serious things to do than indulge in stunts. . . . I do not discard completely the value of demonstrating to the world our skills. Nor do I undervalue the effect on morale of the spectacular. But the present hullabaloo on the propaganda aspects of the program leaves me entirely cool.
As long as scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems.
Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of free intellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner dictated by their curiosity for exploration of the unknown.
The difficulty seems to be, not so much that we publish unduly in view of the extent and variety of present -day interests, but rather that publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record.
There will always be plenty of things to compute in the detailed affairs of millions of people doing complicated things.
Presumably man's spirit should be elevated if he can better review his shady past and analyze more completely and objectively his present problems.
The responsibility for the creation of new scientific knowledge - and for most of its application - rests on that small body of men and women who understand the fundamental laws of nature and are skilled in the techniques of scientific research. We shall have rapid or slow advance on any scientific frontier depending on the number of highly qualified and trained scientists exploring it.
Science can be effective in the national welfare only as a member of a team, whether the conditions be peace or war. But without scientific progress no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation in the modern world.