# Vannevar Bush **Domain:** Research Administration / Information Systems **Doc Type:** Thinker and Administrator Node **Maturity:** Evolving **Related:** [[As We May Think]], [[Memex]], [[Personal Computing]], [[Research Infrastructure]] --- ## Definition Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) was an American engineer and science administrator whose 1945 essay “As We May Think” proposed the Memex. ## Corpus Context Bush connects wartime research organization to associative information systems and [[Cognitive Exteriorization]]. The Memex is an ancestor of personal knowledge tools without being a digital computer as later understood. ## Relationships [[As We May Think]], [[Memex]], [[Personal Computing]], [[Research Infrastructure]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts <!-- BEGIN SIMPLE REMINDER SEED 2026-09-11 --> > "The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate." > **— Vannevar Bush**, *As We May Think (1945)* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: As We May Think (1945).* [[reminders/unverified/Human Experience Is Expanding at a Prodigious Rate by Vannevar Bush|Human Experience Is Expanding at a Prodigious Rate by Vannevar Bush]] > "There is a growing mountain of research." > **— Vannevar Bush**, *As We May Think (1945), excerpt candidate* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: As We May Think (1945), excerpt candidate.* [[reminders/unverified/Knowledge Is Growing Faster Than We Can Navigate It by Vannevar Bush|Knowledge Is Growing Faster Than We Can Navigate It by Vannevar Bush]] > "A record, if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, stored, and above all consulted." > **— Vannevar Bush**, *As We May Think (1945), excerpt candidate* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: As We May Think (1945), excerpt candidate.* [[reminders/unverified/Must Be Continuously Extended by Vannevar Bush|Must Be Continuously Extended by Vannevar Bush]] > "Selection by association, rather than indexing, may yet be mechanized." > **— Vannevar Bush**, *As We May Think (1945), excerpt candidate* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: As We May Think (1945), excerpt candidate.* [[reminders/unverified/Selection by Association by Vannevar Bush|Selection by Association by Vannevar Bush]] > "Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them." > **— Vannevar Bush**, *As We May Think (1945)* *Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: As We May Think (1945).* [[reminders/unverified/Wholly New Forms of Encyclopedias Will Appear by Vannevar Bush|Wholly New Forms of Encyclopedias Will Appear by Vannevar Bush]] <!-- END SIMPLE REMINDER SEED 2026-09-11 --> ## Sources / Provenance - [[articles/Beyond the Sea|Beyond the Sea]] ## Chronological Proximity In 1940–1942 Bush created the [[wiki/National Defense Research Committee|NDRC]], led the [[wiki/Office of Scientific Research and Development|OSRD]], and recruited [[wiki/Fred Terman|Fred Terman]] to direct the [[wiki/Radio Research Laboratory|Radio Research Laboratory]]. ## Relational Proximity Bush was Terman's doctoral adviser and the federal scientific administrator whose wartime mobilization model Terman carried back into Stanford's postwar institutional development. ## Chronology and Collection Routes [[research/Chronology of Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software - Research|Chronology of Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software]] · [[wiki/Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software|Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software]] · [[collections/The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace|The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace]] · [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]]