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Biography
AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjectsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectJohn Von Neumann
Dates
December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957
Authorized Form of Name
Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957
Additional Forms of Names
Fon Neĭman, Dzh. (Dzhon), 1903-1957
Fon Neĭman, Dzhon, 1903-1957
Fon Neĭman, Iogann, 1903-1957
Margittai Neumann, János Lajos, 1903-1957
Neĭman, Dzhon fon, 1903-1957
Neĭman, Iogann fon, 1903-1957
Neumann, János, 1903-1957
Neumann, Johann von, 1903-1957
Neumann, John von, 1903-1957
Neumann, John von (Ludwig Johann), 1903-1957
Biography
Abstract
John von Neumann was Commissioner of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (1955-1957). Other institutional affiliations included the Institute for Advanced Study. His research interests included mathematical logic, set theory, theory of continuous groups, ergodic theory, quantum theory, operator theory, high speed computing devices.
Important Dates
December 28, 1903Birth, Budapest (Hungary).
1921 – 1923Attended University of Berlin, Berlin (Germany).
1925Obtained ECh, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich (Switzerland).
1926Obtained PhD, University of Budapest, Budapest (Hungary).
1926Rockefeller Fellow, University of Göttingen.
1927 – 1929Privatdozent, University of Berlin.
1929Privatdozent, University of Hamburg.
1930 – 1931Lecturer, Princeton University.
1931 – 1957Visiting Professor of Mathematical Physics (1931-1933); Permanent Member and Research Professor (1933-1957); and Director, Electronic Computer Project (1945-1957), Institute for Advanced Study.
1937Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1940 – 1957Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Ballistics Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, United States Army.
1941 – 1955Consultant, Bureau of Ordnance, United States Navy.
1943 – 1955Consultant, Los Alamos Laboratory.
1947 – 1955Consultant, Naval Ordnance Laboratory, United States Navy.
1949 – 1953Member, Research and Development Board, United States Department of Defense.
1949 – 1954Consultant, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
1950 – 1955Consultant, Armed Forces Special Weapons Project.
1950 – 1955Consultant, Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, United States Department of Defense.
1950 – 1957Member, Board of Advisors, University of the Andes.
1951 – 1953President, American Mathematical Society.
1951 – 1957Member, Scientific Advisory Board, United States Air Force.
1952 – 1954Member, General Advisory Committee, United States Atomic Energy Commission.
1953 – 1957Member, Technical Advisory Board on Atomic Energy, United States Department of Defense.
1954 – 1957Chair, Advisory Committee on Guided Missiles, United States Department of Defense.
1955 – 1957Commissioner, United States Atomic Energy Commission.
1956Awarded Enrico Fermi Award, United States Atomic Energy Commission.
February 8, 1957Death, Washington (D.C.).
Occupation
Mathematician.
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Relationships
People
Family
Kovesi, Marietta
First Wife. Married 1930 to 1937.
Von Neumann, Klara Dan, 1911-1963
Second Wife. Married in 1938.
Von Neumann, Max
Father.
Whitman, Marina von Neumann
Daughter.
Advisors & Collaborators
Hirschfelder, Joseph Oakland, 1911-
Post-doc advised by Von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Advised by Von Neumann at Princeton University.
Colleagues
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Bargmann, V. (Valentine), 1908-1989
Both employed at Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Cooper, Leon N. (Leon Neil), 1930-
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
DeWitt, Bryce S. (Bryce Seligman), 1923-2004
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Eisenhart, Luther Pfahler, 1876-1965
Both employed at Princeton University.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Kraichnan, Robert H., 1928-2008
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Low, Francis E. (Francis Eugene), 1921-2007
Both employed at Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Thomas, Tracy Y. (Tracy Yerkes), 1899-1983
Both employed at Princeton University.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Additional
Alt, Franz L.
Arakawa, Akio
Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005
Chandrasekhar, S. (Subrahmanyan), 1910-1995
Critchfield, Charles Louis, 1910-
Dirac, P. A. M. (Paul Adrien Maurice), 1902-1984
Finkelstein, David Ritz, 1929-
Ford, Vincent, 1907-2001
Goldstine, Herman H. (Herman Heine), 1913-2004
Hoffmann, Banesh, 1906-
Hoyt, Frank Clark, 1898-
Kemeny, John G.
