Originally from Hungary. Ph.D. in Mathematics, Budapest University. He has taught at the University of Berlin and the University of Hamburg. 1930 went to the United States and later became an American citizen. He is a professor at Princeton University and Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, and a member of the American Atomic Energy Commission. Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. In his early days, he was famous for his research on operator theory, quantum theory and set theory, and founded von Neumann algebra. During the Second World War, he contributed to the development of the first atomic bomb. It provides a basic scheme for the development of electronic mathematical computers. Game Theory and Economic Behavior, co-authored with oskar morgenstern, 1944, is the foundation work of game theory. In his later years, he studied automata theory and wrote a book "Computer and Human Brain", which made an accurate analysis of human brain and computer system.
His main works are Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics (1926), Computer and Human Brain (1958), Operator Method of Classical Mechanics, Game Theory and Economic Behavior (1944), and Continuous Geometry (1. Neumann is a famous Hungarian-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 was one of the bankers in Budapest when he was young. Von Neumann's mother is a kind woman, virtuous and docile, with a good education.
Von Neumann showed a mathematical genius since he was a child, and there are many legends about his childhood. Most legends are talking about von Neumann's amazing speed of absorbing knowledge and solving problems since childhood. At the age of six, I can mentally calculate the multiplication and division of eight figures, master calculus at the age of eight, and understand the essence of Bohr's masterpiece Function Theory at the age of twelve.
The essence of calculus is the mathematical analysis of infinitesimal. For a long time, human beings have been exploring finite and infinite and their relationship. /kloc-Calculus discovered by Newton Leibniz in the 0/7th century is a great and exciting achievement of human exploration. It has been the teaching content of colleges and universities for 300 years. With the development of the times, calculus is constantly changing its form, its concept has become accurate, its basic theory has been solid, and there are even many concise and appropriate expressions. But in any case, it is rare for an eight-year-old child to understand calculus. Although the above rumors are not credible, von Neumann's intelligence is extraordinary, which is the unanimous view of those who know him.
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. However, in the graduation exam, von Neumann's performance is still among the best.
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 next four years, Von Neumann registered as a student of mathematics at Budapest University, but he didn't attend classes, but just took the exam on time every year. 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.
John 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 study in Berlin University, Von Neumann was carefully cultivated by chemist Hubble. Hubble is a famous German chemist who won the Nobel Prize for synthesizing ammonia.
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 articles on set theory, algebra and quantum theory. 1927, 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.
1929, von Neumann became a part-time lecturer at the University of Hamburg. 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 when he 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 Kvasz. 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 in l937, married Clara Dan in 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. Since 1943, he has been a consultant in the manufacture of atomic bombs, and he 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 problem is in his hands. By breaking down seemingly simple things, he greatly promoted the work of the Atomic Energy Commission. During the period of 1930 ~ 1940, von Neumann's achievements in pure mathematics were more concentrated, his creation was more mature and his reputation was higher. Later, in a question-and-answer table for the National Academy of Sciences, von Neumann chose the mathematical basis of quantum theory, operator ring theory and ergodic theorem of states as his most important mathematical work. 1927 von Neumann has been engaged in the research work in the field of quantum mechanics. He co-published a paper "Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics" with Silvito and Nordam. This paper is based on Hilbert's lecture on the new development of quantum mechanics in the winter of 1926. Nordem helped prepare the lecture, and von Neumann devoted himself to the mathematical formalization of the subject. The purpose of this paper is to replace the exact function relation in classical mechanics with probability relation. Hilbert's metamathematics and axiomatic scheme have been put into use in this dynamic field, and the isomorphic relationship between theoretical physics and corresponding mathematical system has been obtained. We can't overestimate the historical importance and influence of this article. In his article, Von Neumann also discussed the operational outline of observable operators in physics and the properties of self-adjoint operator. There is no doubt that these contents constitute the prelude to the book Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics. L932 The world-famous springer Publishing House published his Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics, which is one of von Neumann's major works. The first edition was published in German in French and Spanish in 1949 and translated into English in 1955. It is still a classic in this field. Of course, he has also done a lot of important work in quantum statistics, quantum thermodynamics, gravitational field and so on. Objectively speaking, in the history of the development of quantum mechanics, von Neumann made at least two important contributions: Dirac's mathematical treatment of quantum theory was not strict enough in a sense, and von Neumann developed Hilbert operator theory through the study of unbounded operators, which made up for this deficiency; In addition, von Neumann clearly pointed out that the statistical characteristics of quantum theory are not caused by the unknown state of the observer engaged in measurement. With the help of Hilbert space operator theory, he proved that all the assumptions of quantum theory, including the correlation of general physical quantities, must lead to this result. For von Neumann's contribution, Wegner, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, once commented: "His contribution to quantum mechanics ensures his special position