The 20th century is coming, and 2 1 century is coming. When we stand on the threshold of the turn of the century and review the brilliant development of science and technology in the 20th century, we cannot but mention von Neumann, one of the most outstanding mathematicians in the 20th century. As we all know, the electronic computer invented by 1946 has greatly promoted the progress of science and technology and social life. In von Neumann's view, in the field of physics, the Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics written by von Neumann in the 1930s has been proved to be of great value to the development of atomic physics. He also has considerable attainments in chemistry and obtained a university degree from the Chemistry Department of Zurich Institute of Technology. Like Hayek, a Jew, he is undoubtedly one of the greatest generalists of the last century.
John von Numa (1903- 1957), a Hungarian American, was born in Budapest, Hungary on February 28th, 1903. His father is a banker, his family is very rich, and he attaches great importance to children's education. Von Neumann is talented and has many interests. Reading never forgets anything. It is said that he was able to chat with his father in ancient Greek when he was six years old, and he mastered seven languages in his life. He is best at German, but when he thinks in German, he can translate it into English at the speed of reading. He can quickly repeat the contents of books and papers he has read word for word, and he can still do so a few years later. +09 1 1. Von Neumann became famous when he was studying in Lu Se Lun Middle School in Budapest, and was highly valued by his teachers. Under the individual guidance of Mr Fichte, he co-published his first mathematical paper. At this time, von Neumann was less than 18 years old. 192 1- 1923, he studied at the University of Zurich. Soon after, he got a doctorate in mathematics from Budapest University with 1926. Von Neumann was only 22 years old at this time .30438+0927. 1930 accepted the position of visiting professor at Princeton University and went to the United States. 193 1 became the first batch of tenured professors at Princeton university in the United States. At that time, he was less than 30 years old. 1933 transferred to the Institute of Advanced Studies, became one of the first six professors, and worked there all his life. Von Neumann is an honorary doctor of Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, Istanbul University, University of Maryland, Columbia University and Munich Institute of Advanced Technology. He is the seat of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Natural Sciences of Peru and the National Forestry Institute of Italy/kloc-0 10000.0000000000606 President of the American Mathematical Society 195 1 to 1953.
1954 In the summer, von Neumann was diagnosed with cancer. 1957 died in Washington on February 8, at the age of 54.
Von Neumann has done pioneering work and made great contributions in many fields of mathematics. Before World War II, he mainly engaged in the research of operator theory and set theory. 1923' s paper on the over-limit ordinal number in set theory shows von Neumann's unique way and style of dealing with the problem of set theory. He axiomatized set theory, and his axiomatic system laid the foundation of axiomatic set theory. Many important concepts, basic operations and important theorems in set theory are derived by algebraic methods. Especially in a paper in 1925, von Neumann pointed out that there are undecidable propositions in any axiomatic system.
1933, von Neumann solved Hilbert's fifth problem, that is, he proved that a locally Euclidean compact group is a Lie group. 1934, he unified the compact group theory with Bohr's almost periodic function theory. He also has a deep understanding of the structure of general topological groups, and clearly points out that its algebraic structure and topological structure are consistent with real numbers. He did pioneering work in operator algebra and laid its foundation. Thus, a new branch of mathematics, operator algebra, is established. This branch is called von Neumann algebra in contemporary mathematical literature. This is a natural extension of matrix algebra in finite dimensional space. Von Neumann also founded another important branch of modern mathematics-game theory. 1948+0944 published a fundamental and important paper Game Theory and Economic Behavior. This paper includes the explanation and practice of pure mathematical form of game theory. Von Neumann has done important work in lattice theory, continuous geometry, theoretical physics, dynamics, continuum mechanics, meteorological calculation, atomic energy and economics.
Von Neumann's greatest contribution to mankind is his pioneering work in computer science, computer technology and numerical analysis.
Now it is generally believed that ENIAC is the first electronic computer in the world. Developed by American scientists, February 1946 began to run in Philadelphia. In fact, the "Crosas" computer developed by British scientists such as Tommy and Rauls came out more than two years before ENIAC. On1944 65438+1October 10, it was put into operation in Blackley Park. ENIAC machine proves that electronic vacuum technology can greatly improve computing technology. But the ENIAC machine itself has two major shortcomings: (1) has no memory; (2) Controlled by the wiring board, even if it has to overlap for several days, the calculation speed will be offset by this work. Moakley and eckert. The ENIAC machine development team obviously felt this, and they also wanted to start developing another computer as soon as possible in order to improve it.
