Bush, Vannevar
Inventor and adviser to U.S. presidents during World War II, Vannevar Bush (1890–1974), was born in Everett, Massachusetts, on March 11, and became a major architect of postwar science policy. He earned doctorates from both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where after a few years in industry he became professor and then dean of engineering. At MIT he also contributed to development of the "differential analyzer," a precursor of the computer. In 1938 he was elected president of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, DC, and then served as director of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), which provided oversight for federal science support from 1941 to 1947. Bush laterbecame involved in the private sector, serving as honorary chairman of the MIT Corporation from 1959 to 1971. He died in Belmont, Massachusetts, on June 30.
Policy Achievements
In 1940 Bush persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create the National Defense Research Committee, which was later subsumed under the OSRD. Arguing that success in World War II would depend largely on innovations in military technologies, Bush led the OSRD in coordinating the relationship between science, the military, and industry. Under his leadership, scientific research yielded vast improvements in military technologies such as the submarine and radar.
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