John von Neumann was born in Budapest Hungary on December 28th, 1903. Von Neumann's genius showed through early on in his childhood. At the age of six he was already showing an interest in math and was able to exchange jokes with his father in classical Greek. By the age of eight he became fascinated with history and read all forty-four volumes of the universal history, which resided in the family’s library.
John von Neumann received his early education at the Lutheran Gymnasium under the tutelage of Michael Fekete with whom he published his first paper at the age of eighteen. Von Neumann studied chemistry at the University of Berlin, until 1923 when he went to Technische Hochschule in Zurich where he received his diploma in Chemical Engineering in 1925. Von Neumann subsequently received his doctoral degree in Mathematics in 1928 from the University of Budapest at the age of twenty-two. His dissertation topic was set theory.

Near the end of 1929, von Neumann was offered a visiting lectureship on quantum theory at Princeton University and by 1931 he was appointed full-time professor. In 1933 he was asked to be one of the original six Professors of Mathematics at the newly founded Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. He retained this position for the rest of his life.

John von Neumann was perhaps the twentieth century most brilliant mathematician, transforming every subject he touched. He made fundamental contributions to quantum mechanics, functional analysis, and mathematical logic. He invented whole other fields, like game theory. The von Neumann architecture of the digital computer still dominates the field. With regard to complex systems, von Neumann is best remembered for his seminal work on cellular automata and the insights these computational systems provide for self-reproduction.

About twenty of John von Neumann's 150 papers are in physics; the rest are distributed more or less evenly among pure mathematics (mainly set theory, logic, topological group, measure theory, ergodic theory, operator theory, and continuous geometry) and applied mathematics (statistics, numerical analysis, shock waves, flow problems, hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, ballistics, problems of detonation, meteorology, and two nonclassical aspects of applied mathematics, games and computers). His publications show a break from pure to applied research around 1940 (Encyclopedia Britannica 1995).

During his career, John von Neumann was elected to many academies including the Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas (Lima, Peru), Academia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome, Italy), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (USA), American Philosophical Society (USA), Instituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere (Milan, Italy), National Academy of Sciences (USA) and Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Letters (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

John Von Neumann was diagnosed with cancer in August of 1955 and died on 18 months later.

Quotations from John von Neumann

"The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work."

"The most vitally characteristic fact about mathematics is, in my opinion, its quite peculiar relationship to the natural sciences, or more generally, to any science which interprets experience on a higher than purely descriptive level. "

Publications by John von Neumann

Charney, J. G., R. Fjörtoft and John von Neumann. 1950. "Numerical Integration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation", Tellus, Vol. 2, pp. 237-254.

Taub, A. H. (ed). 1961-63. John von Neumann: Collected Works, 1903-1957, 6 Vols., Pergamon Press, Oxford (UK).

von Neumann, John and Oskar Morgenstern. 1944. Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton NJ.

von Neumann, John.1932. The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton NJ.

von Neumann, John. 30 June 1945. First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, Contract No. W-670-ORD-492, Moore School of Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Penn., Philadelphia. Reprinted (in part) in Randell, Brian. 1982. Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 383-392.

von Neumann, John. 1946. "The Principles of Large-Scale Computing Machines", reprinted in Ann. Hist. Comp., Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 263-273.

von Neumann, John. 1958. The Computer and the Brain, Yale Univ. Press, New Haven.

von Neumann, John and Arthur W. Burks. 1966. Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata, Univ. of Illinois Press, Urbana IL.

Information about John von Neumann

Aspray, William. 1990. John von Neuman and the Origins of Modern Computing. Cambride, Mass.: MIT Press.

Aspray, William. 1987. "The Mathematical Reception of the Modern Computer: John von Neumann and the Institute for Advanced Study Computer", in Phillips, Esther R. (ed), Studies in the History of Mathematics, Vol. 26, MAA, Washington DC, pp. 166-194.

Aspray, William, and Arthur W. Burkes, eds. 1987. Papers of John von Neumann on Computing and Computer Theory. Cambride, Mass.: MIT Press.

Bigelow, Julian. 1980. "Computer Development at the Institute for Advanced Study", in Metropolis, N., J. Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota. 1980. A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century, Academic Press, Inc., New York. pp. 291-310.

Birkhoff, G. et al. 1958. "Memorial Papers on John von Neumann", Bull. AMS, Vol. 64, No. 3, Pt. 2.

Bochner, Salomon. 1958. "John von Neumann", Biographical Memoirs, Vol. 32, National Academy of Sciences, pp. 456-451.

Dieudonné, J. 1981 "Von Neumann, Johann (or John)", in Gillespie, Charles C. Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, pp. 88-92.

Goldstine, Herman H. 1972. The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton NJ, 378 pp.

Heims, Steve J. 1980. John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener: From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death. Cambride, Mass.: MIT Press.

Hurd, Cuthbert. 1981. "Early IBM Computers: Edited Testimony", Ann. Hist. Comp., Vol. 3. No. 1., pp. 163-182.

Macrae, Norman. 1992. John von Neumann. New York, NY: Pantheon.

Poundstone, William. 1992. Prisoner’s Dilemma. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Ritchie, David. 1986. The Computer Pioneers, Simon & Shuster, Inc., New York, Chapter 9.

Slater, Robert. 1987. Portraits in Silicon, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, Chapter 3.

Stern, Nancy. 1981. From ENIAC to UNIVAC: An Appraisal of the Eckert-Mauchly Computers, Digital Press, Bedford MA.

Stern, Nancy. 1980. "John von Neumann's Influence on Electronic Digital Computing, 1944-46", Ann. Hist. Comp., Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 349-362.

Tropp, H. S. 1983. "John von Neumann" in Ralston, Anthony, and Edwin D. Reilly, Jr. 1983. Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, pp. 1564-65.

Ulam, S. M. 1980. "Von Neumann: The Interaction of Mathematics and Computing", in Metropolis, N., J. Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota. 1980. A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century, Academic Press, Inc., New York. pp. 93-99.

Ulam, S. April 1982. "John von Neumann, 1903-1957", Ann. Hist. Comp., Vol. 4, No. 2.

Vonneuman, Nicholas A. 1988. John von Neumann - As Seen by his Brother, Private Printing, Meadowbrook PA.

The Education of John von Neumann

University of Budapest, 1921
University of Berlin, 1921-23
Chemical Engineering, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule [ETH] (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), 1923-25
Doctorate, Mathematics (with minors in experimental physics and chemistry), University of Budapest, 1926

The Professional History of John von Neumann

Privatdozent, University of Berlin, 1927-30
Visiting Professor, Princeton University, 1930-53
Professor of Mathematics, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, 1933-57

Honors and Awards of John von Neumann

D.Sc. (Hon), Princeton University, 1947
Medal for Merit (Presidential Award), 1947
Distinguished Civilian Service Award, 1947
D.Sc. (Hon), University of Pennsylvania, 1950
D.Sc. (Hon), Harvard University, 1950
D.Sc. (Hon), University of Istanbul, 1952
D.Sc. (Hon), Case Institute of Technology, 1952
D.Sc. (Hon), University of Maryland, 1952
D.Sc. (Hon), Institute of Polytechnics, Munich, 1953
Medal of Freedom (Presidential Award), 1956
Albert Einstein Commemorative Award, 1956
Enrico Fermi Award, 1956
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member, Academiz Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Lima, Peru
Member, Acamedia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome, Italy
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Letters, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Member, Information Processing Hall of Fame, Infomart, Dallas TX, 1985.