John Von Neumann appears on the television program "America's Youth Wants To Know". He made this appearance when he was the Commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission.
This guy was the absolute GOAT. One of my favorite quotes from him is "Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them."
”You know, Herb, Johnny can do calculations in his head ten times as fast as I can. And I can do them ten times as fast as you can, so you can see how impressive Johnny is” - Enrico Fermi (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1938) “One had the impression of a perfect instrument whose gears were machined to mesh accurately to a thousandth of an inch.” - Eugene Wigner (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1963) “I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann’s does not indicate a species superior to that of man” - Hans Bethe (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1967)
He was truly magnificent. A visionary scientist, never short of ideas. There are many anecdotes floating around about von Neumann. I heard one from a fellow mathematician, but cannot find a proper source. Maybe somebody here knows about it. According to the story, John was invited to dinner by a colleague. They had a nice time, and Neumann was happy to engage in conversation with his colleague's kids. The kids were young, and had no idea who they were talking to. The conversation was on a very basic level, obviously. Later, the colleague talked about this experience, and said something like this: "It was astonishing how this genius could adjust to the level of my children, talking to them in simple terms that they can understand. It was at that moment I realized: he is doing the same thing with us, scientists."
@andraspongracz5996 that is the same experience scientists themselves have when talking to those from the general public. If you have an academic background, chances are you are used to dumbing things down to regular people too. Von Neumann was just so smart that he was to those scientists what they where to the average Joe on the streets.
Teller also said "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us."[
Eugene Wigner said in an interview that he worked on a mathematical problem for 2 weeks but couldn't solve it. He talked about it with Neumann who stood up, walked to the corner of the room, looked up on the ceiling and began murmuring for a good 10 minutes. After this he came back with the solution. Wigner also said he was "very very shaken but filled with great admiration" by this instance.
When von Neumann taught he used only a small part of the blackboard - about the size of a newspaper. Naturally, his students could not keep up with him - they said he proved things by erasure. He used to stay up late and rise late. He liked 'off colour' jokes - the bishop of Winchester felt his breeches stir, being an example. He loved to sing - while driving fast cars and had many accidents. He loved parties and did maths listening to loud music. He liked red wine and hot Mexican food. And, oh yes, he was a prodigious genius among geniuses. He never stopped thinking - everything was a source of inspiration. Frighteningly smart!
Behold my friends one of the most intelligent people the world has ever seen. There is no doubt in my mind that this man stands among the greatest scientists to ever live.
I don't know if he really is the smartest ever of human history as a whole. Gauss, Euler, Ramanujan, etc where in the same league as far as I can tell. But definately a once in a generation type of genius. The smartest person ever recorded though has to be William Sidis. Sadly enough he burnt out later in life. But he was orders of magnitude above anyone else, enrolling in harvard at age 9 for mathematics. Even von Neumann wasn't that smart.
J.v.Neumann's areas of expertise (AFAIK): Algebra, continuous geometry (which he invented), operator theory, stochastics, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, the architecture of modern computers (invented!), fluid dynamics, explosive lenses, nuclear bombs, ICBMs, pseudorandom number generators, game theory, minimax algorithm, oh, and he invented merge sort and cellular automata before there were real computers. And he consulted for oil companies, GE, IBM and others. The guy was superhuman.
I only can say he was a genius in his time like Pythagoras, Archimedes, ..., Euler or Turing were is his time too all of them are part of the history of humanity.
John Von Neumann was a genius, his mathematical mind was insatiable looking for solutions, aplications and patterns in any field of knowledge, greatest mathematician of the 20th century
This man lived in a time when there was nowhere near as many devices to assist humans in calculating and computing data as there is now. It was mostly chalk, graphite and a lot of time. The intellectuals of this era and earlier fill me with admiration.
Von Neumann was actually hired by the military (I think) at one point to help construct a multimillion dollar super computer made for solving some problem they were working on. While building the computer, Johnny just solved the problem himself. Absolutely unreal
His points are still valid today - in order to have scientists who can face up to today's challenges and keep up with competition from other parts of the world, a country must provide high-quality secondary school education for all and make scinece teacher training a priority.
Csilla Sch: Ridiculous. 85% of all public American High Schools need to be closed. 90% of the nitwits going there are wasting their time. The superior will get their education in remaining public or private schools!!!
Came here through Labatut's book the Maniac, which is an autobiographical novel on Von Neumann. This video is described in the book in such great detail that it felt like I had already seen it once I watched it here. If you are interested in the history of computers and AI, and their philosophical elements, I think this book is definitely a recommendation!
Reading the book right now! As a mathematician myself, I must admit it gives a wonderful portrait of the scientific and cultural landscape back then. Extremely well written and intriguing (proof is that we all ended up here willing to "know more").
Well certainly one of the greatest of 20th century. If you asked Von Neumann himself though he'd probably say that Hilbert was the greatest of 20th century.
Johnny excelled more than Hilbert in Applied Mathematics. Johnny was better than David Hilbert regarding Pure Mathematics, especially in the Foundations of Mathematics. David Hilbert lived 81 years. Johnny lived 54 years. I compare Johnny to Henri Poincaré but Johnny was more precise and detailed and interested in more arguments on which he excelled as a Master. Many branches of Mathematics were born from Johnny. For example Game Theory (Minimax theorem), Information Technology, Operational Research, some areas of Modern Economy, Computer Science, Functional Analysis, Topology, Operator algebras, Lattice theory, Ergodic theory, Stochastic computing, and Statistics. Key parts of Quantum Mechanics and so on. His analysis of the structure of self-replication preceded the discovery of the structure of DNA. The modern computer isn't the Turing machine but the Von Neumann machine.
