Academics From Hungary

"Throughout much of his career, he led a double life: as an intellectual leader in the ivory tower of pure mathematics and as a man of action, in constant demand as an advisor, consultant and decision-maker to what is sometimes called the military-industrial complex of the United States. My own belief is that these two aspects of his double life, his wide-ranging activities as well as his strictly intellectual pursuits, were motivated by two profound convictions. The first was the overriding responsibility that each of us has to make full use of whatever intellectual capabilities we were endowed with. He had the scientist's passion for learning and discovery for its own sake and the genius's ego-driven concern for the significance and durability of his own contributions. The second was the critical importance of an environment of political freedom for the pursuit of the first, and for the welfare of mankind in general. I'm convinced, in fact, that all his involvements with the halls of power were driven by his sense of the fragility of that freedom. By the beginning of the 1930s, if not even earlier, he became convinced that the lights of civilization would be snuffed out all over Europe by the spread of totalitarianism from the right: Nazism and Fascism. So he made an unequivocal commitment to his home in the new world and to fight to preserve and reestablish freedom from that new beachhead. In the 1940s and 1950s, he was equally convinced that the threat to civilization now came from totalitarianism on the left, that is, Soviet Communism, and his commitment was just as unequivocal to fighting it with whatever weapons lay at hand, scientific and economic as well as military. It was a matter of utter indifference to him, I believe, whether the threat came from the right or from the left. What motivated both his intense involvement in the issues of the day and his uncompromisingly hardline attitude was his belief in the overriding importance of political freedom, his strong sense of its continuing fragility, and his conviction that it was in the United States, and the passionate defense of the United States, that its best hope lay."

"John von Neumann became one of the world’s greatest mathematicians and went on to father the digital computer, a device that is revolutionizing all walks of life."

"Especially as it brought me back in association with John von Neumann, whose great skill in mathematics I had first observed in Europe when he was a boy of seventeen."

"He was one of the most attractive people I’ve ever known, attractive in the sense that he knew so much and could reason in front of people and show them what was going on so well, it was really quite wonderful. He also had a good sense of humor. ... He was wonderful, and I was really crushed when I found out that he had cancer."

"He had a real knack for calculatin."

"The extensive work Mathematische Begründung der Quantentheorie also testifies to the extraordinary talent of the author in the appropriation and assimilation of a large area of material."

"I believe that if a mentally superhuman race ever develops, its members will resemble Johnny von Neumann."

"Many mathematicians have suffered in fact by comparing themselves with von Neumann."

"His quickness was quite remarkable."

"Quantum mechanics was very fortunate indeed to attract, in the very first years after its discovery in 1925, the interest of a mathematical genius of von Neumann's stature."

"I think that in terms of mathematical intelligence, he was virtually unparalleled."

"Brilliant mathematician."

"Von Neumann was a giant in the breadth of his knowledge."

"The first thing that people recall about John von Neumann is his phenomenal speed of thought. He didn’t have to remember things; he computed them. If he was asked a question and didn’t know the answer, he would think for three seconds and produce a response. Yet, fast thinking was not his most outstanding characteristic. He was also very deep. It is the breadth of his scientific heritage that amazes me the most."

"It is indeed supremely difficult to effectively refute the claim that John von Neumann is likely the most intelligent person who has ever lived."

"That deep, practically monomaniacal devotion to the thinking process is what set Johnny von Neumann apart from everyone else I have ever known."

"As a mathematician, von Neumann was quick, brilliant, efficient, and enormously broad in scientific interests beyond mathematics itself. He knew his technical abilities; his virtuosity in following complicated reasoning and his insights were supreme; yet he lacked absolute self-confidence."

"Our teachers were just enormously good, but the mathematics teacher was fantastic. He gave private classes to Johnny von Neumann. He gave him private classes because he realized that this would be a great mathematician."

"I spent the rest of 1936 preparing for my trip to the United States, where von Neumann, with whom I had enjoyed friendly relations at least since 1930, had arranged for me to spend the second semester (from January through May, 1937) at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton."

"I remember that in 1927, when he came to Lwów (in Poland) to attend a congress of mathematicians, his work in foundations of mathematics and set theory was already famous. This was already mentioned to us, a group of students, as an example of the work of a youthful genius."

"Von Neumann was exceptionally widely known among mathematicians, and there are plenty of anecdotes related to him. I think that as a student, I heard from my professor A. Rényi the saying: ‘‘Other mathematicians prove what they can, Neumann what he wants.’’"

"Universal mind."

"A great mathematician in his or any era."

"A memory which seemed to operate with even more speed than his machines enabled him to bring up, from his vast and well-indexed mental filing system, stories appropriate to whatever occasion."

"John von Neumann was one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century."

