Internet Pioneers

I found an article titled "Internet Pioneers" from a public database Ibiblio.  This article was one of many in a section of the database that highlighted the many pioneers of the internet. "As we may think" offers great insight, even while standing alone, but I think the audience has a lot to gain from learning more about the life of Vannevar Bush.This article gives a brief description of Bush's progression into a prestigious scientist.

First off, after reading Bush's articles, I came to the conclusion that he was not a large proponent of using the country's scientific labor for wartime advances.  Little did I know, Bush took up a very active presence in the war.  The author notes that during the first World War, Bush was still thought of as a scientific maverick.  In order for his knowledge to be accepted as credible, he needed to develop a credible reputation.  At this point, Bush realized that in order for his engineering ideas to have an impact, he needed to get involved in the politics.  After World War I, Bush took action to progress his scientific legitimacy.  He gained extreme prestige in the industry, when he was appointed the president of the Carnegie Institution. By the time World War II rolled around, Bush was one of the most trusted scientists in the nation.  He worked closely with the Roosevelt administration developing extraordinary technology for the military, at the governments expense. Bush's involvement in World War II instigated his desire to have the government fund scientific projects not only for military purposes, but also for developments after the war.

Bush was always looking to the future, and as the war came to an end, he realized that the scientific knowledge in the county's labor force could accomplish extraordinary technological advances.  Its at this time when Bush wrote "As we may think". His first hand experience with governments support of scientific research drove him to realize the potential of the industry.  If the knowledge of the scientific community could be pooled to create such innovative military technology, it could surely create equal technology for the general public.  It is this idea that drove him to not only develop the ideas in his articles, but to truly believe that these technologies were attainable.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/bush.html