The Legend of John von Neumann: The Mathematician Who Could Divide Eight-Digit Numbers in His Head at Age 6
The Legend of von Neumann [pdf]
Paul Halmos's 1973 essay profiles John von Neumann, the Hungarian-American polymath who revolutionized quantum physics, game theory, and computing. It traces his journey from a Budapest childhood—where he memorized phone books and mastered calculus by age 8—to Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. The piece mixes verified achievements with colorful legends: his love of puns, his notorious driving mishaps, and his wife's remark that after 17 years in their house, he still didn't know where the glasses were kept.
I was proceeding down the road. The trees on the right were passing me in orderly fashion at 60 miles an hour. Suddenly one of them stepped in my path. Boom!
- breput
My favorite von Neumann anecdote was a quote from Edward Teller: "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3 year old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us."
- srejk
When you look at it holistically, von Neumann was more influential in science and mathematics in the 20th century than either Einstein or Planck. He wasn't as obvious a symbol of the scientific revolution, but his contributions to SO MANY THINGS at a fundamental level makes him stand out to me.
- SimplyUnknown
For a longer read, I can highly recommend the book "The Man from the Future" by Ananyo Bhattacharya. It's quite an easy read and extensively discusses the life and discoveries by John von Neumann in chronological order.
- chasd00
Not sure what just happened but like 10 comments just vanished. Anyway, here's a wiki link to "The Martians" which was a group of Hungarian scientists and Von Neuman was a member.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)
"The Martians" (Hungarian: "A marslakók") were a group of prominent scientists (mostly, but not exclusively, physicists and mathematicians) of Hungarian Jewish descent who emigrated from Europe to the United States in the early half of the 20th century.[1]
Leo Szilard jokingly suggested that Hungary was a front for aliens from Mars."
- lwarfield
Von Nuemann is one of those names that when ever it comes up I sarcastically mentally note "John f***ing Neumann, AGAIN!". It's happened so many times in my studies that I think he might be the most important scientist to have ever lived.
He's also the inspiration for one of favorite characters in fiction, Sherkaner Underhill from A Deepness In The Sky*. :)
- dang
Related. Others?
The legend of John von Neumann (1973) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8212335 - Aug 2014 (65 comments)
The Legend of John von Neumann - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1427906 - June 2010 (4 comments)
(Reposts are fine after a year or so; links to past threads are just to satisfy extra-curious readers)
- alkyon
Recently I enjoyed very much The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut:
- nickdothutton
I occasionally wonder... who is the von Neumann of today. Where are they? What are they working on? Are they being given everything they might need to focus on their work? How can we find them? What signal are we looking for?