Another polymath—John Von Neumann
June 12, 2019 at 11:14 p.m.
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Polymaths are defined as humans of exceptional versatility, who excel in multiple, seemingly unrelated fields. I have also been interested in such people and continue to read about them. In the past I have written about Leonhard Euler, Thomas Young, Hermann Helmholz, Joseph Leidy and Isaac Newton. Each were extraordinary men who met the prerequites of a genuine polymath. Newton, for example, continues to be the pinnacle used to measure everyone else. The others are equally so. The criteria I used for selection were based on contributions to science, productivity and versatility. Euler may have been the premiere early mathematician, he provided new insights into geometry, trigonometry and calculus. He was also a revolutionary thinker in astronomy, acoustics, hydrodynamics, mechanics, music, ballistics, navigation and topology and wrote more than 850 publications, including 18 books. Young was a linguist, physician and physicist who established the theory of light, color perception, anatomy, the significance of energy, elasticity and because of his uncanny knowledge of language, the study of Egyptology and hieroglyphics. Helmholtz's scientific achievements and his philosophical reflections on science ultimately became a collection of seven thick volumes, covering physiological optics, physiological acoustics and music, popular science and philosophy and lectures of theoretical physics. Leidy, described as the man who knew everything, was America's foremost microscopist and human anatomist, he was a prolific writer and lecturer, the founder of the American vertebrate paleontology, and the first to describe dinosaurs, several varieties of amoebas, plants, worms, reptilian and mammalian fossils. Of course, I could have included Leonardo da Vinci, often called the universal genius. Although perhaps the greatest artist and sculptor, he did not contribute as much to science as the individuals on my list. Leonardo had almost no schooling and could barely read Latin or do long division. Moreover, many of his manuscripts did not survive.
Proving that I have much to learn, I have been watching a series of lectures from the Great Courses on Philosophy, which includes many of the great thinkers beginning with the ancient Greeks. According to the instructor of that course, the most brilliant man lived not too long ago. He chose John Von Neumann, who died in 1957. Von Neuman was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist. Among his awards were the Medal of Freedom, Bocher Memorial Prize, Medal for Merit and the Enrico Fermi Award. The Medal of Freedom recognized his work on developing the atomic bomb. Had Von Neumann lived longer, he undoubtedly would have won three or more Nobel Prizes. A brief search of Wikipedia and other sources indicated many of his astounding achievements.
As might be expected, Von Neumann was an extraordinary child prodigy in the areas of language and mathematics, as a six year old he could divide two 8-digit numbers in his head. By the age of eight, he was familiar with differential and integral calculus.
Apart from being a great mathematician and physicist, he made seminal contributions to computing and economics. He was a master in each field. By 1927, he was recognized as a genius, with 12 major papers in mathematics and renowned for his powers of memorization. His work in mathematics included functional analysis, geometry, topology and numerical analysis. According to what I have read, all mathematicians recognized his brilliance. One of his contemporaries, Paul Halmos (himself a gifted mathematician and luminary) once suggested, perhaps only half joking, that Von Neumann’s abilities were so far above everyone else’s, that Von Neumann might be a different species.
His 1932 work Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics played an important role in the development of quantum theory, and also established a rigorous framework for it. Von Neumann was actively involved in the Manhattan Project , the research and development undertaken during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. His main contribution was in the concept and design of the explosive lenses needed to compress the plutonium core of the atomic bomb. He was in the selection committee that chose Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the targets. His contributions to the field of computing are legendary. He wrote the sorting program together with Alan Turing, a precursor for Artificial Intelligence and contributed to the Monte Carlo method which allowed solutions to be approximated using random numbers. Von Neumann was also involved in developing linear programming, self replicating machines and stochastic computing. It is mind boggling to believe that one person could contribute as much as he did to science and mathematics.
