在学术上，范内瓦是“微分分析机”分析仪的发明者，这是一种模拟计算机，在数字计算机诞生之前，它是仅有的能解微分方程的机器。当然，模拟计算机的发展很快遇到了瓶颈，于是他派了一位年轻人去改进计算机，这个年轻人因此发明了数字电路，这个人就是后来提出信息论的香农。而香农的那篇有关数字电路的硕士论文被誉为20世纪最重要的硕士论文之一。
范内瓦还有一个有名的学生叫特纳。特纳后来担任了斯坦福大学的教务长，建立了斯坦福工业园， 被誉为“硅谷之父”。特纳也有两个有名的学生，就是创办了惠普公司的休伊特和派克特。当然，范内瓦对美国科技的最大贡献还不在于桃李满天下，而在于他对美国政府科研政策产生了永久性的影响。
范内瓦第一次担任政府的顾问是在“一战”期间， 他加入了美国国家研究委员会。“一战”后，范内瓦担任了麻省理工学院的副校长兼工学院院长，但是不久他又成为罗斯福总统的科学顾问，参与组织和领导了著名的曼哈顿计划。其后，他先后参与领导了美国氢弹计划、航天计划和后来被称为“星球大战计划”的科学技术工程。
此外，范内瓦还创立了国家科学基金会（NSF）和高级研究规划署（ARPA）等科研管理机构。今天，国家科学基金会和从高级研究规划署演变来的美国国防部高级研究计划局（DARPA），是美国研究型大学主要的政府经费来源，它们的存在保证了美国在尖端科技领域的长期领先地位。可以讲，今天美国政府支持科研的传统、方法和机构，都是范内瓦·布什的遗产。而范内瓦最初的这些想法和规划，其实都和提升美国作为国家的科技竞争力有关。
美国是一个小政府的国家，而且通常是靠商业驱动发明创造。早在第二次工业革命时期，美国贡献了世界上一多半与电相关的重要发明，在电学理论上也不落后。但是，那些成就都是靠民间资本的力量完成的，美国政府很少参与。
在第一次世界大战期间，范内瓦发现美国军方工程和技术需求与当时科学家之间的研究存在极大的鸿沟。当时无论是军方还是民间，都看不太上大学里科学家所做的那些工作。而科学家呢？因为没钱，只能做一些偏理论的研究，解决不了大的工程问题。
转眼到了二战，虽然一开始美国没有参战，但是范内瓦已经感觉到来自德国的巨大威胁。德国人在二战前拿走了一多半的诺贝尔科学奖项，同时他们的科学家在武器研制上也发挥了巨大的作用。因此范内瓦就向国会提议成立一个政府行政机构，协调并推进以科学研究为基础的国防开发，但是当时的美国国会没有把战争的需求当回事，没有理会他的建议。于是范内瓦利用担任总统科学顾问和美国航空咨询委员会主席的机会，绕过了美国国会，直接给罗斯福提交了一份建议书，在罗斯福的支持下，美国成立了国防研究委员会（NDRC）。以后的曼哈顿计划以及重大国防项目，都是在这个委员会主导下开展的。
由于科学家们在曼哈顿计划和一系列军工计划中发挥了关键作用，美国的老百姓开始相信科学，有些人甚至开始迷信科学，科学家的地位和话语权也得到了很大提升。在罗斯福总统就四个方面的问题征询他的意见之后，范内瓦希望借着这个机会，将科学研究确定为美国永久的国策。他在广泛征求业内的意见之后，给杜鲁门总统写了一份很长的报告，就是这篇《科学：无尽的前沿》。
这一点是美国和其他国家不同的地方。美国只有很少的政府科研机构，大部分还是二战时为了战争的需要建立的，比如洛斯阿拉莫斯实验室、劳伦斯实验室等，此后几乎没有建立新的实验室。
今天很多人感叹为什么SpaceX（美国太空探索技术公司）一家私营企业航天技术如此先进，其实SpaceX拿的也是NASA的钱，只是美国的科研运作方式和世界上很多国家不同而已。事实上，美国研究最新飞机、导弹、潜艇的，都是拿了政府合同的私营企业和大学。
今天美国大企业的研发经费是非常高的，比如谷歌2019年度的研发经费是260亿美元，微软同时期是200亿美元。这不仅是为了增强自身的竞争力，也和美国政府很多鼓励科研的政策有关。
范内瓦的思想非常超前。1945年，他在《大西洋月刊》发表《诚如所思》一文畅想未来的科技发展。在这篇前瞻性的文章中，他描述了个人计算机的概念，提出建立通过计算机储存与检索大量信息的数据库系统，此外他还提出了超文本、多媒体、搜索引擎、全球网络及数字图书馆等技术发展的方向。
The significance of science for a country
--Vanneva's Legacy and the Construction of the National Innovation System in the United States (Abstract)
Wu Jun (Silicon Valley investor, information expert)
Vannevar Bush is one of the greatest scientists and engineers in the United States, and his book "Science: Endless Frontiers" has still influenced American research.