Kent, R. H. (Robert Harrington), 1886-1961
Landauer, Rolf William, 1927-1999
Leith, Cecil E., 1923-
Malone, Thomas F.
Manabe, Syukuro, 1931-
Munk, Walter H. (Walter Heinrich), 1917-
Naugle, John E.
Newman, M. H. A. (Maxwell Herman Alexander), 1897-
Nordheim, Lothar, 1899-
Pegram, George Braxton, 1876-1958
Roberts, Walter Orr
Rosenfeld, L. (Leon), 1904-1974
Schwarzschild, Martin
Spilhaus, Athelstan
Sproull, Robert L.
Strauss, Lewis L.
Taub, A. H., 1911-1999
Taylor, Theodore B., 1925-
Thompson, Philip Duncan
Veblen, Oswald, 1880-1960
Wexler, Harry
Wiener, Norbert, 1894-1964
Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995
York, Herbert F. (Herbert Frank)
Institutions
Major Positions
Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin
Attended from 1921-1923 and Privatdozent.
Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.)
Visiting Professor of Mathematical Physics; Permanent Member and Research Professor; and Director, Electronic Computer Project.
Princeton University. Department of Mathematics
Lecturer.
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
Commissioner; Member, General Advisory Committee; and received 1956 Enrico Fermi Award.
Universität Hamburg
Privatdozent.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
Aberdeen Proving Ground (Md.)
Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Ballistics Research Laboratory.
American Mathematical Society
President.
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (U.S.)
Consultant.
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Obtained ECh (1925).
Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem
Obtained PhD (1926).
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Consultant.
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Member.
Naval Ordnance Laboratory (White Oak, Md.)
Consultant.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Consultant.
United States. Air Force
Member, Scientific Advisory Board.
United States. Department of Defense
Member, Research and Development Board; Consultant, Weapons Systems Evaluation Group; Member, Technical Advisory Board on Atomic Energy; and Chair, Advisory Committee on Guided Missiles.
United States. Navy. Bureau of Ordnance
Consultant.
Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia)
Member, Board of Advisors.
Universität Göttingen
Rockefeller Fellow.
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
Abraham Taub's notes on the John von Neumann quantum electrodynamics lectures, 1933.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Eugene Feenberg papers, 1906-1977.
Libraries. University Archives
Washington University
Campus Box 1061, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA
John Von Neumann collection, 1913-1925, 1942-1956, 1989-1992.
Center for American History. University Archives
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78713, USA
John Von Neumann papers, 1912-1996 (bulk 1935-1957).
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
John Von Neumann papers, 1919-1966 (bulk 1919-1949).
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Princeton University
1 Washington Road, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Stanislaw Ulam papers, 1916-1984.
Library.
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Subject
Archive for the History of Quantum Physics, 1898-1950 (bulk).
Library.
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Electronic Computer Project (ECP) records, 1940-1967.
Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center
Institute for Advanced Study
1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Erwin Schrodinger papers.
In private hands
In the possession of Mrs. Ruth Braunizer, Alpbach Tiro, Austria
Harry Wexler papers, 1929-1962.
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
Institute for Advanced Study electronic computer project drawings, 1949-1961.
Archives Center
Smithsonian Institution. National Museum of American History
MRC 601, 12th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA
Jule G. Charney papers, 1936-1981, (bulk 1948-1981)
Institute Archives and Special Collections
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Keith Brueckner manuscript biography, 1986.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Lewis L. Strauss papers, 1914-1974.
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
West Branch, IA 52358, USA
Los Alamos Science special issue on Stanislaw Ulam, 1987.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
M. H. A. Newman papers, 1916-1984.
The Library
St. John's College
Cambridge CB2 1TP
Norbert Wiener papers, 1898-1966.
Institute Archives and Special Collections
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Oral history interview with Akio Arakawa, 1997 July 17 and 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Athelstan Frederick Spilhaus, 1989 November 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Banesh Hoffmann, 1984 October 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Carl Henry Eckart, 1962 May 31.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Cecil E. "Chuck" Leith, 1997 July 2.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Charles L. Critchfield, 1987 May 29.
