This article muses about how much debt Bush may have owed Paul Otlet ... who'd been working along similar lines since 1895.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/in-se...

Yes, as a Belgian myself I'm aware of his work, but it was the work of Bush that directly inspired Ted, Douglas etc. Of course Bush's work builds on top of others as I'm sure Otlet will also have had his predecessors.