![Von_Neumann_5[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Hmv0Bvi.jpg "Von_Neumann_5[1].jpg")
How did big John do it?
>2.2 Set theory
>2.3 Geometry
>2.4 Measure theory
>2.5 Ergodic theory
>2.6 Operator theory
>2.7 Lattice theory
>2.8 Mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics
>2.9 Quantum logic
>2.10 Game theory
>2.11 Mathematical economics
>2.12 Linear programming
>2.13 Mathematical statistics
>2.14 Nuclear weapons
>2.15 The Atomic Energy Committee
>2.16 The ICBM Committee
>2.17 Mutual assured destruction
>2.18 Computing
>2.19 Fluid dynamics
>2.20 Politics and social affairs
>2.21 On the eve of World War II
>2.22 Weather systems
>2.23 Cognitive abilities
>2.24 Mastery of mathematics
he was smart and had good memory and he could do difficult calculations in his head
>>7702566
Holy smokes you guys aren't exaggerating whe you compare him to the likes of the greatest minds in history. He influenced all of these areas in some way?
>>7702616
There is no comparison, he's one of them.
>>7702616
He came up with the formalization of Game theory, actually, and was a major player in areas like set theory and quantum mechanics.
>>7702616
He made lots of small and mid-level contributions, somewhat like Erdos, but less numerous and slightly more momentous.
>>7704241
Like most polymaths. He's still one of the greatest minds in history.
Some of his work remains classified to this day.
>>7704293
If I remember correctly, so does some of Tesla, doesn't mean anything really.
>>7702566
Von Newman v Einstein, who wins?
>>7704425
Von Neumann looks like he's built a bit more durably. Though Einstein in his youth might have a reach and weight advantage.
Depends on how old they are. Intuition says Neumann, but Einstein might be a bit more capable than he seems. I'll go with Einstein for the hell of it.
>>7704436
Wasn't Einstein a pacifist?
>>7702616
>only learning about Von Neumann now
git gud fgt. OP is massively glossing over his achievements. He's a god figure in several of those fields. He died young too.
He was an opportunist.
What's with your enumeration convention? Did you copy this from an autobiographical index or something?
>>7702616
Von Neumann was the smartest person to ever live.
>>7704580
During his graduate studies, and after working with von Neumann, Gillies became a fan of the book "One-upmanship" by Stephen Potter. John von Neumann was also a fan of this work, and was extremely successful at impressing others with his intelligence. An apocryphal math problem asks about a bumble bee flying back and forth between two approaching trains, and how far did it fly before colliding? When von Neumann gave the correct answer, the questioner asked if he used a standard time/rate-of-travel trick, and he replied, 'no, I summed the infinite series in my head' to impress the questioner. This method of impressing and astonishing others appealed to both Gillies and von Neumann.
