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 was a professor at Princeton University and a professor at Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies. He was elected as a member of the American Atomic Energy Commission and the National Academy of Sciences. In his early days, he was famous for his research on operator theory, resonance theory and set theory of quantum 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.
In 1944, von Neumann co-authored Game Theory and Economic Behavior with Oscar Morgan Stern, which is the foundation work of game theory. In his later years, von Neumann turned to the study of automata theory, and wrote a book "Computer and Human Brain", which made an accurate analysis of human brain and computer system, and provided a basic scheme for the development of electronic mathematical computers. Other major works include the mathematical basis of quantum mechanics, the operator method of classical mechanics and continuous geometry.
Von Neumann showed talent in mathematics and memory from an early age. Since childhood, von Neumann has a gift of never forgetting anything. At the age of six, he was able to play jokes on his father in Greek. At the age of six, he could divide eight digits in his mind, and at the age of eight, he could master calculus. 10 years old, he spent several months reading 48 volumes of world history, and was able to compare the current events with an event in history and discuss their military theories and political strategies. At the age of twelve, he understood the essence of Bohr's masterpiece "On Function".
19 14 summer, John entered the college preparatory class. On July 28th, 2008, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which started the First World War. Due to years of war and turmoil, the von Neumann family left Hungary and then returned to Budapest. Of course, his studies will also be affected. But in the graduation exam, von Neumann is still among the best (except for sports and writing, all of them are A).
192 1 year, von Neumann was already a mathematician when he passed the "mature" exam. His first paper was written with Fichte, when he was less than 18 years old. Max asked someone to dissuade von Neumann of Kloc-0/7 from specializing in mathematics for economic reasons. Later, the father and son reached an agreement that von Neumann would study chemistry.
In the following four years, von Neumann registered as a student of the Department of Mathematics of Budapest University, but he didn't attend classes. He just takes the exam on time every year and gets an A in the exam. At the same time, von Neumann entered the University of Berlin (192 1 year) and studied chemistry at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland in 1923. From 65438 to 0926, he obtained a degree in university chemistry from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. He also returned to Budapest University at the end of each semester and passed the course examination, and obtained a doctorate in mathematics from Budapest University.
Von Neumann's learning style of taking exams instead of attending classes was very special at that time, which was completely irregular in Europe. But this irregular learning method is very suitable for von Neumann.
During his stay in Zurich, von Neumann often used his spare time to study mathematics, write articles and correspond with mathematicians. During this period, influenced by Hilbert and his students Schmidt and Weil, von Neumann began to study mathematical logic. At that time, Weil and Boya were also in Zurich, and he was in contact with them. Once Val left Zurich for a short time, and von Neumann took classes for him. With wisdom and unique cultivation, Von Neumann is thriving. By the time he finished his student days, he had been at the forefront of mathematics, physics and chemistry.
1926 In the spring, von Neumann went to the University of G? ttingen as Hilbert's assistant. From 1927 to 1929, von Neumann was a part-time lecturer at the University of Berlin, during which he published the set theory Algebraic Sum.
An article on quantum theory. From 65438 to 0927, von Neumann went to Lviv, Poland to attend the congress of mathematicians. At that time, his work on the basis of mathematics and set theory was already very famous.
From 65438 to 0929, von Neumann was transferred to the University of Hamburg as a part-time lecturer. 1930 went to America for the first time and became a visiting lecturer at Princeton University. The United States, which is good at pooling talents, soon hired von Neumann as a visiting professor.
Von Neumann once calculated that German universities have few vacancies to look forward to. According to his typical reasoning, there are three professors appointed in three years, and there are as many as 40 competing lecturers. In Princeton, von Neumann returned to Europe every summer until 1933 became a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton. At that time, the Institute for Advanced Studies hired six professors, including Einstein, and von Neumann, who was only 30 years old, was the youngest among them.
In the early days of the Institute of Advanced Studies, European tourists will find an excellent informal and strong research atmosphere here. The professor's office is located in the "beautiful building" of the university, with stable life, active thoughts and high-quality research results emerging one after another. It can be said that there are the most talents with mathematical minds in history.
