Vannevar Bush

American electrical engineer and science administrator (1890-1974) · United States · On the map · Scientists · Died at 84

Vannevar Bush was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including important developments in radar and the initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project.

Vannevar Bush is read about 585 times a day, in 45 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 10 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2004National Inventors Hall of FameAward1974Died28 June 19741966National Academy of Engineering Founders AwardAward1963National Medal of ScienceAward1953John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of ScienceAward1951John Fritz MedalAward1949IRI MedalAward1946Washington AwardAward1945NAS Public Welfare MedalAward1943Edison MedalAwardHolley MedalAwardJohn Scott AwardAward1935IEEE Lamme MedalAward1928Louis E. Levy Medal of the Franklin InstituteAward1923Fellow of the American Physical SocietyAward1890Born11 March 1890

People around Vannevar

Also in Deutsch Français

Media & music

Photos 11

Bush with the product integraph, predecessor to the differential analyzer (1927)

In 1932, Compton appointed Bush as MIT's Vice President

Bush attending a meeting at the University of California, Berkeley in 1940. From left to right: Ernest O. Lawrence, Arthur H. Compton, Bush, James B. Conant, Karl T. Compton, and Alfred L. Loomis

Bush chairing the first NDRC meeting (July 2, 1940)

Cut away diagram of the proximity fuze Mark 53

Left to right: Vannevar Bush, James B. Conant, Major General Leslie Groves and Colonel Franklin Matthias at the Hanford Site in July 1945

Bush conceived the encyclopedia of the future as having a mesh of associative trails running through it, akin to hyperlinks, stored in a memex system.

Awards

National Inventors Hall of Fame2004

National Academy of Engineering Founders Award1966

National Medal of Science, Lyndon B. Johnson1963

William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement1954

John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science1953

John Fritz Medal1951

IRI Medal1949

Hoover Medal1946

Washington Award1946

NAS Public Welfare Medal1945

Edison Medal1943

Holley Medal1943

John Scott Award1943

Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectureship1935

IEEE Lamme Medal1935

Louis E. Levy Medal of the Franklin Institute1928

Fellow of the American Physical Society1923

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Legion of Honour

About this person

He emphasized the importance of scientific research to national security and economic well-being, and was chiefly responsible for the movement that led to the creation of the National Science Foundation.

Country

United States