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Vannevar Bush rose to prominence during
World War II as chief scientific advisor to Franklin Roosevelt
and director of the government's Office of Scientific Research
and Development, where he supervised the research that led to
the creation of the atomic bomb and other military technologies.
His contribution to the evolution of the computer ranges far
and wide: from the invention in 1930 of the Differential Analyzer,
one of the first automatic electronic computers, to his concept
of the Memex, the prototypical hypermedia machine.
In 1945 the Atlantic Monthly invited Bush
to contribute an article on this theme, and the result was the
landmark essay, As We May Think. He used this high profile
forum to propose a solution to what he considered the paramount
challenge of the day: how information would be gathered, stored,
and accessed in an increasingly information-saturated world.
This article had a profound influence on the scientists and
theorists responsible for the evolution of the personal computer
and the Internet.
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