Von Neumann: The Interaction of Mathematics and Computing

Abstract

This chapter discusses von Neumann's work to study the interaction of mathematics and computing. The first papers that von Neumann wrote as a young man around 1924–1925 were in mathematical logic and the study of formal systems. After the war, von Neumann was interested in the mysteries of the workings of the nervous system and the brain itself. von Neumann worked as a consultant to the Aberdeen Ballistics Laboratory. von Neumann did a lot of work around 1948–1949 on the ENIAC at Aberdeen. The study of the implosion problem gave a great impulse to the development of fast computers. It is observe that for many years von Neumann was a pure mathematician. It was only, just before World War II that he became interested not only in mathematical physics but also in more concrete physical problems.