The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Vannevar Bush (1890-1974)
Vannevar Bush

Dr. Vannevar Bush / TIME Cover: April 03, 1944


Bush's classic and prescient essay was published in The Atlantic Monthly (the essay was re-printed in Life) in July 1945.
Widely regarded as one of the most portentous essays about computing, "As We May Think" illustrates the remarkable clarity of Bush's vision.

Read: "As We May Think," by Vannevar Bush. (Edited version)



"The camera hound of the future wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut. It takes pictures 3 millimeters square, later to be projected or enlarged…The cord which trips its shutter may reach down a man's sleeve within easy reach of his fingers."


"Encyclopædia Britannica could be reduced to the volume of a matchbox. A library of a million volumes could be compressed into one end of a desk."

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This site last updated September 7, 2002