Hungarian-born American mathematician, computer scientist and physicist is one of the most important mathematicians in the 20th century. Von Neumann is a Ph.D. student in mathematics at Budapest University. He is one of the scientific generalists in the fields of modern computers, game theory, nuclear weapons and chemical and biological weapons. Later generations became "the father of modern computers" and "the father of game theory".
Von Neumann taught at the University of Berlin and the University of Hamburg, went to the United States in 1930, and later became an American citizen. He used to be a professor at Princeton University, a professor at Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In his early days, he was famous for his research on operator theory, resonance theory, quantum theory and set theory, and founded von Neumann algebra. Von Neumann participated in the Manhattan Project during World War II and contributed to the development of the first atomic bomb.
On 1944, von Neumann co-authored Game Theory and Economic Behavior with Oscar and Morgenster, which is the foundation work of game theory. In his later years, Von Neumann turned to the study of automata theory, and wrote the book Computer Brain (1958), which made an accurate analysis of the human brain and computer system, and provided a basic scheme for the development of electronic digital computers. Other major works include Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics (1926), Operator Method of Classical Mechanics and Continuous Geometry (1960).
Von Neumann is a Hungarian-born American mathematician, computer scientist, physicist and chemist. 1903 12.28 was born in a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary.
Max, von Neumann's father, is young and handsome. With diligence, wit and good management, he joined the ranks of bankers in Budapest when he was young. Von Neumann's mother is a kind woman, virtuous and docile, with a good education. Feng declared his aristocratic status under the name of von Neumann. And this identity was obtained by his father at 19 13.
Von Neumann's genius is amazing and may even go beyond the category of "genius". At the age of six, he was able to divide eight numbers in his mind. At the age of eight, he mastered calculus skillfully through natural science. At the age of ten, he only read a 48-volume world history in math time, so that he could discuss related military theories and political strategies in an orderly way. At the age of twelve, he read and understood the gist of Bohr's masterpiece "On Function". In this way, von Neumann should have had or surpassed it when he was a primary school student.
From 65438 to 0920, von Neumann studied mathematics, physics and chemistry in Berlin and Zurich, and then went to Budapest University to study mathematics. But he never attends classes, and only takes the exam once at the end of the term, which does not prevent him from getting quite excellent results. 1926, von Neumann gave a lecture entitled "Axiomatic Deduction of General Set Theory" and obtained a doctorate in mathematics. Judging from von Neumann's learning experience, his extraordinary talent is by no means beyond the reach of ordinary people, even far beyond the average genius, and can only be described as "stunned".
1927, 24-year-old von Neumann was qualified as a lecturer in the philosophy department of Berlin University with his inaugural speech on set theory, which set a record for the youngest lecturer in the history of Berlin University.
During this period, von Neumann was famous for his research on operator theory, mathematical basis of quantum theory and set theory. He laid a solid mathematical foundation for quantum mechanics by studying the spectral theory of linear self-adjoint operators in Hilbert space. Later, the average ergodic theorem was proved, and the field of von Neumann algebra was opened up. In addition, he also made pioneering contributions to measure theory, Glenn and continuous geometry.
From 1930, von Neumann was invited to be a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, USA, but he still went back to Germany to attend classes every summer until 1933 when the Nazis came to power. Von Neumann was very sensitive to politics and was influenced by Hungary in his early years, which later formed his liberal creed. Because he is a Jew, he can't stay in Germany any longer. In the end, he chose to emigrate to the United States and became one of the first six tenured professors (including Einstein and others) at the age of 30.
Due to the needs of the war and the transfer of his own interests, von Neumann's research field gradually extended to the application of mathematics. In fact, before the United States, he had begun to study supersonic turbulence, and in 1937, he was invited to enter the ballistic laboratory in the United States for weapons research and development. Later, he became one of the consultants of the Manhattan Project and contributed to the birth of the atomic bomb.
At the same time, von Neumann became interested in economics, and co-authored Game Theory and Economic Behavior with Morgenster in 1944, which was later hailed as the foundation work of game theory. It was also at this time that von Neumann began to pay attention to computer theory. In addition to practical needs, intuition brought by a strong mathematical foundation is also the driving force for him to develop computers. As a first-rate mathematician, von Neumann is more concerned with the essence of computer theory than its concrete manufacture.
1945, von Neumann wrote a landmark book "The First Draft of Report on EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)", which summarized the ideas of early computer theory and provided a logical framework for modern computer theory. According to today's point of view, this article is the "birth certificate" of modern computers. In the process of developing computer theory, he also developed coding theory by the way, which also contributed to numerical calculation, so he was regarded as one of the founders of computational mathematics.
Von Neumann's computer thought actually surpassed the computer itself and rose to such a philosophical height as the structure of human brain and cells, which can be regarded as the embryonic form of today's "artificial intelligence" field. Under the guidance of this idea, von Neumann completed Computer and Brain and Wei Zi's Regenerative Automata Theory, which benefited the later classic works.
But the heavy work finally brought down the giant of science. Von Neumann died of cancer on 1957 at the age of 54.
Later, he was placed in a wheelchair and continued to think, speak and attend meetings. Long-term heartless illness tortured him and slowly stopped him from all activities. /kloc-0 entered Walter Reed Hospital in Washington in April, 1956, and/kloc-0 died in the hospital on February 8, 1957 at the age of 53.
Von Neumann is one of the most important mathematicians in the 20th century. He has made outstanding contributions to both pure mathematics and applied mathematics. His work can be roughly divided into two periods: before 1940, he mainly studied pure mathematics, put forward a simple and clear ordinal number theory in mathematical logic, made a new axiomatization of set theory, and really distinguished sets from classes; Later, he studied the general theory of linear self-adjoint operators on Hilbert space, thus laying the mathematical foundation of quantum mechanics; From 65438 to 0930, he proved that the average ergodic theorem opened up a new field of theory; In 1933, he solved Hilbert's fifth problem by using compact groups. In addition, he also made pioneering contributions to measure theory, Glenn and continuous geometry. 1936- 1943, he founded the operator ring theory, the so-called von Neumann algebra, in cooperation with Murray.
After 1940, von Neumann turned to applied mathematics. If his pure mathematical achievements belong to mathematics, then his work in mechanics, economics, numerical analysis and electronic computers belongs to all mankind. At the beginning of World War II, von Neumann studied the motion of compressible gas, established shock wave theory and theory of turbulence, and developed fluid mechanics. Since 1942, he has co-authored Game Theory and Economic Behavior with Morgenstein, which is a book on game theory, making him one of the founders of mathematical economics.
Von Neumann, like Poincare, is a rare mathematical generalist in human history. Von Neumann has shown amazing talent in the research of basic mathematics and applied mathematics, and has made many far-reaching achievements. So we can say without a doubt that von Neumann deserves to be one of the greatest and most important mathematicians in the 20th century.