in the field of contemporary physics." In von Neumann's works, operator spectrum theory and operator ring theory in Hilbert space occupy an important position, and the articles in this field account for about one-third of his published papers. They include a very detailed analysis of the properties of linear operators and an algebraic study of operator rings in infinite dimensional space. Operator ring theory began in the second half of 1930. Von Neumann was very familiar with the noncommutative algebra of Nott and Adin, and soon applied it to the algebra of bounded linear operators on Hilbert space, which was later called von Neumann operator algebra. During the period of 1936 ~ 1940, von Neumann published six papers on noncommutative operator rings, which can be described as the analysis masterpieces of the 20th century, and its influence has continued to this day. Von Neumann once said in "Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics" that the ideas first put forward by Hilbert can provide an appropriate foundation for the quantum theory of physics without introducing new mathematical ideas into these physical theories. His research achievements in operator rings have achieved this goal. Von Neumann's interest in this subject runs through his whole career. An amazing growth point of operator ring theory is continuous geometry named by von Neumann. The dimensions of general geometry are integers 1, 2, 3, etc. As von Neumann saw in his works, it was actually rotation group who decided the dimensional structure of a space. So the dimension can no longer be an integer. Finally, the geometry of continuous series space is proposed. 1932, von Neumann published a paper on ergodic theory, which solved the proof of ergodic theorem and expressed it with operator theory. This is the first accurate mathematical result obtained in the whole research field of ergodic hypothesis of statistical mechanics. Von Neumann's achievements may once again be attributed to his mastery of mathematical analysis methods influenced by set theory and the methods he created in the study of Hilbert operators. It is one of the most influential achievements in the field of mathematical analysis in the 20th century, and it also marks that a field of mathematical physics has begun to approach the general research of accurate modern analysis. In addition, von Neumann has also made many achievements in mathematical fields such as real variable function theory, measure theory, topology, continuous group and lattice theory. In the famous speech 1900, Hilbert raised 23 questions for mathematical research in the 20th century, and von Neumann also contributed to solving Hilbert's fifth question.
General Applied Mathematics 1940 is the turning point of von Neumann's scientific career. Before that, he was a pure mathematician who was familiar with physics. Since then, he has become a firm master. The last subject that contributed to von Neumann's fame was electronic computer and automation theory. As early as Los Alamos, von Neumann clearly saw that even if the study of some theoretical physics is only to get qualitative results, it is not enough to rely solely on analytical research, but also to be supplemented by numerical calculation. The time required for manual calculation or using a desktop computer is unbearable, so von Neumann began to make great efforts to study electronic computers and calculation methods. During the period of 1944 ~ 1945, von Neumann formed the basic method of transforming a set of mathematical processes into computer instruction languages. At that time, electronic computers (such as ENIAC) lacked flexibility and versatility. Von Neumann's idea of fixed and universal circuit system in machines, the concepts of "flow diagram" and "code" have made great contributions to overcoming the above shortcomings. Although this arrangement is obvious to mathematical logicians. The development of computer engineering should also be largely attributed to von Neumann. The logic schema, storage, speed, the choice of basic instructions and the design of interaction between circuits in modern computers are deeply influenced by von Neumann's thought. He not only participated in the development of electronic tube component ENIAC computer, but also personally supervised the construction of computer in Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies. Not long ago, Von Neumann and Moore's team worked together to write a brand-new general-purpose electronic computer program EDVAC with a stored program, and the report of 10L page caused a sensation in the mathematics field. According to this report, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, which has always been good at theoretical research, approved von Neumann to make computers. The electronic computer, which is 10 million times faster than manual calculation, not only greatly promotes the progress of numerical analysis, but also stimulates the emergence of new methods in the basic aspects of mathematical analysis itself. Among them, the vigorous development of Monte Carlo method for dealing with deterministic mathematical problems with random numbers formulated by von Neumann and others is a prominent example. /kloc-the precise mathematical expression of mathematical physics principles in the 0/9th century seems to be very lacking in modern physics. The complex structure in the study of elementary particles is dazzling, and the hope of finding a comprehensive mathematical theory is still very slim. On the whole, not to mention the analytical difficulties encountered in dealing with some partial differential equations, there is little hope of obtaining accurate solutions. All these forces people to look for new mathematical models that can be processed by electronic computers. Von Neumann contributed many ingenious methods to this: most of them were included in various experimental reports. From solving numerical approximate solutions of partial differential equations to reporting long-term weather values, and finally controlling climate. In the last few years of von Neumann's life, his thoughts were still very active. He integrated the results of logic research and his early work on computers, and extended his vision to the general automata theory. With his unique courage, he overcame the most complicated problem: how to design a reliable automaton with unreliable components and build an automaton that he can replicate. From this, he realized some similarities between computer and human brain mechanism, which was reflected in Hillemann's speech; It was not until after his death that someone published a pamphlet under the name of Computer and Human Brain. Although this is an unfinished work, some quantitative results obtained by his accurate analysis and comparison of human brain and computer system still have important academic value.