By any standard, Vannevar Bush was one of the central figures of the twentieth century. An aggressive, young electrical engineer who joined the staff of MIT in 1919, he rose through the ranks to become in 1932 the Institute's first vice-president and dean of engineering. In 1939, he moved to Washington to assume the presidency of the Carnegie Institution, one of the country's prestigious private foundations and sources of support for basic science. However, the threat of war quickly diverted his attention towards problems of a different sort; in short order, Bush catapulted into the leadership of the drive to mobilize science and engineering for the American war effort. The subsequent accomplishments of the National Defense Research Committee and the Office of Scientific Research and Development are well known, especially their managements of the projects that led to improved radars, the proximity fuse, synthetic penicillin, and the atomic bomb. These successes brought notoriety to the scientific community and influence to Bush who played a key part in the public debates and legislative battles that produced the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation. Specifically, Dr. Owens' examination of Vannevar Bush, concentrating on the period 1940-1955, illuminates his life and career during this critical period during which important connections between American engineering and the "politics" of American science emerged and enables us to understand his significance in the wider context of American History. Dr. Owens study will make an important contribution to understanding the great contemporary dilemmas that touch science, political power, national security, and the contribution of technical expertise to social progress.