Von Neumann himself once stated that he believed Hilbert to be the greatest mathematician he knew of. William Poundstone mentions this in his book 'Prisoner's dilemma', p. 35.
Pino Pini: He was far superior to this overrated Einstein who knew nothing in chemistry, and needed to hire a mathematician to help him for example in tensor analysis!!!
Probably 2nd greatest of all time, perhaps after Gauss and Newton. If you consider Newton as a physicist then he is second only to Gauss. I think majority would agree that Gauss is the greatest by a fair margin.
Richard Feynman , Hans Bethe , and Johnny Von Neumann at Los Alamos during the Manhattan project would often retire to an empty room to do some brain storming , and make some intense calculations . Von Neumann would always finish ahead of the other two , with Feynman blasting away with his mechanical calculator .
he had an interesting gaze. the way he looks around implies to me that he was taking in a lot of information. even in casual everyday moments like this. boss level intelligent man.
Just learnt about John Von Neumann in a Learning & Talend Development Module I'm currently doing. Though he is extremely brilliant, one other thing that I pick up, just from this interview, is his humility.
@@mozartwolfgang4656 Just take a glance at his wikipedia page. Probably using your computational device which is using the same architecture he invented. Just click "computing" under John Von Neumann.
If only he had lived longer, he died far too early. Imagine what would have happened if he lived to 70 or even 90, what could he have done with all the new tech available in 70s, 80s, or 90s?
Really the last great Polymath! Major contributions in so many fields! Plus he was a consultant to companies constantly travelling here and there, most unlike other scientists. Great communicator ans totally down to earth.
@@davyroger3773 it is extremely difficult and time-consuming for a mathematician of this age to master many fields like von Neumann. Surely, there are many today, but mathematics has grown far too vast to accommodate such aspirations.
@@keepmehomeplease He also knew many of the Greek and Latin classics by heart in the original, if I am not mistaken. He knew Classical Greek and Latin besides German, Hungarian, and English. He also purposefully spoke with a Hungarian accent and on occasion "corrected" his own pronunciation if it came out "too English".
@@Quaker763 He was very charismatic and social, he loved to throw parties and entertain guests with his wife, but he was a bit eccentrc too. He insisted on driving even though he was absolutely terrible at it, and his managers quietly paid his speeding tickets and other fines. Also, he always dressed in a suit, even when he was on a hiking trip. And he loved loud noises and music when he was working, his coworkers at Princeton (Einstein among them) would complain about his grammophone. So, sure, we don't see anything eccentric in his behavior but if you got to know him you would probably notice after a bit.
it is amazing, I did not know he ever met Bill Clinton. He makes Clinton look very shy in this clip. Thank you again for posting this video of great historical value
I am very pleasantly surprised to find this video! Thank you for posting it! I had no idea that any video footage of von Neumann existed. His work is still tremendously relevant. I can only imagine the benefits we all would share if he had lived longer. His work on cellular automata likely would have radically changed the type of computers we use today, and his thoughts on artificial intelligence were foundational.
Even Nobel Prize-winning physicists felt stupid when in the presence of John von Neumann. For example, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Eugene Wigner stated: “I have known a great many intelligent people in my life. I knew Planck, von Laue and Heisenberg. Paul Dirac was my brother in law; Leo Szilard & Edward Teller have been among my closest friends; and Albert Einstein was a good friend, too. But none of them had a mind as quick & acute as Jansci [John] von Neumann. I have often remarked this in the presence of those men & no one ever disputed me.”
@@samdanmas He's not even close to Newton or Einstein. Quality > quantity. Neumann was very prolific but none of his discoveries are on the same level of those.
I think there are many more impressive things about Mr. von Neumann than his ability to speak 2 ancient languages (however complicated they may today be perceived as) by age 6.
I get the sense his mind is moving far faster than he is able to communicate. Probably felt like he was among children when talking to just about anyone.
You don't have to be all that smart to think faster than we can communicate with each other. Language is one dimensional, ambiguous and unprecise. Even I often think faster than I can comunicate or have thoughts for which language is an unfit vessel. In an dialogue about complex matters I end up wasting most of my time cutting and reducing my thoughts to fit in that vessel or constructing an metaphor that is able to recreate in the listeners mind what I'm trying to get across.
@@jannikheidemann3805 writing down your thoughts, and if necessary, using appropriate pictures, tables and mathematical formulas already helps a lot. Conversation is generally just a bad way to exchange complex information. The only way is with a whiteboard and a serious effort on both sides to get their point across clearly and understand the other.
There's a theory (of which I'm not the author) that there are 3 levels of genius: the lesser type feels that they are better than other people, the intermediate type feels less than other people, and the greatest type feels that they are equal with everyone and that everybody is pretty much the same.
I'm so glad that kid in the back focused on holding his finger up for long periods. of time, instead of listening to Neumann's answer. Developing motor skills is very important for children.
Von Neumann is quite possibly the greatest universal scientist of 20th century - i mean for deep contributions he made to almost all of sciences. Glad that his small speech was posted. There is an interesting bit about him in Von Karman's biography "The wind and beyond" - as a 17 year old prodigy adept at thinking on the concept of infinity - my god.