"For Wigner, von Neumann and thinking were synonymous."

"Quite aware that the criteria of value in mathematical work are, to some extent, purely aesthetic, he once expressed an apprehension that the values put on abstract scientific achievement in our present civilization might diminish: "The interests of humanity might change, the present curiosities in science may cease, and entirely different things may occupy the human mind in the future." One conversation centered on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue."

"Von Neumann was extremely intelligent, and curious about everything. He looked like a cherub and sometimes acted like one; my three and five-year-old daughters delighted in climbing on him when he came to call at the house. He was very powerful and productive in pure science and mathematics and at the same time had a remarkably strong streak of practicality. He was one of the earliest pioneers in the design and construction of large electronic computers, he developed a strong interest in the technology of nuclear and other weapons, and he made a number of elegant inventions in each of these fields. This combination of scientific ability and practicality gave him a credibility with military officers, engineers, industrialists, and scientists that no one else could match. He was the clearly dominant advisory figure in nuclear missilery at the time, and everyone took his statements about what could and should be done very seriously."

"Other smart people commonly said that John von Neumann was the smartest person they had ever known. Although I worked with him for only five years—1952-57, and even then on just an occasional basis—I came to know him well enough to feel the same way. His accomplishments generally confirmed this view."

"From talking to many people who knew him, I think I’ve gradually built up a decent picture of John von Neumann as a man. He would have been fun to meet. He knew a lot, was very quick, always impressed people, and was lively, social and funny."

"Johnny was probably the most brilliant star in this constellation of scientists."

"However, as noted earlier, one of his central objectives—as a mathematician—was to publish the generalized proof of the fixed point theorem. Was the economics merely a convenient vehicle for an essentially mathematical exercise for von Neumann? Genius that he was, perhaps that is all that he wanted to do at that time. Later, after meeting Oscar Morgenstern, he returns to economics, but only through their joint interest in the theory of games."

"Perhaps an even greater genius than Einstein, of almost extraterrestrial brilliance."

"May have been the last representative of a once-flourishing and numerous group, the great mathematicians who were equally at home in pure and applied mathematics and who throughout their careers maintained a steady production in both directions."

"In von Neumann’s generation his ability to absorb and digest an enormous amount of extremely diverse material in a short time was exceptional; and in a profession where quick minds are somewhat commonplace, his amazing rapidity was proverbial."

"People would come to him because of his great insight."

"He had always done his writing at home during the night or at dawn. His capacity for work was practically unlimited."

"[One early 1945 night,] he woke up and started talking at a speed which, even for him, was extraordinarily fast. “What we are creating now is a monster whose influence is going to change history, provided there is any history left, yet it would be impossible not to see it through, not only for the military reasons, but it would also be unethical from the point of view of the scientists not to do what they know is feasible, no matter what terrible consequences it may have. And this is only the beginning!” The concerns von Neumann voiced that night were less about nuclear weapons, and more about the growing powers of machines. “From here on, Johnny’s fascination and preoccupation with the shape of things to come never ceased,” concludes Klári’s account. For the next seven years he neglected mathematics and devoted himself to the advance of technology in all forms. “It was almost as if he knew that there was not very much time left.”"

"Strange, contradictory, and controversial person; childish and good-humored, sophisticated and savage, brilliantly clever yet with very limited, almost primitive lack of ability to handle his emotions—an enigma of nature that will have to remain unsolved."

"Von Neumann I never could quite figure out. He was just too fast for me."

"Mr. von Neumann, in spite of his youth, is a completely exceptional personality ... who has already done very productive work ... and whose future development is being watched with great expectation in many places."

"He did a tremendous amount of different things in mathematics, many of them revolutionary."

"Bennie decided to approach Johnnie on the matter and arranged to travel to Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, headed up at the time by Oppenheimer, where Johnnie (and lesser geniuses such as Albert Einstein) was stationed."

"Now the story doesn't end here. Before going on with it, however, I'd like to introduce you to Johnnie von Neumann, an incredible genius whose mind worked about as rapidly as the super high-speed computers he helped design."

"Genius of the highest order."

"The smartest man in the world."

"Von Neumann was capable of all sorts of remarkable things."

"He was becoming more concerned with defense than with science. But it seemed that he was living proof that one could do science without really belonging to a “guild.” In fact, he was under extreme pressure at Princeton. From there, he left for Washington and was not planning to return. Luckily, von Neumann had realized that, by having failed to claim admission to any guild, I was leading a very dangerous life. A foundation executive told me much later that von Neumann had specifically asked him to watch after me, and to help in case of trouble."

"[He] thought so fast that he very often anticipated what one was going to say. . . . a pleasant agreeable person . . . the amazing logic of his thought processes."

"He was incredibly perceptive."