Vanneva Bush was first and foremost a scholar, mentor, and manager of education and research - not only at MIT, but also throughout the United States.
Academically, Vannevar is the inventor of the "differential analyzer", which is a analog computer. Before the birth of the digital computer, it was the only machine that could solve differential equations. Of course, the development of analog computer soon ran into a bottleneck, so he sent a young man to improve the computer. This young man invented the digital circuit, and this man was Shannon who later put forward the information theory. And Shannon's master's thesis on digital circuits is known as one of the most important master's thesis in the 20th century.
Vanneva also has a famous student named Turner. Turner later served as the provost of Stanford University and established the Stanford Industrial Park, known as the "father of Silicon Valley". Turner also had two famous students, Hewitt and Parker, who founded HP. Of course, Vanneva's greatest contribution to American technology did not lie in his abundant wealth, but in his permanent influence on the US government's research policies.
Vanneva first served as a government advisor during World War I when he joined the National Research Council of the United States. After World War I, Vanneva served as the Vice President and Dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but soon became a scientific advisor to President Roosevelt, participating in organizing and leading the famous Manhattan Project. Later, he took part in and led the US hydrogen bomb program, the space program and the scientific and technological engineering later known as the "Strategic Defense Initiative".
Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense
In addition, Vanneva also established research management institutions such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Advanced Research Planning Agency (ARPA). Today, the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which evolved from the Advanced Research Projects Agency, are the main sources of government funding for research universities in the United States, ensuring their long-term leadership in cutting-edge technology. It can be said that the traditions, methods, and institutions that the US government supports in scientific research today are all part of Vanneva Bush's legacy. And Vanneva's initial ideas and plans were actually related to enhancing the technological competitiveness of the United States as a country.
The United States is a country with a small government and is usually driven by commercial inventions. As early as the Second Industrial Revolution, the United States contributed more than half of the world's important inventions related to electricity, and was not backward in electrical theory. However, those achievements were achieved through the power of private capital, with little involvement from the US government.
During World War I, Vanneva discovered a significant gap between the engineering and technological needs of the US military and the research of scientists at that time. At that time, both the military and the people did not pay much attention to the work done by scientists in universities. And scientists? Because I have no money, I can only do some theoretical research and cannot solve major engineering problems.
In the blink of an eye, World War II had arrived. Although the United States had not participated in the war at the beginning, Vanneva had already felt a huge threat from Germany. The Germans took over half of the Nobel Prize in Science before World War II, and their scientists also played a huge role in weapon development. Therefore, Vanneva proposed to Congress the establishment of a government administrative agency to coordinate and promote defense development based on scientific research. However, at that time, the United States Congress did not take the needs of war seriously and did not heed his suggestion. So Vanneva used the opportunity of serving as the President's Scientific Advisor and Chairman of the US Aviation Advisory Committee to bypass the US Congress and submit a proposal directly to Roosevelt. With Roosevelt's support, the United States established the Defense Research Council (NDRC). The future Manhattan Plan and major defense projects will be carried out under the leadership of this committee.
Principal of the Manhattan Project in the United States
Due to the crucial role played by scientists in the Manhattan Project and a series of military projects, the American people began to believe in science, and some even became superstitious about it. The status and voice of scientists have also been greatly enhanced. After President Roosevelt consulted on four issues, Vanneva hoped to use this opportunity to establish scientific research as a permanent national policy of the United States. After extensively soliciting industry opinions, he wrote a lengthy report to President Truman, titled 'Science: Endless Frontiers'.
