The Hungarian mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath John von Neumann died 65 years ago today in Washington D.C.

16 comments

1. Von Neumann was generally regarded as the foremost mathematician of his time and said to be “the last representative of the great mathematicians”.

   Von Neumann made major contributions to many fields, including

   mathematics (foundations of mathematics, functional analysis, ergodic theory, group theory, representation theory, operator algebras, geometry, topology, and numerical analysis),

   physics (quantum mechanics, hydrodynamics, and quantum statistical mechanics), economics (game theory),

   computing (Von Neumann architecture, linear programming, self-replicating machines, stochastic computing),

   and

   statistics.

   He was a pioneer of the application of operator theory to quantum mechanics in the development of functional analysis, and a key figure in the development of game theory and the concepts of cellular automata, the universal constructor and the digital computer.

2. He was not only a great scientist, but also a great geopolitical thinker.

3. He’s someone for whom the word ‘genius’ seems inadequate.

4. Absolute genius who contributed heavily to quantum mechanics and general mathematics, and made important contributions to the Manhattan project at Los Alamos.

   Best known to gamers for the Von Neumann architecture of computing, which is why CPU, motherboard and RAM are the key purchases for a computer system today

   (ok, GPU too, but thats just another multicore CPU, motherboard and RAM combo jammed into a PCIe slot)

5. > “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.”
   > — Edward Teller (fellow [“Martian”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)))

6. Sadly he never finish his last book, “The Computer and the Brain” about similarities and differences between computer architecture and human brain with a idea one day computers might be able to simulate their “organic” counterparts. Quite a bold thesis in the 1950s looking at what computers looked like at the time of his death (which of course he had a lot of influence with creation modern electronics computers thanks to Princeton IAS machine and his “Von Neumann Architecture”).

7. Hungarian.. von Neumann?

   Hmm, let’s look at the Early Life section…

8. Speaking of which: [Von Neumann architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture)

9. He’s still doing math in the skies. Rest in peace.

10. In this world, there are smart people, and then there are geniuses,

    and then there are people who, as teenagers, bring world-class mathematicians to tears with their brilliance on their first meeting.

    There are also people who achieved enough to get themselves listed on Wikipedia, and people who have a long list of achivevements,

    and then there are people whose list of achievements says “+79 more” or “see full list”.

    Von Neumann, Euler, Newton, and a few others.

11. American*

12. Very possibly the most influential person in the 20th century, and almost surely the most unknown out of those who are in that conversation.

13. >Hungarian Mathematican
    >Has completly german name

14. Rest In Peace
    We will never forget you for what you did in your life…..

15. As a telecommunication engineer, he is a true master.

16. German*