I’m pretty sure it precedes WWII. Compare the work of scientists like Alan Turing with the pre-war work of Claude Shannon/Vannevar Bush. Turing was a mathemati

I’m pretty sure it precedes WWII. Compare the work of scientists like Alan Turing with the pre-war work of Claude Shannon/Vannevar Bush. Turing was a mathematician focused on theoretical problems. Shannon and Bush spent several years building analog computers at MIT. I think the difference was the way electronics and telecommunications established themselves as academic disciplines in America. America was training tons of electrical engineers, but surprisingly few mathematicians, as early as the mid 19th century. Look at schools like MIT - what the UK equivalent? Oxbridge is known for Classics, PPE, and Maths. There’s no “institutes of technology.”