ABSTRACT
NEUMANN von 28.12. 1903 Budapest/H 08.02. 1957 Washington DC/USA John (Janos) von Neumann was born in Hungary. After attending the University of Berlin from 1921 to 1923, he received the PhD title from ETH Zurich in 1926. von Neumann was a Rockefeller Fellow then at University of Göttingen, Germany, teaching mathematics at the University of Berlin, Germany. There his basic interest in quantum mechanics and mathematical logic was stimulated. In 1930, von Neumann spent one year as visiting professor of mathematical physics at Princeton University, and received in 1931 an appointment there. In 1933 he joined the staff of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, of which he remained a member until his death. Recognizing the inevitable armed conflict with German Nazi Regime, von Neumann contributed to the realization of this danger by the American colleagues and also to the defence of the USA. Beginning in 1940 he was a member of governmental agencies, including the technical advisory panel on atomic energy of the Department of Defence and its weapons evaluation group. He also served as chairman of the nuclear weapons committee of the US Air Force scientific advisory panel. His early interest resulted also in scientific understanding of the nature of shock waves. His realization of the practical importance of obtaining solutions to non-linear differential equations stimulated his interest in the currently accepted means of obtaining such solutions with computers. After the war von Neumann returned to the Institute of Advanced Study, where he was largely responsible for the development and construction of the mathematical analyzer, numerical integrator and the MANIAC computer completed in 1952. A colleague of his stated ‘If he analyzed a problem, it was not necessary to discuss it further’. Anonymous (1980). von Neumann, John. Dictionary of American biography Suppl. 6: 655-656. Scribner’s: New York. Bochner, S. (1958). John von Neumann. Biographical memoirs 32: 438-457. National Academy of Sciences: Washington DC. P Neumann von, J., Richtmyer, R.D. (1950). A method for the numerical calculations of hydrodynamic shocks. Journal of Applied Physics 21(3): 232-237. Neumann von, J. (1953). On ocean wave spectra. Beach Erosion Board, Technical Memo 43. Neumann von, J. (1961). Collected works, A.H. Taub, ed. Pergamon Press: Oxford UK. Poggendorff, J.C. (1953). von Neumann, Janos (John). Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch 6: 1845; 7b: 3592-3595, with bibliography.