You're welcome, Grace. Good luck with your report. I wish I had something longer, but this is the only video of him there is. Still, it is better than nothing.
A very nice video. A pleasant mathematician Von Neumann and who spoke as equals but at the same time you could sense something of his ingenuity. If I ever have the time and the will, I would like to put together a similar theory that shows that von Neumann was Shakespeare. He had the logical ability, to piece together complicated plots and tragic endings where everyone dies as bright as only a polymath can get.
FYI that lead encased "carrying case" is where the radioactive source is kept and transported for the calibration of those radiation measuring instruments
God Bless Dr. Von Neumann. God Bless Prof. Simmons for making Math Education Great Again. Let's Make Teaching Prestigious Again (As the Importance Of the Responsibility Confers). To Infinite and Beyond.
All of the men being debated here are brilliant minds with different interests, affinities, and inspirations. To compare any of them is a disservice to their collective benefits in the world today and we should be concentrating on trying to emulate them, rather than separate them.
He invented so many things that a whole dedicated YT channel wouldn't suffice. John Von Neumann commanded a truly stratospheric intellect, in the same breed as the greatest mathematicians, the likes of Carl Friedrich Gauss and Leonhard Euler, but his talents spanned an even greater range of disciplines.
I think of myself as a smart man. Then I look up people like Euler, Einstein, Tesla, and Von Neumann. Then I sort of just get a little depressed with the brain I was given. Just imagine going through life with that intellect. I wonder if they have a sense of it, and are able to appreciate it.
It may actually be a negative for many of them since they can't carry on a normal conversation with most people or have other quirks and interests incompatible with most of society. I used to get depressed but then I realize most people are like me. Even smart people are like me. I can relate to them. There will always be extremely smart people but even the smart person is 'inferior' to them in terms of intellectual capability. I can generally compete (or try to compete) with the smart people and that is good enough for me. Or at least that is what I tell myself. No point in trying to compete with the extremely smart when there are so few of them. I think there is enough respect and pride to be gained by competing with the smart people. That is all us normal people can do. But even then I have some hope that luck and hard work plays some part in these geniuses accomplishments, which isn't out of my reach. But that is secondary. I believe there is a level of intellect where beyond it you can accomplish most anything. Sure, it won't be in multiple different fields but who cares?
Margittai Neumann János magyar születésű matematikus. Kvantummechanikai elméleti kutatásai mellett a digitális számítógép elvi alapjainak lefektetésével vált ismertté.
I've been studying some of his works. A man of n-brains, one of the most brilliant men of ever! A very rare kind of genius! Not just an ordinary genius, maybe the greatest! Great works on Game Theory (with Morgenstern), Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Logics, Computation (with some great philosophical approaches either, i.e., 'The computer and the brain' essay), Pure Math (Von Neumann algebras, there's either a famous theorem on measure theory), Applied math etc, etc, etc.
Awesome to see on film, and speaking, one of the 20th century's greatest brains: John von Neumann. He was arguably the role model for 'Dr. Strangelove' in Kubrick's movie of the same name.
It’s a really good question. May not be a technical question but pragmatic and mature if you ask me. It was (and is) important to have people trained for scientific work. I’m sure the kid grew up to do well for himself.
I have only ever seen him in portrait photos before. He strikes me as emanating a surprisingly childlike curiosity, and with a much more humble attitude and "aura" than I would have imagined. It's also a bit amusing how he lets the other speaker support (almost lead) him by the arm as if he were a child or an old man. It makes some sense that the extreme genius must have had some "cost", that he could not possibly have been equally outstanding in *everything*. He was clumsy with cars, so maybe he was a bit clumsy with other things too?
Von Neumann was very clumsy with other things. Legend has it that when he was studying chemical engineering he destroyed so much lab equipment that he ran up a record bill.
I'm curious about your mental calculations, did you discover this ability at a young age? Does the answer just come to you or do you have a method of proceeding which you've practiced and now comes unconsciously? Knowing basic algebra you can come up with very efficient methods of multiplicating and of other operations (compared to normal western methods) Which are apparent in vedic mathematics and mental calculation books. But they take hours to be assimilated by an average human.
You cant say one was better than other. This is guy is like the most logical person that has ever walked on earth and einstein was one of the most creative thinkers in a way. Two different things, at least how I see it
Thanks gonna check it. I would really want see proof that he JvN had eidetic memory(memorizing phone book page at single glance). It was said in many articles even on wikipedia but his friend Stanisław Ulam has written in his book that he was "rather auditory"
+Adamov Haven't finished "Turing's Cathedral", so far one of the best books I've read, but there are numerous references, and quotes, from Ulam as they worked together at the AEC and the IAS.
There are almost no recordings of him at all. There is a recording of him speaking in Hungarian I have heard of. Interestingly, somebody (if memory serves me, in India) offered to translate his book The Principles of Quantum Mechanics into German for him, although it had already been done, although he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
Согласна. Но не всем быть гениями. Если бы все были гениями, они бы не выделялись на фоне гениев. Но поскольку есть и те и другие, в этом и заметна их гениальность. Видимо так нужно в природе, обществе. Не все могут быть гениями. Каждый хорош по своему, в своей сфере.
@@user-lk4jb4tw6c If you read about him and his childhood, Von Neumann was truly a very gifted child. I recommend reading about his early life if you are interested. Later in life, he was described by contemporaries as the cleverest man they ever knew, a man of mental capabilities that far surpassed even Einstein's
"Anyone who considers arithmetic methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin" (John von Neumann) Now I know how it sounded like.