Before the official text of the report, Vanneva summarized his four key suggestions in a brief letter:
Firstly, on the premise of not hindering national security, inform the public of scientific knowledge obtained from military industry and promote the development of civilian science.
Secondly, establish a plan to continue working in the fields of medicine and related sciences to overcome various diseases.
Thirdly, the government assists public and private organizations in conducting research activities.
Fourthly, carry out an effective plan to identify and cultivate young scientific talents in the United States to ensure sustainable scientific research in the United States, so that the level of scientific research can be comparable to that during the war.
In addition, Vannevar mentioned the importance of the social and humanities in his letter.
Fanneva emphasized several key future scientific research directions in his official report:
Firstly, medical and basic scientific research related to combating diseases.
Secondly, research related to national security. At that time, his focus was still on missiles, submarines, and radios.
Thirdly, scientific research related to national welfare. It involves creating job opportunities, inventing new industrial products, and enhancing competitiveness.
Until today, the purpose of scientific research in the United States still revolves around these three aspects.
To achieve the above tasks, Vanneva believes that the government must do four things:
Firstly, cultivate talents.
Secondly, support university research. Before that, the federal government of the United States did not give universities research funds.
Thirdly, in order to ensure that universities and private enterprise research institutions have sufficient talent, national research institutions cannot compete with universities and private enterprises for talent.
This is the difference between the United States and other countries. There are only a few government scientific research institutions in the United States, most of which were established for the needs of the war during World War II, such as Los Alamos Laboratory and Lawrence Laboratory. Since then, almost no new laboratories have been established.
It even handed over some national laboratories to universities for management. Even during the implementation of the Apollo moon landing, NASA was only the leading agency, with a large amount of work entrusted to research institutions of universities and companies.
Today, many people are wondering why SpaceX, a private enterprise, is so advanced in space technology. In fact, SpaceX is paid by NASA, but the scientific research operation mode of the United States is different from that of many countries in the world. In fact, the United States conducts research on the latest aircraft, missiles, and submarines through private enterprises and universities that have obtained government contracts.
Fourthly, in order to stimulate private enterprises to increase research investment, two things need to be done well. One is to formulate tax policies for offsetting scientific research funds, and the other is to protect patents well.
Today, the research and development budget of major American companies is very high, such as Google's research and development budget for 2019, which was $26 billion, and Microsoft's research and development budget for the same period, which was $20 billion. This is not only to enhance one's own competitiveness, but also related to many policies of the US government that encourage research.
In terms of talent cultivation, Vanneva emphasized three key points:
Firstly, there are very few people who can conduct scientific research, but finding these very few people requires a large base of people.
Secondly, the cultivation of scientists takes a very long time.
Thirdly, the government should attract talents to scientific research by providing scholarships.
The highest scholarship given to graduate students by American universities today is the National Science Foundation scholarship.
In 1945, the article 'Sincere as Thought'
Vanneva's ideas are very advanced. In 1945, he published an article in the Atlantic Monthly titled "Sincerely Thinking" to envision future technological developments. In this forward-looking article, he described the concept of personal computers and proposed the establishment of a database system for storing and retrieving large amounts of information through computers. In addition, he also proposed the direction of technological development such as hypertext, multimedia, search engines, global networks, and digital libraries.
Upon hearing this, do you think Vanneva is a traveler. Of course, the contribution of these forward-looking studies to the United States is still insignificant compared to his design of the US research system.
The significance of Guan Qian science for a country, as stated by Vanneva:
Whether in times of peace or war, science only contributes to the well-being of the nation as a member of a team. But without scientific progress, no amount of achievements in other areas can ensure our health, prosperity and security in the modern world as a country.
Although there are significant differences in social systems, cultural traditions, development levels, and geographical environments between China and the United States, China cannot simply apply the American model. However, a comprehensive understanding of the successful experience of the United States in innovation is essential for China today.
Fanneva's ideas on scientific research and innovation have still influenced everyone and are believed to have reference significance for China.
--Article source: Mr. Sai (ID: mrscience100). The article only represents the author's viewpoint. If there is an error in the source annotation, please let us know and we will promptly correct/delete it
