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
It was through the Second World War that most of us suddenlyappreciated for the first time the power of man's concentrated efforts to understand and control the forces of nature.We were appalled by what we saw.
Thus science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores, and consults the record of the race.
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.
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 has a simple faith, which transcends utility. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and that this is his mission.
Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and that this is his mission.
Publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record.
A belief may be larger than a fact.
Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.
The camera hound of the future wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut.
On the wisdom with which we bring science to bear in the war against disease, in the creation of new industries, and in the strengthening of our Armed Forces depends in large measure our future as a nation.
If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world