Always had a soft spot for von Neumann, despite his rather militaristic views and work on nuclear weapons. I love the story his wife told of him at home with the TV on full blast... to help him think deeply!
@falaicha time will be the true test, von neumann's contributions to quantum physics will be very important over the coming century. Von Neumann is dreastically under-rated outside of science.
This guy was the absolute GOAT. One of my favorite quotes from him is "Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them."
thats why i came here lol
Does that mean the maths in high level is so difficult to understand it just with your intuition?
@@user-ok4uj3hp4g it is what I hold from that. Even logarithms are not really very intuitive or taught in an intuitive way.
@@fredsolo730 yeah felt that too
My favorite one is “using 4 parameters I can fit an elephant anywhere, and using 5, I can make it wingle its trunk”.
Actually, the kid asking the questions in this video is my father. Bill Walters from Osceola, Arkansas. He was a senate page during this time.
Very cool! Did he ever talk about this experience?
+Rob Walters Did he go on to become a Lawyer?
Tell us, what does your father remember talking with one of greatest minds of the XX century?
really ?
really ?
Von Neumann was the smartest guy in the room, in the building, in the town and in the galaxy
Until you asked him a question about physics and then he would have given you total nonsense.
”You know, Herb, Johnny can do calculations in his head ten times as fast as I can. And I can do them ten times as fast as you can, so you can see how impressive Johnny is” - Enrico Fermi (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1938)
“One had the impression of a perfect instrument whose gears were machined to mesh accurately to a thousandth of an inch.” - Eugene Wigner (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1963)
“I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann’s does not indicate a species superior to that of man” - Hans Bethe (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1967)
Damn
He was truly magnificent. A visionary scientist, never short of ideas.
There are many anecdotes floating around about von Neumann. I heard one from a fellow mathematician, but cannot find a proper source. Maybe somebody here knows about it. According to the story, John was invited to dinner by a colleague. They had a nice time, and Neumann was happy to engage in conversation with his colleague's kids. The kids were young, and had no idea who they were talking to. The conversation was on a very basic level, obviously. Later, the colleague talked about this experience, and said something like this:
"It was astonishing how this genius could adjust to the level of my children, talking to them in simple terms that they can understand. It was at that moment I realized: he is doing the same thing with us, scientists."
@@andraspongracz5996 Hello fellow mathematician, got you. Search ‘Edward teller describes von Neumann’ it’s a 4min video. Greetings from Germany.
@@mathematikexplained6144 Amazing, thanks a lot! Greetings from Hungary.
@andraspongracz5996 that is the same experience scientists themselves have when talking to those from the general public. If you have an academic background, chances are you are used to dumbing things down to regular people too.
Von Neumann was just so smart that he was to those scientists what they where to the average Joe on the streets.
Teller also said "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my
3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I
sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the
rest of us."[
good one!
Great comment. Thank you.
man, imagine how lonely that guy must feel. he's like a housewife who misses having adult conversations after dealing with children all day
eren oz well he was good friends with the likes of Gödel so he had company
Kinda like this video, he doesnt belittle the child asking questions.
Eugene Wigner said in an interview that he worked on a mathematical problem for 2 weeks but couldn't solve it. He talked about it with Neumann who stood up, walked to the corner of the room, looked up on the ceiling and began murmuring for a good 10 minutes. After this he came back with the solution. Wigner also said he was "very very shaken but filled with great admiration" by this instance.
Hi, did you watch that in a hungarian video? Do you know that language?
@@kengamarra Hi, yep i'm hungarian.
When von Neumann taught he used only a small part of the blackboard - about the size of a newspaper. Naturally, his students could not keep up with him - they said he proved things by erasure. He used to stay up late and rise late. He liked 'off colour' jokes - the bishop of Winchester felt his breeches stir, being an example. He loved to sing - while driving fast cars and had many accidents. He loved parties and did maths listening to loud music. He liked red wine and hot Mexican food. And, oh yes, he was a prodigious genius among geniuses. He never stopped thinking - everything was a source of inspiration. Frighteningly smart!
Which is why he admired the thinking of the Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas. The two men were thinkers on the same level,
@@johnschuh8616brah
Behold my friends one of the most intelligent people the world has ever seen. There is no doubt in my mind that this man stands among the greatest scientists to ever live.
I don't know if he really is the smartest ever of human history as a whole. Gauss, Euler, Ramanujan, etc where in the same league as far as I can tell. But definately a once in a generation type of genius.
The smartest person ever recorded though has to be William Sidis. Sadly enough he burnt out later in life. But he was orders of magnitude above anyone else, enrolling in harvard at age 9 for mathematics. Even von Neumann wasn't that smart.
J.v.Neumann's areas of expertise (AFAIK): Algebra, continuous geometry (which he invented), operator theory, stochastics, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, the architecture of modern computers (invented!), fluid dynamics, explosive lenses, nuclear bombs, ICBMs, pseudorandom number generators, game theory, minimax algorithm, oh, and he invented merge sort and cellular automata before there were real computers. And he consulted for oil companies, GE, IBM and others. The guy was superhuman.
ergodic theory, set theory, ordinal theory and so on
Also linear programming. US postal service honored on a commemorative stamp along with three other famous scientists
Let’s not forget diskussion des Pokers (poker game theory) 😃
Tamara Kiss he played poker with the scientists at the Manhattan Project and took all their money
@@ObamaFromKenya
According to Teller's memoirs he wasn't too good at Poker
Possibly the smartest man that ever lived, and extremely underrated...