From 65438 to 0944, Neumann participated in the development of atomic bombs, which involved extremely difficult calculations. When studying the nuclear reaction process, we should give a "yes" or "no" answer to the propagation of a reaction. Solving this problem usually requires billions of mathematical operations and logical instructions. Although the final data is not required to be very accurate, all intermediate operations are essential and should be as accurate as possible. For this reason, his Los Alamos laboratory employs more than 100 female calculators, and it is still far from meeting the needs by using desktop computers to calculate from morning till night. Endless numbers and logical instructions suck up human wisdom and energy like a desert.
Neumann, who was troubled by computers, learned about the development plan of ENIAC computer by a very accidental opportunity. Since then, he devoted himself to the great cause of computer development and established the greatest achievement in his life.
1one day in the summer of 944, Neumann happened to meet Goldstein while waiting for the bus at the train station and had a short talk with him. At that time, Goldstein was the military director of American Ballistic Laboratory, and he participated in the development of ENIAC computer. During the conversation, Goldstein told Neumann about the development of ENIAC. The visionary Neumann was attracted by this development plan, and he realized the far-reaching significance of this work.
Von Neumann was introduced by Captain Golds Ding of Eniak Machine Development Group to join Eniak Machine Development Group, and then he led these innovative young scientific and technological personnel to March towards higher goals. On the basis of joint discussion, a brand-new "stored program general electronic computer scheme"-EDVAC (abbreviation of electronic discrete variable automatic computer) is published. In this process, von Neumann showed his strong basic knowledge of mathematics and physics, and gave full play to his advisory role and his ability to explore problems and analyze comprehensively. Neumann drafted a 10 1 page summary report entitled "Draft Report on EDVAC". The report introduces the new ideas of making electronic computers and programming extensively and concretely. This report is an epoch-making document in the history of computer development. It announced to the world the beginning of the era of electronic computers.
The EDVAC scheme clearly establishes that the new machine consists of five parts, including arithmetic unit, logic control device, memory and input/output device, and describes the functions and relationships of these five parts. In the report, Neumann further demonstrated two major design ideas in EDVAC, which set a milestone for computer design.
One of the design ideas is binary. According to the characteristics of bistable operation of electronic components, he suggested using binary in electronic computers. The report mentions the advantages of binary system and predicts that adopting binary system will greatly simplify the logic circuit of the machine.
Practice has proved the correctness of Neumann's prediction. Nowadays, the application of logic algebra has become an important means to design electronic computers. The main logic circuits used in EDVAC have been used all the time, but the engineering method to realize logic circuits and the analysis method of logic circuits have been improved.
Program memory is another masterpiece of Neumann. Through the investigation of ENIAC, Neumann keenly grasped its biggest weakness-no real memory. ENIAC has only 20 registers, its program is extrapolated, and its instructions are stored in other circuits of the computer. In this way, before solving the problem, you need to get all the necessary instructions and manually connect the corresponding circuits. This preparation takes hours or even days, while the calculation itself takes only a few minutes. There is a great contradiction between the high speed of calculation and the manual operation of the program
In order to solve this problem, Neumann put forward the idea of program memory: the operation program is stored in the memory of the machine, and the programmer only needs to look for the operation instructions in the memory, and the machine will calculate by itself, so that it is not necessary to reprogram every problem, which greatly speeds up the operation process. This idea marks the realization of automatic operation and the maturity of electronic computer, and has become the basic principle of electronic computer design.
1In July and August, 1946, when von Neumann, Goldstein and Boxer were developing IAS computers for the Institute of Advanced Studies of Princeton University, they also put forward a more perfect design report, Preliminary Research on Logic Design of Electronic Computers. These two documents with both theory and concrete design have set off a "computer craze" all over the world for the first time. Their comprehensive design of EDVAC is the famous "von Neumann machine", and its center is the principle of storing programs-instructions and data are stored together. This concept is called "a milestone in the history of computer development". It marks the real beginning of the electronic computer era and guides the future computer design. Everything in nature is constantly developing. With the progress of science and technology, today people realize the shortcomings of "von Neumann Machine", which hinders its development.
Von Neumann also actively participated in the popularization and application of computers, and made outstanding contributions in how to write programs and engage in numerical calculation. Von Neumann won the ceramic prize of the American Mathematical Society in 1937. 1947 won the US Presidential Medal of Meritorious Service and the US Navy Outstanding Citizen Service Award; 1956 was awarded the Medal of Freedom, Einstein Memorial Award and Fermi Award by the President of the United States.
After von Neumann's death, this unfinished manuscript was published in the name of computer and human brain in 1958. The main works are included in the Complete Works of von Neumann, published in 19 1.
In addition, the book Game Theory and Economic Behavior published by von Neumann in the 1940s made him erect a monument in the fields of economics and decision science. He is recognized by economists as the father of game theory. At that time, young johnf nash began to research and develop this field when he was studying at Princeton University, and won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics for his outstanding contribution to game theory.