Research On Vannevar Bushes Science And Technology Thought Abstract

As the father of the U.S. science and technology policy, Vannevar Bush (1890-1974)was also a successful engineer, scientist, teacher, inventor, writer, entrepreneur andhumanitarian, exerting a significant influence on the development of MIT, the trend of theSecond World War, IT development and the U.S. science and technology policy andmanagement system. As a full range giant of the era, later generations have given him a lot oftitles, such as "the father of information science","the father of modern computer","ancestorof hypertext" and "the father of the U.S. National Science Foundation", etc.This paper studies Bush’s science and technology thought by means of literature study,comparative study and theoretical analysis. The main parts of this paper include the life ofBush, the constitution of Bush’s science and technology thought, the influence and evaluationof Bush’s science and technology thought. This paper has found and proposed that Bush’sscience and technology thought mainly consists of four aspects, namely, the scientific valuethinking, scientific talent thinking, scientific collaboration and academic freedom thinkingand government’s science and technology responsibility thinking.The enlightenments of Vannevar Bush’s science and technology thought on China aremainly as follows:First, his technical program of scientific and technological progress (linear mode)exerted a major influence on the U.S. science and technology policy practice in the laterhalf-century, and laid the basic framework of the U.S. science and technology policy, whichwas once controversial but is not outdated. The Chinese government still has to attach greatimportance to the responsibility and investment in basic research. However, at the same time,it is necessary to pay attention to the interaction between science, technology and industry tostrengthen the collaboration between production and research.Second, in the views and background of Bush’s scientific value, we find that thephilosophy of science and technology advocated by a country is not the rootless subjectiveproposition; on the contrary, it must be rooted in the objective situation and conditions.Third, the emphasis of a country on science is not to completely control the scientificorganizations and resources; the government and technology should maintain appropriatetension, transiting from "science nationalization" to the "polycentric governance" mode. Fourth, scientific organizations are also resource-dependent organizations. The relativeindependence of science cannot do without adequate resources support and institutionalconditions. China’s current macro policy is relatively scientific, but the weakness is the poorimplementation in micro level. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to strengthen academicfreedom, team-building and technology evaluation, etc.