I had no idea that Clinton and Von Neumann met, amazing
@@paquetehabana7457 He is not Clinton.
He is no better than da vinci.
I only can say he was a genius in his time like Pythagoras, Archimedes, ..., Euler or Turing were is his time too all of them are part of the history of humanity.
@@Yoochel. The Archimedean oxen problem was at Von Neumann’s mathematical level of genius…
John Von Neumann was a genius, his mathematical mind was insatiable looking for solutions, aplications and patterns in any field of knowledge, greatest mathematician of the 20th century
Possibly the greatest mind ever
A pure genius. Made foundational contributions to physics, mathematics and computer science.
🇭🇺
This man lived in a time when there was nowhere near as many devices to assist humans in calculating and computing data as there is now. It was mostly chalk, graphite and a lot of time. The intellectuals of this era and earlier fill me with admiration.
Von Neumann was actually hired by the military (I think) at one point to help construct a multimillion dollar super computer made for solving some problem they were working on.
While building the computer, Johnny just solved the problem himself. Absolutely unreal
@@lebeccthecomputer6158epic story
His points are still valid today - in order to have scientists who can face up to today's challenges and keep up with competition from other parts of the world, a country must provide high-quality secondary school education for all and make scinece teacher training a priority.
Csilla Sch: Ridiculous. 85% of all public American High Schools need to be closed. 90% of the nitwits going there are wasting their time. The superior will get their education in remaining public or private schools!!!
no crap.
Robert Telarket so you voted for trump
@@roberttelarket4934 If you closed 85% of high school our society and economy would collapse in less than 15 years.
@@theuberman7170: I'm a realist. You're deluded! You don't know what you're talking about!
Came here through Labatut's book the Maniac, which is an autobiographical novel on Von Neumann. This video is described in the book in such great detail that it felt like I had already seen it once I watched it here. If you are interested in the history of computers and AI, and their philosophical elements, I think this book is definitely a recommendation!
I'm reading the book now and just discovered this video. It's a marvelous book.
Reading the book right now! As a mathematician myself, I must admit it gives a wonderful portrait of the scientific and cultural landscape back then. Extremely well written and intriguing (proof is that we all ended up here willing to "know more").
Johnny was the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century. One of the greatest mathematicians of all time.
Well certainly one of the greatest of 20th century. If you asked Von Neumann himself though he'd probably say that Hilbert was the greatest of 20th century.
Johnny excelled more than Hilbert in Applied Mathematics.
Johnny was better than David Hilbert regarding Pure Mathematics, especially in the Foundations of Mathematics. David Hilbert lived 81 years. Johnny lived 54 years. I compare Johnny to Henri Poincaré but Johnny was more precise and detailed and interested in more arguments on which he excelled as a Master.
Many branches of Mathematics were born from Johnny. For example Game Theory (Minimax theorem), Information Technology, Operational Research, some areas of Modern Economy, Computer Science, Functional Analysis, Topology, Operator algebras, Lattice theory, Ergodic theory, Stochastic computing, and Statistics. Key parts of Quantum Mechanics and so on. His analysis of the structure of self-replication preceded the discovery of the structure of DNA.
The modern computer isn't the Turing machine but the Von Neumann machine.
Von Neumann himself once stated that he believed Hilbert to be the greatest mathematician he knew of. William Poundstone mentions this in his book 'Prisoner's dilemma', p. 35.
Pino Pini: He was far superior to this overrated Einstein who knew nothing in chemistry, and needed to hire a mathematician to help him for example in tensor analysis!!!
Probably 2nd greatest of all time, perhaps after Gauss and Newton. If you consider Newton as a physicist then he is second only to Gauss. I think majority would agree that Gauss is the greatest by a fair margin.
Richard Feynman , Hans Bethe , and Johnny Von Neumann at Los Alamos during the Manhattan project would often retire to an empty room to do some brain storming , and make some intense calculations . Von Neumann would always finish ahead of the other two , with Feynman blasting away with his mechanical calculator .
he had an interesting gaze. the way he looks around implies to me that he was taking in a lot of information. even in casual everyday moments like this. boss level intelligent man.
Just learnt about John Von Neumann in a Learning & Talend Development Module I'm currently doing. Though he is extremely brilliant, one other thing that I pick up, just from this interview, is his humility.
まばたき一切してなくて宇宙人疑惑が深まった
Probably the greatest mind of our time. It seems almost inhuman what he was capable of on top of all his contributions to science.
Yup
Only an average math professor...
@@mozartwolfgang4656 Why do you say that?
@@mozartwolfgang4656 Just take a glance at his wikipedia page. Probably using your computational device which is using the same architecture he invented. Just click "computing" under John Von Neumann.
If only he had lived longer, he died far too early. Imagine what would have happened if he lived to 70 or even 90, what could he have done with all the new tech available in 70s, 80s, or 90s?
Really the last great Polymath! Major contributions in so many fields! Plus he was a consultant to companies constantly travelling here and there, most unlike other scientists. Great communicator ans totally down to earth.
How can he be the last? If being a polymath is an aspect of the broad spectrum of human characteristics how can it die out and why?
@@davyroger3773 it is extremely difficult and time-consuming for a mathematician of this age to master many fields like von Neumann. Surely, there are many today, but mathematics has grown far too vast to accommodate such aspirations.
