John Von Neumann

Beginning with his expertise in mathematics, Von Neumann specialized in a wide array of scientific fields including physics, computer science, economics, and nuclear armaments. Published one year after his death, von Neumann addresses the similarities and differences between electronic computers and organic brains in this work. After working on the implosion method of achieving nuclear fission during the Manhattan Project, the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico continued pursuing von Neumann’s work and became a center for supercomputer research. Following World War II, von Neumann’s interest in computers led him to work on the first general purpose digital computer, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), which was being developed by the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. Von Neumann used the computational power of the ENIAC to help develop the hydrogen bomb by analyzing fusion reactions. Von Neumann’s work with computers also led to the development of early algorithms, conceived of self-replicating systems, and created climate models for weather forecasting.

John Von Neumann (1903-1957).
The Computer and the Brain. New Haven, Yale University Press [1959].

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/111754