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John von Neumann

Hungarian and American mathematician and physicist (1903-1957) · Hungary · Academics · Died at 53 · also United States

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The mathematician who sketched the blueprint for the digital age - and for mutual assured destruction. Von Neumann built the architecture of the modern computer, laid the formal groundwork for game theory and quantum mechanics, then turned that mind to ICBMs and the hydrogen bomb.

ScientistsAcademicMathematicsPhysicsEconomics20th Century

A life in dates

1999Financial Times Person of the YearAward1957Died8 February 19571956Albert Einstein AwardAwardCarl-Gustaf Rossby Research MedalAwardEnrico Fermi AwardAwardMedal of FreedomAward1955“The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models.”In their words"Method in the Physical Sciences", in The Unity of Knowledge (1955), ed. L. G. Leary (Doubleday & Co., New York), p. 157

Silliman Memorial LecturesAward1953“The total subject of mathematics is clearly too broad for any one of us.”In their words10 April 1953Letter to H. D. Kloosterman (April 10, 1953), unpublished, John von Neumann Archive, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., as quoted by

1950“For progress there is no cure.... The only safety possible is relative, and it lies in an intelligent exercise of day-to-day judgement.”In their words"Can we survive Technology?" 1950.

1947“I think that it is a relatively good approximation to truth - which is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations - that mathematical ideas originate in empirics.”In their words"The Mathematician", in The Works of the Mind (1947) edited by R. B. Heywood, University of Chicago Press, Chicago

Fellow of the Econometric SocietyAwardJosiah Willard Gibbs LectureshipAwardMedal for MeritAward1945Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical StatisticsAward1938Bôcher Memorial PrizeAward1903“When we talk mathematics, we may be discussing a secondary language built on the primary language of the nervous system.”In their wordsAs quoted in John von Neumann, 1903-1957 (1958) by John C. Oxtoby and B. J. Pettis, p. 128

“It is just as foolish to complain that people are selfish and treacherous as it is to complain that the magnetic field does not increase unless the electric field has a curl.”In their wordsAs quoted "John von Neumann (1903 - 1957)" by Eugene Wigner, in Year book of the American Philosophical Society (1958); later in Symmetries

Born28 December 1903

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

JohnvonNeumann-LosAlamosJohnvonNeumann-LosAlamosFirstdraftofrepo00vonn 0003Firstdraftofrepo00vonn 0003Flow chart of Planning and coding of problems for an electronic computing instrument, 1947Flow chart of Planning and coding of problems for an electronic computing instrument, 1947Gamin' (941004237)Gamin' (941004237)GrabJohnVonNeumanGrabJohnVonNeumanHD.3F.191 (11239892036)HD.3F.191 (11239892036)IEEE John von Neumann MedalIEEE John von Neumann MedalJohannes Grenzfurthner talking about sex machines and "Arse Elektronika" at NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, 2019Johannes Grenzfurthner talking about sex machines and "Arse Elektronika" at NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, 2019

In their own words 10

,
John von Neumann
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models.

    1955, "Method in the Physical Sciences", in The Unity of Knowledge (1955), ed. L. G. Leary (Doubleday & Co., New York), p. 157, Own words

  2. The total subject of mathematics is clearly too broad for any one of us.

    Apr 10, 1953, Letter to H. D. Kloosterman (April 10, 1953), unpublished, John von Neumann Archive, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., as quoted by, Own words

  3. For progress there is no cure.... The only safety possible is relative, and it lies in an intelligent exercise of day-to-day judgement.

    1950, "Can we survive Technology?" 1950., Own words

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Awards

Financial Times Person of the Year1999
Medal of Freedom1956
Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal1956
Enrico Fermi Award1956
Albert Einstein Award1956
Silliman Memorial Lectures1955
Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectureship1947
Medal for Merit1947
Fellow of the Econometric Society1947
Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics1945
Bôcher Memorial Prize1938

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About this person

Born in Budapest in 1903, János Neumann was already rewriting the foundations of mathematics and quantum physics by his twenties. He arrived in America and kept going: cellular automata, self-replicating systems, the stored-program computer. During World War II he developed the explosive-lens math that made implosion weapons possible, then spent the 1950s at the peak of Cold War influence - chairing missile committees, sitting on the Atomic Energy Commission, designing the country's first ICBM programs as the Defense Department's leading nuclear strategist. He died in 1957 at fifty-three, leaving a crater on the Moon and the bones of half a dozen sciences.

Country
Hungary
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1903 to 1957 · aged 53

In common with John

Terence TaoBoth received Bôcher Memorial PrizeKurt GödelBoth received Albert Einstein AwardEdward TellerBoth received Albert Einstein AwardNorbert WienerBoth received Bôcher Memorial PrizeJames E. HansenBoth received Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research MedalRichard FeynmanBoth received Albert Einstein Award

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