@@keepmehomeplease He also knew many of the Greek and Latin classics by heart in the original, if I am not mistaken. He knew Classical Greek and Latin besides German, Hungarian, and English. He also purposefully spoke with a Hungarian accent and on occasion "corrected" his own pronunciation if it came out "too English".
Little did they know that this soft spoken unassuming man was one the of most intelligent people to ever walk the Earth.
Neat. I've read about him on Wikipedia, what a fascinating fellow. This is the first I've heard him talk though. Thanks.
you can see his eyes dart around or look off as he's clearly "seeing" the layers within his mind that form his thinking to speech.
Indeed true
Also the fact that he blinks so less due to sheer concentration perhaps...
i'm shocked by how "normal" he was considering his brilliance.
He could shift intelligence at will.
I was just thinking this. He doesn't seem eccentric in the slightest, even though you'd expect someone of his intellect to be.
Indeed, von Neumann was astonishingly "normal" for someone so brilliant.
@@Quaker763 He was very charismatic and social, he loved to throw parties and entertain guests with his wife, but he was a bit eccentrc too. He insisted on driving even though he was absolutely terrible at it, and his managers quietly paid his speeding tickets and other fines. Also, he always dressed in a suit, even when he was on a hiking trip. And he loved loud noises and music when he was working, his coworkers at Princeton (Einstein among them) would complain about his grammophone.
So, sure, we don't see anything eccentric in his behavior but if you got to know him you would probably notice after a bit.
@@paulallen579 he was only bad at driving because he insisted on reading while doing it
Well von Neumann was certainly very communicative.
Henri de Feraudy probably the largest correlation between genius and communication ability in history
it is amazing, I did not know he ever met Bill Clinton. He makes Clinton look very shy in this clip. Thank you again for posting this video of great historical value
Henri de Feraudy 你好
Henri de Feraudy, btw, I'm a little bit smarter than von Neumann. Just a little bit, not by much.
@@Matt_Lifts q
I am very pleasantly surprised to find this video! Thank you for posting it! I had no idea that any video footage of von Neumann existed. His work is still tremendously relevant. I can only imagine the benefits we all would share if he had lived longer. His work on cellular automata likely would have radically changed the type of computers we use today, and his thoughts on artificial intelligence were foundational.
Imagine the programs and the.. the everything we would have if he were still alive. Truly an otherworldly man.
Even Nobel Prize-winning physicists felt stupid when in the presence of John von Neumann. For example, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Eugene Wigner stated:
“I have known a great many intelligent people in my life. I knew Planck, von Laue and Heisenberg. Paul Dirac was my brother in law; Leo Szilard & Edward Teller have been among my closest friends; and Albert Einstein was a good friend, too. But none of them had a mind as quick & acute as Jansci [John] von Neumann.
I have often remarked this in the presence of those men & no one ever disputed me.”
Jancsi* both were Hungarians and friends from childhood.
Apparently he was so lovable that he never excited jealousy from the big egos aground him.
Arguably the greatest mind of the 20th century. An incomprehensibly intelligent man.
he's definitely up there, but i m not sure if I would rank him ahead of David Hilbert.
@@kty3727 He is the greatest mind ever, no one comes close
@@samdanmas He's not even close to Newton or Einstein. Quality > quantity. Neumann was very prolific but none of his discoveries are on the same level of those.
Von Neumann was way ahead of his time. We still haven't fully done the education recommendation he made...
Besy Devos will take care of it. Just watch.
@@binzsta86 three years down the line, can't tell if comment was /s but it made me laugh regardless.
it's amazing how little known this guy is given his contributions
This is awesome! I love hearing his voice and seeing his demeanor. He seems like a regular guy and very empathetic. Thanks!
He spoke fluent Latin and Greek by the age of six. An absolute genius.
But he didn't English...?
I think there are many more impressive things about Mr. von Neumann than his ability to speak 2 ancient languages (however complicated they may today be perceived as) by age 6.
the guy can divide two 8 digit numbers in his head when he was just 6 years old and got a Phd at the age 22. what am i.....
I get the sense his mind is moving far faster than he is able to communicate. Probably felt like he was among children when talking to just about anyone.
You don't have to be all that smart to think faster than we can communicate with each other. Language is one dimensional, ambiguous and unprecise.
Even I often think faster than I can comunicate or have thoughts for which language is an unfit vessel.
In an dialogue about complex matters I end up wasting most of my time cutting and reducing my thoughts to fit in that vessel or constructing an metaphor that is able to recreate in the listeners mind what I'm trying to get across.
@@jannikheidemann3805 writing down your thoughts, and if necessary, using appropriate pictures, tables and mathematical formulas already helps a lot. Conversation is generally just a bad way to exchange complex information. The only way is with a whiteboard and a serious effort on both sides to get their point across clearly and understand the other.
There's a theory (of which I'm not the author) that there are 3 levels of genius: the lesser type feels that they are better than other people, the intermediate type feels less than other people, and the greatest type feels that they are equal with everyone and that everybody is pretty much the same.
That's precisely what his friend, Edward Teller, said of him
I'm so glad that kid in the back focused on holding his finger up for long periods. of time, instead of listening to Neumann's answer. Developing motor skills is very important for children.
Von Neumann is quite possibly the greatest universal scientist of 20th century - i mean for deep contributions he made to almost all of sciences. Glad that his small speech was posted.
There is an interesting bit about him in Von Karman's biography "The wind and beyond" - as a 17 year old prodigy adept at thinking on the concept of infinity - my god.
