Today in Technology History
(To receive "Today in Technology History" by e-mail, click here. To read past issues click here.)
June 28
On June 28, 1974, Vannevar Bush died. An American engineer and administrator, he played a crucial role in the technological history of the last century.
Bush was born in 1890 in Massachusetts. His college education took place entirely within that state, at Tufts, Harvard and M.I.T. Before he was 30 years old, he was a professor at M.I.T. (Later he would be a dean there.)
While teaching at M.I.T., Bush designed and built machines for analyzing differential equations. Such machines had been designed before, but this was the first time anyone actually built one. Those "Differential Analyzers" are now considered the first computers, although they were analogue (not digital) and mechanical (not electronic).
Bush held a number of prestigious jobs, including the presidency of the Carnegie Institution and the chairmanship of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. In the latter position, Bush played a vital role during World War II, coordinating the efforts of the scientific establishment with the military establishment. The Manhattan Project, the U.S. effort to build an atomic bomb, was begun at his insistence.
After the war, Bush wrote about technology. In one prophetic essay, entitled "As We May Think," Bush imagined a device called a "Memex," which reminds modern readers of the desktop computer: a piece of furniture with a keyboard and buttons, in which an individual can store "all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility."
Bush died at the age of 84.
Related links:
Click here to read the Encyclopedia Britannica entry for Bush.
Click here to read Bush's insightful 1945 essay, "As We May Think."
| Biotechnology | Convergence | Creativity | Culture | E-conomics | Education |
| Equity | Gov't & Politics | Innovation | National Security | Personal Security |
For errors, broken links, questions or comments,
contact webmaster@tecsoc.org.
