John von Neumann was born in Budapest in 1903. Von Neumann was gifted with talents in math and science from an early age and achieved a PhD in mathematics at age 22 with other studies in chemistry and physics and electrical engineering. He soon started teaching at the University of Berlin and within four years had published 12 papers.
With Europe on the
brink of WWII, in 1937 von Neumann became a citizen of the United States and
attempted to become a lieutenant in the Army under the ordinance department.
Fortunately for history, he was denied due to his age. As the US became
involved in the war, von Neumann became one of their foremost scientists
involved in explosives. He was involved with shaped charges for torpedoes and
antitank weapons and eventually joined the Manhattan Project.
There is an old
anecdote about someone at the Manhattan Project suggesting the impressive
Hungarian scientists there had come from Mars and disguised themselves by
speaking Hungarian. Von Neumann, of course, was one of those scientists.
His work at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory included developing the concept of the explosive
lenses to compress the core of the Fat Man. He also determined that the impact
of a nuclear bomb would increase if it were to detonate several kilometers above
ground than at ground level.
Although scientists
like J. Robert Oppenheimer had qualms about dropping atomic bombs on Japan, Von
Neumann did not share in that guilt. Oppenheimer is known to have quoted Hindu
scripture, "Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds." In reference
to this sentiment among scientists, von Neumann stated, "Some people
confess guilt to claim credit for the sin" (Hargittai 2006).
Von Neumann
continued to help the US in the arms race immediately after WWII and felt that
Stalin should be dealt with in a way Hitler and Fascism had not been. Thus he
pressed the government to begin working on the hydrogen bomb as he believed the
Soviets would (and indeed had before the Americans began).
Throughout his
career, von Neumann heavily influenced the outcomes of WWII and American
defense and foreign policy. By the end of his life, he had a guard with him at
all times to prevent him from spilling government secrets. However, his
accomplishments in mathematics and science will always be remembered by
students of those fields. The following posts will cover his contributions to
mathematics, physics, and computer science.
Sources:
Gillispie, C. C.,
Holmes, F. L., & Koertge, N. (2007). Complete
dictionary of scientific biography. [electronic resource]. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved from http://ebooks.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ebc/view?docId=tei/gale/dsb14/dsb14.xml;chunk.id=dsb_0001_0014_0_04522.xml;toc.depth=1;toc.id=;brand=default.
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
Great introduction! I like the title and layout. I think Von Neumann was unique among mathematicians in the extent to which he was involved in government policy
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