Possibly the most intelligent human to ever live.
Thanks for posting this! I’m doing a report on John Von Neumann and this did help get a better understanding of him.
You're welcome, Grace. Good luck with your report. I wish I had something longer, but this is the only video of him there is. Still, it is better than nothing.
A very nice video. A pleasant mathematician Von Neumann and who spoke as equals but at the same time you could sense something of his ingenuity. If I ever have the time and the will, I would like to put together a similar theory that shows that von Neumann was Shakespeare. He had the logical ability, to piece together complicated plots and tragic endings where everyone dies as bright as only a polymath can get.
FYI that lead encased "carrying case" is where the radioactive source is kept and transported for the calibration of those radiation measuring instruments
God Bless Dr. Von Neumann.
God Bless Prof. Simmons for making Math Education Great Again.
Let's Make Teaching Prestigious Again (As the Importance Of the Responsibility Confers).
To Infinite and Beyond.
Thanks for sharing!
Jimmy Bob meets John Von Neuman.
What a day for John!
He's so smart that he never blinks out or pure concentration
von neumann is a legend, smartest man to live
All of the men being debated here are brilliant minds with different interests, affinities, and inspirations. To compare any of them is a disservice to their collective benefits in the world today and we should be concentrating on trying to emulate them, rather than separate them.
Don't worry, you just addressed the feelings of most of humanity. You certainly are a grounded person to think that way. That's smart!
To think that von Neumann, Alan Turing and Claude Shannon would sit and lunch together at IAS Princeton.
One of the greatest geniuses of the 20th century; Von Neumann was brilliant beyond words and a giant throughout the Cold War arms race!
he must have had asperger like most of such geniuses, how could he be so communicative. A truly beautiful mind.
Szymon Augustynowicz I don’t think so, he was apparently very charming and outgoing
Many ppl don't know he invented computer-virus before there even was a computer. He was the first to realize its possibility
He invented so many things that a whole dedicated YT channel wouldn't suffice. John Von Neumann commanded a truly stratospheric intellect, in the same breed as the greatest mathematicians, the likes of Carl Friedrich Gauss and Leonhard Euler, but his talents spanned an even greater range of disciplines.
Thank you
Why compare him with Einstein? Both were geniuses who contributed to human knowledge more than an average human ever could.
More than 1000000000 average humans ever could.
Von newmann > Einstein
@Daniel Kopland yes buy Einstein himself said that Von newmann was an E.T
@Daniel Kopland von newmann is a spécial genius.
英語の単語は聞き取れても意味が脳で変換できない…
The boy or the interviewer has NO f*cking IDEA how intelligent this man is.
+simoninsingapore Well we can't blame them; his genius was certainly otherworldly.
He's overrated.
William King Prove it!
Dont hold your breath
He's underrating, no body fucking knows about this guy, many people think Einstein is the smartest, they haven't seen this guy.
These giants of science and mathematics were generous with their time.
I think of myself as a smart man. Then I look up people like Euler, Einstein, Tesla, and Von Neumann. Then I sort of just get a little depressed with the brain I was given. Just imagine going through life with that intellect. I wonder if they have a sense of it, and are able to appreciate it.
An ant looks up to you and asks, "I wonder if they appreciate it."
@@whatno5090👏👏👏👏👏a great reply
I think they appreciate thier intellect. But I imagine they don't talk about it in order to not seem arrogant and self centered.
Tesla was learning all day long when he was at first year university. Yes, he was a genius but its always plenty of work.
It may actually be a negative for many of them since they can't carry on a normal conversation with most people or have other quirks and interests incompatible with most of society.
I used to get depressed but then I realize most people are like me. Even smart people are like me. I can relate to them. There will always be extremely smart people but even the smart person is 'inferior' to them in terms of intellectual capability.
I can generally compete (or try to compete) with the smart people and that is good enough for me. Or at least that is what I tell myself. No point in trying to compete with the extremely smart when there are so few of them. I think there is enough respect and pride to be gained by competing with the smart people. That is all us normal people can do. But even then I have some hope that luck and hard work plays some part in these geniuses accomplishments, which isn't out of my reach. But that is secondary.
I believe there is a level of intellect where beyond it you can accomplish most anything. Sure, it won't be in multiple different fields but who cares?
Margittai Neumann János magyar születésű matematikus. Kvantummechanikai elméleti kutatásai mellett a digitális számítógép elvi alapjainak lefektetésével vált ismertté.
This video was brought to you by computers using the Von Neumann-Architecture!
No he's quite famous in Korea bcz of one youtube video
He and Alan Turing was great computer thinkers.
I've been studying some of his works. A man of n-brains, one of the most brilliant men of ever! A very rare kind of genius! Not just an ordinary genius, maybe the greatest! Great works on Game Theory (with Morgenstern), Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Logics, Computation (with some great philosophical approaches either, i.e., 'The computer and the brain' essay), Pure Math (Von Neumann algebras, there's either a famous theorem on measure theory), Applied math etc, etc, etc.
Many ppl dont know he invented computer virus before there was even a computer. He understood the virus possibility
@@billmy2251 And DNA sequencing before DNA was discovered.
Did Neumann come up with a better microphone cable after this episode? 😂
i would love to be part of that tour
Awesome to see on film, and speaking, one of the 20th century's greatest brains: John von Neumann. He was arguably the role model for 'Dr. Strangelove' in Kubrick's movie of the same name.
THE MAN ( and that's sort of understating it ) FANTASTIC!!!!!
