Physics, War and Politics

Although not a trained physicist, John von Neumann contributed to quantum mechanics by describing it in an elegant way, more attractive than Heisenberg's method (Rédei 2001). His success in the field, and other fields, was his ability to immerse himself in the fields rather than simply approach it from a mathematical standpoint.

"[T]he war introduced me to great parts of mathematical physics and applied mathematics which I had neglected before, and I feel that I received intellectually a good deal more than I gave."
-John von Neumann in a letter to the Commissioner of the US Atomic Energy Commission (Rédei 2005)

Commissioner of the US Atomic Energy Commission.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Hargittai, B., & Hargittai, I. (2016). Wisdom Of The Martians Of Science: In Their Own Words With Commentaries. Singapore: World Scientific.

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Hargittai, Balazs and István Hargittai. Wisdom of the Martians of Science: In Their Own Words with Commentaries. World Scientific, 2016. EBSCOhost.

Commissioner of the US Atomic Energy Commission.

APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Hargittai, B., & Hargittai, I. (2016). Wisdom Of The Martians Of Science: In Their Own Words With Commentaries. Singapore: World Scientific.

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Hargittai, Balazs and István Hargittai. Wisdom of the Martians of Science: In Their Own Words with Commentaries. World Scientific, 2016. EBSCOhost.

In 1930, after being invited to Princeton, von Neumann recognized that Europe was "relapsing into the dark ages" and by late '30s  resigned from German academic institutions due to the atrocious nature of the Nazis (Hargittai).

He became naturalized US citizen in 1937 and attempted to join the US army as an officer, but could not due to his age. In 1940, he became member of scientific advisory board of the Ballistic Research Laboratory at Aberdeen, working on torpedoes and antitank weapons.

Because he was more a mathematician than a physicist, he was not invited to join the atomic bomb project, despite discovering that it would be more effective if detonated above the ground. He also designed the implosion device for the plutonium bomb (York). Nonetheless, he was awarded President Truman's Medal for Merit for his contributions. The citation states that he “was primarily responsible for fundamental research by the United States Navy on the effective use of high explosives, which has resulted in the discovery of a new ordnance principle for offensive action (York)."

With regard to McCarthy politics post-war, Von Neumann said "the best men should always be chosen for any scientific post or grant, irrespective of past or even present communist leanings (Macrae)."

Nonetheless he felt that Stalin and the Soviet Union should be dealt with soon after WWII. He hated the idea of communism and feared appeasing Stalin as the US had appeased Hitler. Von Neumann was dedicated to the arms race between the US and SU and wanted to develop more powerful bombs, including the hydrogen bomb, as deterrents. He did not believe, as Einstein did, that the secrets to nuclear bombs should be shared internationally. However, he aimed to keep most of his developments in computation in the public domain. In fact, he refrained from patenting much of his work to contribute to public knowledge (Hargittai).

Highly regarded by scientists and those in the government, he became a very influential person to the military during and after the war. He was appointed to many impactful committees, including the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project and the Scientific Advisory Board of the U.S. Air Force, as well was a consultant to the CIA (Hargittai).

In the final years of his life, von Neumann was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Eisenhower in 1956 (Hargittai). Even after his death in 1957, John von Neumann left a lasting impact on physics and US foreign policy.

Resources:

Hargittai, I. (2006). The Martians of science. [electronic resource] : five physicists who changed the twentieth century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195178456.001.0001

 

Macrae, N. (1999). John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More. Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society.

Rédei, M., & Stöltzner, M. (2001). John von Neumann and the foundations of quantum physics. Boston: Kluwer Academic.

Rédei, M. (Ed.) (2005). John von Neumann : selected letters. Providence, R.I.:American Mathematical Society/London Mathematical Society. 

York, H. F. (1976). The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller, and the Superbomb. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.