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visionary engineer
Vannevar Bush
[1890-1974]
![engineer Vannevar Bush [1890-1974] posed with pipe at the fireplace](images/VannevarBush-fireplace.jpg "engineer Vannevar Bush [1890-1974] posed with pipe at the fireplace") | short profile |
"The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it."
"Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that is the essence of our being.
None can define its limits, or set its ultimate boundaries."
"The scene changes but the aspirations of men of good will persist."
"There is no more thrilling experience for a man than to be able to state that he has learned something
that no other person in the world has known before him." (as quoted by Kenneth Franklin)
"To pursue science is not to disparage things of the spirit."
"A record, if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, it must be stored, and above all it must be consulted."
"A belief may be larger than a fact."
"Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic; it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation."
"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."
B I O
t e x t
h e r e
As head of NDRC and OSRD and science advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bush initiated the Manhattan Project,
and ensured that it received top priority from the highest levels of government.
Vannevar Bush entry at Wikipedia
incomplete Vannevar Bush Store at Amazon
Vannevar Bush credits at Internet Movie Database
Primary Works
incomplete Vannevar Bush Store at Amazon
Vannevar Bush's seminal essay "As We May Think" appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in July 1945, republished in an abridged version in LIFE Magazine in September 1945;
it may seem quaint today, but not too long ago it was required reading for library and information science students; in it Bush envisioned automated information retrieval
and a complex device called the Memex, and for that he has gained a place in history.
essay entry at Wikipedia
Vannevar Bush Research Symposium held at MIT in October 1995
available as free online etext at The Atlantic Monthly
Dynamic Diagrams distributed a sample of their product at the ACM SIGIR conference in 1995;
the content was a demo of Vannevar Bush's theoretical Memex system.
watch Memex animation video [11/2009 upload; 2:33] online at YouTube
¨ ¨
 | "Principles of Electrical Engineering: A First Course In Electrical Engineering" [John Wiley & Sons/Chapman & Hall, 1922] by William H. Timbie & Vannevar Bush Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [4/2014] for 99’ {sic} Forgotten Books 9x6 pb [6/2015] for $13.57 Andesite Press 9½x6 hardcover [8/2015] for $29.95 Forgotten Books 9x6 hardcover [2/2018] for $34.72 available as free online etext at Internet Archive |
 | "Operational Circuit Analysis" [1929] by Vannevar Bush, with an appendix by Norbert Wiener [1894-1964] John Wiley & Sons 7¾x5½ hardcover [1946] out of print/used John Wiley & Sons hardcover [1937] out of print/used |
 | "The Differential Analyzer: A New Machine For Solving Differential Equations" [1931] by Vannevar Bush The Franklin Institute hardcover [1931] out of print/scarce |
Other Works
"Science In A Changing World" [1936] by Vannevar Bush
address on 10 February 1936 at the annual dinner of the New York Patent Law Association at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City
Chairman, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 19401941
Chairman, National Defense Research Committee 19401941
Director, Office of Scientific Research and Development 19411947
Chairman, Research and Development Board 19471948
| Vannevar Bush was the force behind the establishment of the National Science Foundation [est. 1950]. The legislation creating the National Science Foundation was signed by President Harry S. Truman on 10 May 1950. official website entry at Wikipedia The National Science Board established the Vannevar Bush Award in 1980.
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Movies, Stageplays, Other Media
Vannevar Bush credits at Internet Movie Database
"A Trip Down Memory Lane" documentary short [1965] /tt0204001/
"On Our Way: U.S.A. - 1939-1942" (1973) /tt0071075/
episode of "The World At War" documentary TV series
"If You Love This Planet" documentary short (Jan 1982) /tt0084118/
filmed speech by anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott
"Majestic 12: UFO Coverup" (2004) /tt0545739/
episode of the "Conspiracy?" (TV Series
Works About Vannevar Bush
listen to British spoken word profile [1/2016 upload; 11:29] online at YouTube
watch short 'Particularly MIT' video [4/2016 upload; 4:39] online at YouTube
"The Beginning or The End" [M.G.M. Feb 1947]
 | Billed as a docudrama; the story of the atomic bomb; film's U.S. theatrical trailer masqueraded as an M.G.M. short subject with the title 'The Inquiring Reporter' Produced by Samuel Marx; directed by Norman Taurog; written by Robert Considine & Frank Wead; art direction by Cedric Gibbons & Hans Peters; starring Brian Donlevy {as Gen. Groves}, Robert Walker, Tom Drake, Beverly Tyler, Audrey Totter, Hume Cronyn {as J. Robert Oppenheimer}, Hurd Hatfield, Joseph Calleia {as Enrico Fermi}, Godfrey Tearle {as Pres. Roosevelt}, Victor Francen, Richard Haydn, Jonathan Hale {as Vannevar Bush}, John Litel, Henry O'Neill, Warner Anderson, Barry Nelson {as Paul Tibbetts Jr.}, Art Baker {as Pres. Truman}, Ludwig Stφssel {as Albert Einstein}, John Hamilton, Frank Ferguson {as James B. Conant}, Tom Stevenson, John Gallaudet {as Leo Szilard}, Nella Walker, Edward Earle, Moroni Olsen, Norman Lloyd, Jim Davis, Charles Trowbridge, Frank Wilcox, Henry Hall, Paul Harvey, James Bush {as Ernest O. Lawrence}, Trevor Bardette, Blake Edwards, Bobby Jordan, Tommy Kelly, Patricia Medina, Chris-Pin Martin, Guy Williams {as bombardier on the Enola Gay}
Warner Archive Collection b&w DVD-R [9/2015] for $16.38 full credits at IMDb watch official 'Inquiring Reporter' trailer [1/2014 upload; 5:05] online at YouTube |
 | "From Memex To Hypertext: Vannevar Bush and The Mind's Machine" [1991] Edited by James M. Nyce & Paul Kahn Academic Press 9x6 hardcover [12/91] for $72.95 |
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"Information and Secrecy: Vannevar Bush, Ultra, and The Other Memex" [1994] by Colin Burke, Foreword by Michael Buckland Scarecrow Press 8¾x6 hardcover [6/94] out of print/ SOLD OUT ! |
 | "Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of The American Century" [1997] by G. Pascal Zachary The M.I.T. Press 9¼x6 pb [6/99] out of print/used Free Press 9¾x6¾ hardcover [9/97] out of print/used |
Image Gallery
Family & Friends
Vannevar Bush was born in March 1890 in Everett, Massachusetts, and died in June 1974 at aged 84 in Belmont, Massachusetts.
wife Phoebe Clara Davis Bush [] married in August 1916
son Richard Davis Bush
son John Hathaway Bush
L i n k s
Vannevar Bush entry at Wikipedia
incomplete Vannevar Bush Store at Amazon
Vannevar Bush credits at Internet Movie Database
here on the Vannevar Bush [1890-1974] Page at Spirit of America Bookstore
top of page short profile primary works other works works about Vannevar Bush
movies, plays, other media image gallery family & friends links
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