It’s a really good question. May not be a technical question but pragmatic and mature if you ask me. It was (and is) important to have people trained for scientific work. I’m sure the kid grew up to do well for himself.
Seeing this interview after reading The Maniac
Why is this the only video I can find of him????
There you go: ua-cam.com/video/Y2jiQXI6nrE/v-deo.html
Wondering if the kid in the background raising his finger got the chance to ask his question, or he was just happy standing next to Von Neumann.
Too bad there wasn't record of him calculating math. It is said he was doing it like a calculator. His brain was rolling like nobody else
Until his final days.
Is it possible to find the full episode with Von Neumann?
ua-cam.com/video/Y2jiQXI6nrE/v-deo.html
And that's definitely not Bill Clinton
I have only ever seen him in portrait photos before. He strikes me as emanating a surprisingly childlike curiosity, and with a much more humble attitude and "aura" than I would have imagined. It's also a bit amusing how he lets the other speaker support (almost lead) him by the arm as if he were a child or an old man. It makes some sense that the extreme genius must have had some "cost", that he could not possibly have been equally outstanding in *everything*. He was clumsy with cars, so maybe he was a bit clumsy with other things too?
He was a mathematician. While he talks about STEM in general terms, he wasn't good with reality. He was only good with mathematical symbols.
Von Neumann was very clumsy with other things. Legend has it that when he was studying chemical engineering he destroyed so much lab equipment that he ran up a record bill.
He could see the coming of the Technological Singularity and he could already see how grossly unprepared we are.
Omg the way they talk is quite different from how we talk now
von neuman was the greatest. He was a legend and as impacting as Euler, Fourier, Laplace, or Galois.
Robert Lewis == No other mathematician was as influential as Euler. Euler’s work fills many volumes. He was by far the most productive mathematician.
probably the greatest mathematician of the 20th century
Alguien más vino a ver este video después de leer MANIAC!😅
Labatut me trajo aquí
Somos 2
Wonderful book!
I'm curious about your mental calculations, did you discover this ability at a young age? Does the answer just come to you or do you have a method of proceeding which you've practiced and now comes unconsciously?
Knowing basic algebra you can come up with very efficient methods of multiplicating and of other operations (compared to normal western methods) Which are apparent in vedic mathematics and mental calculation books. But they take hours to be assimilated by an average human.
Do you have the complete video?
ua-cam.com/video/Y2jiQXI6nrE/v-deo.html
Why is it so difficult to get video or even audio of him?
Absolute legend.
You cant say one was better than other. This is guy is like the most logical person that has ever walked on earth and einstein was one of the most creative thinkers in a way. Two different things, at least how I see it
Thanos Sofroniou: More of this overrated Einstein bullshit. Von Neumann was 25,000 times more superior!!!
Von Neumann thought the same about Thomas Aquinas.
Didn't John take over the Philadelphia Experiment from Nikola Tesla?
he was exceptionally smart but as far as his "human" qualities are concerned, he was trash
Is there any recording of his lectures at university or some interview? I have watched entire document about him but im looking for more informations
+Adamov If you want to learn more about von Neumann, read "Turing's Cathedral," all about the IAS computer project and centering around von Neumann
Thanks gonna check it. I would really want see proof that he JvN had eidetic memory(memorizing phone book page at single glance). It was said in many articles even on wikipedia but his friend Stanisław Ulam has written in his book that he was "rather auditory"
+Adamov Haven't finished "Turing's Cathedral", so far one of the best books I've read, but there are numerous references, and quotes, from Ulam as they worked together at the AEC and the IAS.
is there any recording of him speaking in german ?
There are almost no recordings of him at all. There is a recording of him speaking in Hungarian I have heard of. Interestingly, somebody (if memory serves me, in India) offered to translate his book The Principles of Quantum Mechanics into German for him, although it had already been done, although he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
Von Neumann was a true genius
Согласна. Но не всем быть гениями. Если бы все были гениями, они бы не выделялись на фоне гениев. Но поскольку есть и те и другие, в этом и заметна их гениальность. Видимо так нужно в природе, обществе. Не все могут быть гениями. Каждый хорош по своему, в своей сфере.
@@user-lk4jb4tw6c If you read about him and his childhood, Von Neumann was truly a very gifted child. I recommend reading about his early life if you are interested. Later in life, he was described by contemporaries as the cleverest man they ever knew, a man of mental capabilities that far surpassed even Einstein's
This man was a living breathing AGI
"Anyone who considers arithmetic methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin" (John von Neumann)
Now I know how it sounded like.
この普通にどこにでも居そうな人が…人類最高の天才か…人類の中身ってすげぇなぁ………そして瞬き全然しないなこの人
Anybody, who can learn Japanese script and language must also be a genius. Perhaps von Neumann could have done it.
Why is the kid in the background holding his finger up?
Probably waiting for his chance to speak
Always had a soft spot for von Neumann, despite his rather militaristic views and work on nuclear weapons. I love the story his wife told of him at home with the TV on full blast... to help him think deeply!
@falaicha time will be the true test, von neumann's contributions to quantum physics will be very important over the coming century. Von Neumann is dreastically under-rated outside of science.
Is this the only interview for Neumann?
Jacob Bronowski wrote in The Accent of Man that von Neumann was the most intelligent man he ever met. And he met them all.
melancholiac - The Ascent of Man
There is a great biography on youtube. Unfortunately, it's in Italian....
the literal definition of goated with the sauce