Charles Babbage Institute. Center for the History of Computing
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Oral history interview with David Finkelstein, 2013 February 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Edward A. Frieman, 2006 December 4 and 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Edward Mills Purcell, 1977 June 8 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Paul Wigner, 1963 November 21 and December 3, 4.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Paul Wigner, 1984 April 12.
Seeley G. Mudd Library
Princeton University
65 Olden Street, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Paul Wigner, 1987 May 12.
Charles Babbage Institute. Center for the History of Computing
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Oral history interview with Felix Bloch, 1964 May 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Felix Bloch, 1968 August 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frank Clark Hoyt, 1964 April 28.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Franz L. Alt, 1969 February 24 and March 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frederick Seitz, 1981 January 26, 27, March 24 and 1982 March 16.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Herbert F. York, 2008 April 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Herman Heine Goldstine, 1977 March 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1963 November 18 and 20.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John E. Naugle, 1980 August 20.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John G. Kemeny, 1984 June 7.
Seeley G. Mudd Library
Princeton University
65 Olden Street, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Oral history interview with Jule G. Charney, 1980 August 25, 26, 27 and 28.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Léon Rosenfeld, 1963 July 1, 19, 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim, 1962 July 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Martin Schwarzchild, 1986 Nov. 18.
Charles Babbage Institute. Center for the History of Computing
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Murray Gell-Mann, 1997 July 17 and 18.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Oral history interview with Philip Duncan Thompson, 1986 December 5.
Charles Babbage Institute. Center for the History of Computing
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Oral history interview with Richard Courant, 1962 May 9.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Richard Garwin, 2012 December 20.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert Sproull, 1983 July 11.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Rolf William Landauer, 1984 October 17.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with S. Chandrasekhar, 1977 May 17, 18 and October 31.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Syukuro Manabe, 1998 March 14 and 15.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Ted Taylor, 1995 February 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Thomas F. Malone, 1995 January 4.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Thomas F. Malone, 2000 November 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Valentine Bargmann, 1984 April 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Walter H. Munk, 1986 June 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Walter M. Elsasser, 1986 March 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Walter Orr Roberts, 1987 August 21.
Archives.
National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
Oswald Veblen papers, 1881-1960 (bulk 1920-1960).
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
Philip D. Thompson papers, 1944-1994.
Archives.
National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar papers, 1928-1995.
The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections
University of Chicago
1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
The Princeton years and beyond, 1930-1940: Invited paper for the March 1992 meeting of the American Physical Society, 1992.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Twenty-four minutes to checkmate, [unpublished manuscript] 1953-1957.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library
Abilene, KS 67410, USA
Published Resources
Author
John von Neumann collected works. General editor, A. H. Taub.
Mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics. Translated from the German ed. by Robert T. Beyer.
Theory of games and economic behavior / by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.
Subject
"John von Neumann and Scientific Method," Journal of the History of Ideas 68 (2007): 501-527
"John von Neumann and the National Accounting Machine," SIAM Review 16 (1974): 525-530
"John von Neumann, 1903-1957," Annals of the History of Computing 4 (1982): 157-181
"John von Neumann: 1903-1957", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
"John von Neumann: The Founding Father of Artificial Life," Arificial Life 4 (1998): 229-235
"The Computer as Von Neumann Planned It," Annals of the History of Computing 15 (1993): 11-21
"The Stored-Program Computer: Two Conceptions," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 359-389
"Von Neumann : La Matematica per il Dominio della Realtà," Grandi della Scienza 5 (2002): 4-95
John von Neumann / Norman Macrae.
John von Neumann and Modern Economics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)
John von Neumann and the foundations of quantum physics / edited by Miklós Rédei, Michael Stöltzner.
John von Neumann and the origins of modern computing / William Aspray.
John von Neumann as seen by his brother / by Nicholas A. Vonneuman.
John von Neumann Physics Today obituary.
John von Neumann, 1903-1957 / edited by J.C. Oxtoby, B.J. Pettis, G.B. Price.
The Legacy of John von Neumann (Providence: American Mathematical Society, 1990)
The Martians of Science : five physicists who changed the twentieth century / István Hargittai.
Turing's cathedral : the origins of the digital universe / George Dyson.