> <i>Bush’s pivotal contribution was his creation of the “research contract,” whereby public funds are awarded to civilian scientists and engineers based on effort, not just outcomes (as had been normal before World War II). This freedom to try new things and take risks transformed relations between government, business, and academia. By the end of the war, Bush’s research organization was spending US $3 million a week (about $52 million in today’s dollars) on some 6,000 researchers, most of them university professors and corporate engineers.</i><p>I wish I could see a lot more parallels to this. Right now the only thing that jumps to mind is the NLNet grants.<p>The recent round of 45 NGI Zero grants was announced just yesterday,
<a href="https://nlnet.nl/news/2024/20240618-Call-announcement.html" rel="nofollow">https://nlnet.nl/news/2024/20240618-Call-announcement.html</a>
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40720037">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40720037</a> . But in general, if I'm looking for something inspiring or hopeful, I'll often see what NLNet sponsored folks have been up to; <a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?query=nlnet&sort=byDate" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?query=nlnet&sort=byDate</a>
I gave a talk on Vannevar Bush & innovation at a 'pop-up city' just two weeks ago:<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11rXfniJtbvzAgSMv2WpxGWsRkjXucre23mtRriTtpls/edit?usp=drivesdk" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11rXfniJtbvzAgSMv2Wpx...</a><p>He really transformed US innovation. Some good, some questionable, and some stories probably yet to be told. Hope you enjoy. I'm working on uploading the video of the talk here over the next couple of days. If any questions I'll try to field them here.
I've been reading the mentioned Bush memoir "Pieces of the Action" and it's pretty good. Stories about engineering and organizational politics. As good as any business classic (e.g. "My Years With General Motors" or "High Output Management").
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush</a><p><i>> Compton's deputy, Alfred Loomis, said that "of the men whose death in the Summer of 1940 would have been the greatest calamity for America, the President is first, and Dr. Bush would be second or third." Bush was fond of saying that "if he made any important contribution to the war effort at all, it would be to get the Army and Navy to tell each other what they were doing."<p>> His most difficult problems, and also greatest successes, were keeping the confidence of the military, which distrusted the ability of civilians to observe security regulations and devise practical solutions, and opposing conscription of young scientists into the armed forces.. OSRD requested deferments for some 9,725 employees of OSRD contractors, of which all but 63 were granted. In his obituary, The New York Times described Bush as "a master craftsman at steering around obstacles, whether they were technical or political or bull-headed generals and admirals."<p>> In "As We May Think", an essay published by the Atlantic Monthly in July 1945, Bush wrote: "This has not been a scientist's war; it has been a war in which all have had a part. The scientists, burying their old professional competition in the demand of a common cause, have shared greatly and learned much. It has been exhilarating to work in effective partnership."</i>
He shows up as a key early player in 'The Dream Machine', Michael Waldrop, which follows JCR Licklider's career including the early development of what became the personal computer and the internet.
interesting thing about bush was that his computing background was heavily analog, to the point that the digital switch eventually left him out of the action:<p><i>> Bush gradually drifted into the backwaters of science and technology. The rise of digital computing passed him by: an analog man to the end, he underrated the possibilities of digital technology. He did, however, make one contribution to the field. His “memex”—an idea for a machine that could store and connect information and thus work as an artificial aid to memory—later inspired others to create a version in digital form: hypertext. Wikipedia entries, with their hyperlinks taking readers ever deeper and wider, would likely have pleased Bush despite their digital form.</i><p><a href="https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-rise-and-fall-of-vannevar-bush/" rel="nofollow">https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-rise-and...</a><p>that's one thing that strikes me about the memex: it's very analog and, to me, that makes it seem like less of a direct line to the modern notions of hypertext, at least on first glance
One of his advisees did well for himself<p><a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-claude-shannons-information-theory-invented-the-future-20201222/" rel="nofollow">https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-claude-shannons-informati...</a><p>In all seriousness, mentoring someone with the talent and potential of Shannon is no small matter.<p>It still boggles my mind how someone who had written a master's thesis of the stature of Shannon would have the courage to pursue a PhD. What could one possibly do more in life that could top that. Had it been anyone else, he may have crumbled under an intellectual existential crisis.
Interesting contributions! Based on his roles in government I expected his famous last name to imply relation to the later presidents, but Vannevar does not appear to be related to them.