Vannevar Bush

Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) was an American engineer and science administrator who coordinated wartime research and proposed the Memex, a conceptual machine for storing and linking information.

James B. Conant: An American chemist and university administrator who led Harvard University and advised the U.S. government during World War II. Conant worked with Bush in organizing wartime scientific research.
Memex: A proposed desk-sized information machine for storing documents and linking them through associative trails. Bush’s best-known design joined microfilm storage with user-created paths between documents.
MIT School of Engineering: The engineering school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Bush studied and later taught. Bush’s academic training and early career at MIT shaped his engineering and administrative approach.
Linear model of innovation: A model in which basic research leads to applied research, development, and practical innovation. Bush’s postwar case for basic research became closely associated with this policy model.
Personal computer: A general-purpose computer designed for use by an individual. Unlike a personal computer, the Memex was a speculative document machine, not a programmable computer.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: The 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. Roosevelt’s 1940 request to Bush helped establish the National Defense Research Committee.
National Defense Research Committee: A U.S. government organization established in 1940 to coordinate scientific research for national defense. Bush chaired this committee, which connected government needs with university and industrial laboratories.
Differential analyzer: An analog computing machine that solves differential equations using mechanical components. Bush helped develop this machine at MIT, establishing his reputation as an engineer.
Internet: A global system of interconnected computer networks that communicate using common protocols. Bush’s associative trails anticipated some conceptual features later found in networked information systems.
World Wide Web: A system of interlinked resources accessed over the Internet through web browsers. The Web links networked documents, while Bush imagined trails stored and followed on one user’s machine.

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