Final thoughts
There may not be a true analytical measurement for a genius. Historian Roy Porter, noted that for such individuals, “there seems to be no common denominator except uncommonness .” That is certainly true for John Von Neumann and others I have written about.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
Polymaths are defined as humans of exceptional versatility, who excel in multiple, seemingly unrelated fields. I have also been interested in such people and continue to read about them. In the past I have written about Leonhard Euler, Thomas Young, Hermann Helmholz, Joseph Leidy and Isaac Newton. Each were extraordinary men who met the prerequites of a genuine polymath. Newton, for example, continues to be the pinnacle used to measure everyone else. The others are equally so. The criteria I used for selection were based on contributions to science, productivity and versatility. Euler may have been the premiere early mathematician, he provided new insights into geometry, trigonometry and calculus. He was also a revolutionary thinker in astronomy, acoustics, hydrodynamics, mechanics, music, ballistics, navigation and topology and wrote more than 850 publications, including 18 books. Young was a linguist, physician and physicist who established the theory of light, color perception, anatomy, the significance of energy, elasticity and because of his uncanny knowledge of language, the study of Egyptology and hieroglyphics. Helmholtz's scientific achievements and his philosophical reflections on science ultimately became a collection of seven thick volumes, covering physiological optics, physiological acoustics and music, popular science and philosophy and lectures of theoretical physics. Leidy, described as the man who knew everything, was America's foremost microscopist and human anatomist, he was a prolific writer and lecturer, the founder of the American vertebrate paleontology, and the first to describe dinosaurs, several varieties of amoebas, plants, worms, reptilian and mammalian fossils. Of course, I could have included Leonardo da Vinci, often called the universal genius. Although perhaps the greatest artist and sculptor, he did not contribute as much to science as the individuals on my list. Leonardo had almost no schooling and could barely read Latin or do long division. Moreover, many of his manuscripts did not survive.
Proving that I have much to learn, I have been watching a series of lectures from the Great Courses on Philosophy, which includes many of the great thinkers beginning with the ancient Greeks. According to the instructor of that course, the most brilliant man lived not too long ago. He chose John Von Neumann, who died in 1957. Von Neuman was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist. Among his awards were the Medal of Freedom, Bocher Memorial Prize, Medal for Merit and the Enrico Fermi Award. The Medal of Freedom recognized his work on developing the atomic bomb. Had Von Neumann lived longer, he undoubtedly would have won three or more Nobel Prizes. A brief search of Wikipedia and other sources indicated many of his astounding achievements.
As might be expected, Von Neumann was an extraordinary child prodigy in the areas of language and mathematics, as a six year old he could divide two 8-digit numbers in his head. By the age of eight, he was familiar with differential and integral calculus.
Apart from being a great mathematician and physicist, he made seminal contributions to computing and economics. He was a master in each field. By 1927, he was recognized as a genius, with 12 major papers in mathematics and renowned for his powers of memorization. His work in mathematics included functional analysis, geometry, topology and numerical analysis. According to what I have read, all mathematicians recognized his brilliance. One of his contemporaries, Paul Halmos (himself a gifted mathematician and luminary) once suggested, perhaps only half joking, that Von Neumann’s abilities were so far above everyone else’s, that Von Neumann might be a different species.
His 1932 work Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics played an important role in the development of quantum theory, and also established a rigorous framework for it. Von Neumann was actively involved in the Manhattan Project , the research and development undertaken during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. His main contribution was in the concept and design of the explosive lenses needed to compress the plutonium core of the atomic bomb. He was in the selection committee that chose Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the targets. His contributions to the field of computing are legendary. He wrote the sorting program together with Alan Turing, a precursor for Artificial Intelligence and contributed to the Monte Carlo method which allowed solutions to be approximated using random numbers. Von Neumann was also involved in developing linear programming, self replicating machines and stochastic computing. It is mind boggling to believe that one person could contribute as much as he did to science and mathematics.
Final thoughts
There may not be a true analytical measurement for a genius. Historian Roy Porter, noted that for such individuals, “there seems to be no common denominator except uncommonness .” That is certainly true for John Von Neumann and others I have written about.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
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