Translation Sciences Institute

Charles D. Bush (1948-2011) was a senior research consultant/Macintosh specialist at the Brigham Young University Humanities Research Center.

Charles Douglas Bush was born in Logan, Utah on July 13, 1948 to Richard Andrew and Muriel Cropper Bush. He served a mission to Finland for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1967 to 1970. In January 1972 he married Junola Smith in Manti, Utah. He received a bachelor's degree in history (1973) and a master's degree in linguistics (1974) at Brigham Young University and contributed significantly to literature on the topic of computer-aided translation and other aspects of linguistics. He worked at Brigham Young University for thirty-seven years, including work with the Humanities Research Center. Bush passed away on April 13, 2011.

The Translation Sciences Institute (1976-1980) at Brigham Young University functioned to provide machine translation of texts with a minimum of human assistance.

In 1974 then-President of Brigham Young University, Dallin H. Oaks, and Dr. Eldon Lytle presented the idea of a Translation Sciences Institute to the Board of Trustees in an effort to gain funding. The Translation Department of the Church agreed to provide forty percent of the funding, and the project began in 1976. In 1977, President Wilkinson donated the money for a computer dedicated to computer translation work. Originally, the computer was designed to translate accurately and efficiently between English and five other languages: Spanish, French, German, Portugese, and Chinese. The purposes were largely extended to translations of scriptural materials and other church-related texts. Dr. Lytle (1976-1979) and Dr. Gary Carlson (1980) served as directors of the project until funding was withdrawn in 1980.

From the guide to the Translation Sciences Institute records, 1973-1992, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)