1930 von Neumann married Marida Kaus. Their daughter Marina was born in Princeton on 1935. As we all know, von Neumann's family often holds lasting social gatherings. Von Neumann divorced his wife on 1937, married Clara Dan on 1938 and returned to Princeton together. Dan studied mathematics with von Neumann and later became an excellent programmer. After he married Clara, von Neumann's home is still a place where scientists meet, and it is still so hospitable, where everyone will feel an atmosphere of wisdom.
After the outbreak of World War II in Europe, von Neumann surpassed Princeton and participated in many scientific research projects related to the anti-fascist war. From 1943, he became a consultant to make atomic bombs, and still served in many government departments and committees after the war. 1954, he became a member of the American atomic energy commission.
Strauss, Von Neumann's long-time friend and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, once commented on him: From his appointment to the late autumn of 1955, Von Neumann did a beautiful job. He has an ability that people can't catch up with, and the most difficult problems will be broken down into seemingly simple things in his hands. In this way, he greatly promoted the work of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Von Neumann has been in good health, but due to his busy work, he began to feel very tired at 1954.
1955 In the summer, he was diagnosed with cancer by X-ray, but he persisted in his work and his condition expanded. 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: he put forward a simple and clear ordinal number theory in mathematical logic, and made a new axiomatization of set theory, in which set and class were clearly distinguished; Later, he studied the spectral 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 ergodic theory; In 1933, he solved Hilbert's fifth problem by using compact groups. In addition, he also made pioneering contributions in the fields of measure theory, lattice theory and continuous geometry. From 1936 to 1943, he cooperated with Murray to establish the operator ring theory, the so-called von Neumann algebra.
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. Starting from 1942, he co-authored the book Game Theory and Economic Behavior with Morgenstein, which is a classic work in game theory, making him one of the founders of mathematical economics.
Von Neumann suggested designing the world's first electronic computer ENIAC (Electronic Digital Integral Computer). 1March, 945, he drafted a brand-new "stored program general electronic computer scheme"-edvac (abbreviation of electronic discrete variable automatic computer). This has a decisive influence on later computer design, especially the determination of computer structure, the use of stored programs and binary codes, which are still followed by electronic computer designers.
From 65438 to 0946, von Neumann began to learn programming. He is one of the founders of modern numerical analysis and computational mathematics. He first studied the numerical calculation of linear algebra and arithmetic, then focused on the discretization and stability of nonlinear differential equations, and gave the error estimation. He helped develop some algorithms, especially the Monte Carlo method.
In the late 1940s, he began to study automata theory, general logic theory and self-replication system. At the last moment of his life, he made a profound comparison between natural automata and artificial automata. After his death, his unfinished manuscript was published in the name of computer and human brain in 1958.
Von Neumann's major works are included in The Complete Works of Von Neumann (6 volumes, 196 1).
Whether in pure mathematics or applied mathematics research, von Neumann has shown outstanding talents and made many far-reaching and significant achievements. It is his characteristic to constantly change the research theme and succeed repeatedly in the cross-infiltration of several disciplines.
To put it simply, his quintessential contribution is two points: binary thought and program memory thought.
Looking back on the brilliant development of science and technology in the 20th century, one of the most outstanding mathematicians in the 20th century, von Neumann, cannot be ignored.
As we all know, the electronic computer invented by 1946 has greatly promoted the progress of science and technology and social life. In view of von Neumann's key role in the invention of electronic computers, he is regarded as the "father of computers" by westerners. In economics, he has also made breakthrough achievements and is known as "the father of game theory". In the field of physics, the Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics written by von Neumann in 1930s has 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.
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. Starting from axioms, he deduced many important concepts, basic operations and important theorems in set theory by algebraic methods. Especially in a paper from 65438 to 0925, 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 and Bohr's almost periodic function theory. He also has a deep understanding of the structure of general topological groups, and makes it clear that its algebraic structure and topological structure are consistent with real numbers. He did pioneering work in operator algebra and laid its theoretical foundation, thus establishing a new branch of mathematics-operator algebra. This branch is called von Neumann algebra in contemporary mathematical literature. This is a natural generalization of matrix algebra in finite dimensional space. Von Neumann also founded another important branch of modern mathematics-game theory. 1944, he published the fundamental and important paper Game Theory and Economic Behavior. The paper includes the explanation of pure mathematical form of game theory and the detailed explanation of practical game application. This paper also contains teaching ideas such as statistical 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, numerical analysis and game theory in economics.