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Vannevar Bush

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Inventor

The Resume

    (March 11, 1890-June 28, 1974)
    Born in Everett, Massachusetts
    Electrical engineer, inventor and science administrator
    Founding member of Raytheon (1922)
    Built the differential analyzer, an analog computer that could solve differential equations with up to 18 variables (1927)
    President of the Carnegie Institution for Science (1938-55)
    Headed the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) during World War II
    Held 49 patents
    Awarded the National Medal of Science (1963)

Why he might be annoying:

    The single biggest recipient of contracts from the OSRD was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Bush just happened to be dean of the engineering school.
    He turned down funding requests from Robert H. Goddard, saying 'I don't understand how a serious scientist or engineer can play around with rockets.'
    Even after the success of the German V-1 and V-2 rockets, he claimed that intercontinental ballistic missiles would not be technically feasible 'for a long time to come, if ever.'
    He envisioned 'a technologically advanced America governed by the masters of science and technology.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He got his first patent for a surveying machine he created as part of his master's thesis research.
    As head of OSRD, he played a key role in the development of the atomic bomb, radar, the proximity fuse and mass production of penicillin.
    Radar developer Alfred Loomis said, '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.'
    In the essay 'As We May Think' (1945), he predicted 'wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them,' foreshadowing the internet and hypertext.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 18 Votes: 55.56% Annoying