Hungarian-born John von Neumann Computer Pioneer

John von Neumann

John von Neumann wrote "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC" in which he outlined the architecture of a stored-program computer. Electronic storage of programming information and data eliminated the need for the more clumsy methods of programming, such as punched paper tape — a concept that has characterized mainstream computer development since 1945. Hungarian-born von Neumann demonstrated prodigious expertise in hydrodynamics, ballistics, meteorology, game theory, statistics, and the use of mechanical devices for computation. After the war, he concentrated on the development of Princeton´s Institute for Advanced Studies computer and its copies around the

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Von Neumann's wartime Los Alamos ID badge photo.

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John von Neumann
Von Neumann in the 1940s
Born	Neumann János Lajos (1903-12-28)December 28, 1903 Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died	February 8, 1957(1957-02-08) (aged 53) Walter Reed General Hospital Washington, D.C.
Citizenship	United States
Nationality	Hungarian and American
Fields	Mathematics, physics, statistics, economics
Institutions	University of Berlin Princeton University Institute for Advanced Study Site Y, Los Alamos
Alma mater	University of Pázmány Péter ETH Zürich
Doctoral advisor	Lipót Fejér
	Abelian von Neumann algebra Affiliated operator Amenable group Arithmetic logic unit Artificial viscosity (a numerical technique for simulating shock waves) Axiom of regularity Axiom of limitation of size Backward induction Blast wave (fluid dynamics) Bounded set (topological vector space) Carry-save adder Cellular automata Class (set theory) Decoherence theory (Quantum mechanics) Computer virus Commutation theorem Continuous geometry Direct integral Doubly stochastic matrix Duality Theorem Density matrix Durbin–Watson statistic Game theory Hilbert's fifth problem Hyperfinite type II factor Ergodic theory EDVAC explosive lenses Lattice theory Lifting theory Inner model Inner model theory Interior point method Mutual assured destruction Merge sort Middle-square method Minimax theorem Monte Carlo method Normal-form game Pointless topology Polarization identity Pseudorandomness PRNG Quantum mutual information Radiation implosion Rank ring Operator theory Operation Greenhouse Self-replication Software whitening Standard probability space Stochastic computing Subfactor Von Neumann algebra Von Neumann architecture Von Neumann bicommutant theorem Von Neumann cardinal assignment Von Neumann cellular automaton Von Neumann constant (two of them) Von Neumann interpretation Von Neumann measurement scheme Von Neumann Ordinals Von Neumann universal constructor Von Neumann entropy Von Neumann Equation Von Neumann neighborhood Von Neumann paradox Von Neumann regular ring Von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory Von Neumann spectral theory Von Neumann universe Von Neumann conjecture Von Neumann's inequality Stone–von Neumann theorem Von Neumann's trace inequality Von Neumann stability analysis Quantum statistical mechanics Von Neumann extractor Von Neumann ergodic theorem Ultrastrong topology Von Neumann–Morgenstern utility theorem ZND detonation model
Notable awards	Bôcher Memorial Prize (1938) Enrico Fermi Award (1956)
Children	Marina von Neumann Whitman
Signature PhD Students Donald B. Gillies, Ph.D. student Israel Halperin, Ph.D. student[1]

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John von Neumann (/vɒn ˈnɔɪmən/; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian and later American pure and applied mathematician, physicist, inventor, polymath, and polyglot. He made major contributions to a number of fields,^[3] including mathematics (foundations of mathematics, functional analysis, ergodic theory, geometry, topology, and numerical analysis), physics (quantum mechanics, hydrodynamics, and fluid dynamics), economics (game theory), computing (Von Neumann architecture, linear programming, self-replicating machines, stochastic computing), and statistics.^[4] He was a pioneer of the application of operator theory to quantum mechanics, in the development of functional analysis, a principal member of the Manhattan Project and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (as one of the few originally appointed), and a key figure in the development of game theory^[3][5] and the concepts of cellular automata,^[3] the universal constructor, and the digital computer.
Von Neumann's mathematical analysis of the structure of self-replication preceded the discovery of the structure of DNA.^[6] In a short list of facts about his life he submitted to the National Academy of Sciences, he stated "The part of my work I consider most essential is that on quantum mechanics, which developed in Göttingen in 1926, and subsequently in Berlin in 1927–1929. Also, my work on various forms of operator theory, Berlin 1930 and Princeton 1935–1939; on the ergodic theorem, Princeton, 1931–1932." Along with Hungarian-born American theoretical physicist Edward Teller and Polish mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, von Neumann worked out key steps in the nuclear physics involved in thermonuclear reactions and the hydrogen bomb.
Von Neumann wrote 150 published papers in his life; 60 in pure mathematics, 20 in physics, and 60 in applied mathematics. His last work, an unfinished manuscript written while in the hospital and later published in book form as The Computer and the Brain, gives an indication of the direction of his interests at the time of his death.
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John von Neumann at The Princeton Institute for Advanced Study (Left to right: Julian Bigelow, Herman Goldstine, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and John von Neumann).

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Later life

Von Neumann's gravestone

In 1955, von Neumann was diagnosed with what was either bone or pancreatic cancer.^[104] A von Neumann biographer, Norman Macrae, has speculated that the cancer was caused by von Neumann's presence at the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests held in 1946 at Bikini Atoll.^[105]


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