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Happy Birthday, Von Neumann (And Linus!)

Posted by timothy on from the what-have-the-romans-done-for-us dept.

noims writes "Sunday is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Von Neumann, the man with one of the strongest claims to the title of Father of Modern Computing. Although, as noted at the time by Mark Stanley of Freefall, several sources indicate that it may have been December 3rd." Update: 12/28 01:07 GMT by T : deja206 writes "Today (December 28, CET) also is Linus Torvalds' 34th birthday. Now we probably wouldn't be here talking about all this stuff if it weren't for him. Thank you for Linux, happy birthday!"

4 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Try Turing or Zuse by Bender_ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting that you mention this combination, because even though Zuses computer was very advanced, it was not Turing complete.

    Apparently ENIAC was neither, so von Neumanns contribution to the EDSAC may have indeed resultet in the first Turing complete machine.

  2. Re:Noyman! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Also remember, kids, that Neumann was Hungarian, not German. Born and schooled in Budapest, Hungary. The name is Germanic solely because at the time (before World War I) Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. His father had bought a minor nobility title, and since Austria was the dominant half of the Monarchy (the ruling house, the Habsburgs were Austrian), the Germanic-sounding version was used more widely. To his friends, "John von Neumann" was actually "Neumann Janos".

  3. Von Neumann's Voice by sidles · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here is a poignant recording of von Neumann's voice:
    "Those of you present who have lived with this field, and who have lived with and suffered with computing machines of various sorts, and know what kind of regime it is to invest in one, I'm sure have appreciated the fact that it appears that this machine has been completely assembled less than two months ago, has been run on problems less than two weeks ago, and yesterday already ran for four hours without making a mistake! Those of you who have *not* been exposed to computing machines, and who do not have the desolate feeling which goes with living with their mistakes, will appreciate what it means that a computing machine, after about two weeks of breaking in, has really a faultless run of four hours. It is completely fantastic on an object of this size; I doubt it has ever been achieved before, and it is an enormous reassurance regarding the state of the art and regarding the complexities to which one will be able to go in the future, that this has been achieved."
  4. Game Theory too ... by gradji · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Along with modern computer science, Von Neumnann also made contributions in several other areas of applied mathematics that are currently major areas of research and development.

    For example -- although Nash got the book and movie treatment as well as the Nobel -- the pioneering work on the modern mathematical treatment of games ("game theory") is considered to be "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" (1944) written by Von Neumann and economist Oscar Morgenstern. Among their contribution include the concept of a zero sum game and the "minimax theorem."

    Much closer to computer science ... von Neumann, along with Dantzig and Kanotorovich, helped develop the field of linear/mathematical programming and, more generally, operations research.

    Of course, all three of these fields are related, with many of the same basic tools applicable to all three. But the fact that one man found so many seemingly different applications for the same basic matheamtical tools is still amazing. Regardless of whether Von Neumann was the father of modern computer science (personally, I lean toward Turing), I think we should follow the spirit of the original post and remember the birth of one of 20th Century's trule great thinkers.

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