Paul Otlet

Paul Otlet was born and died in Brussels. He was a bibliographer, a lawyer and a peace activist. In 1895 he and Henri La Fontaine began building the Répertoire Bibliographique Universel, a card index that eventually passed 15 million entries.

The two men also founded an institution in Brussels that Otlet named the Mundaneum in 1924. It was meant to gather knowledge from all over the world. In 1934 the Belgian government cut the institution’s funding and closed its offices. A museum called the Mundaneum opened in Mons in 1998.

In my articles

In my second brain series, Otlet is one of the pioneers whom Tiago Forte lists alongside Vannevar Bush, because they dreamt of technology that would enhance human intellect.

Sources

• Paul Otlet, Wikipedia (opens in a new tab)