You're thinking Vannevar Bush. He was in charge of coordinating the exploitation of science and technology for military use during WWII, including the Manhattan Project, the development and adaptation of the radio proximity fuse for various weapons (the most challenging of which were artillery and mortar rounds) and other projects. As far as I know, he's not related to the political Bush family.
Right. Thanks.
I was always confused about whether he was related, or not.
He was also involved in the UFO stuff IIRC.