John von neumann, the father of modern computers.

John von neumann (1903,1February 28th, 957-1February 8th, 957), a Hungarian-American mathematician, computer scientist and physicist, was one of the most important mathematicians in the 20th century. Von Neumann, a Ph.D. student in mathematics at Budapest University, is one of the scientific generalists in the fields of modern computer, game theory, nuclear weapons, biochemical weapons and so on, and is called "the father of modern computer" and "the father of game theory" by later generations.

In 1944, von Neumann co-authored Game Theory and Economic Behavior with Oscar Morgenstein, which is the foundation work of game theory. In his later years, Von Neumann turned to the study of automata theory, and wrote a book "Computer and Human Brain" (1958), which made an accurate analysis of human brain and computer system, and provided a basic scheme for the development of electronic digital computers. Other major works include Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics (1926), Operator Method of Classical Mechanics and Continuous Geometry (1960).

Von Neumann is a famous Hungarian-American mathematician, computer scientist, physicist and chemist. 1903 12.28 was born in a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary.

Max, von Neumann's father, is young and handsome. With diligence, wit and good management, he was one of the bankers in Budapest when he was young. Von Neumann's mother is a kind woman, virtuous and docile, with a good education.

Von Neumann showed talent in mathematics and memory from an early age. Since childhood, von Neumann has a gift of never looking at anything. At the age of six, he was able to play jokes on his father in Greek. At the age of six, he could divide eight digits in his mind, and at the age of eight, he could master calculus. 10 years old, he spent several months reading 48 volumes of world history, and was able to compare the current events with an event in history and discuss their military theories and political strategies. At the age of twelve, he understood the essence of Bohr's masterpiece "On Function".

The essence of calculus is the mathematical analysis of infinitesimal. For a long time, human beings have been exploring finite and infinite and their relationship. /kloc-Calculus discovered by Newton Leibniz in the 0/7th century is a great and exciting achievement of human exploration. For 300 years, it has been the teaching content of colleges and universities. With the development of the times, calculus is constantly changing its form, its concept becomes accurate, its basic theory is solid, and there are even many concise and appropriate statements. But in any case, it is rare for an eight-year-old child to understand calculus. Although the above rumors are not completely credible, von Neumann's extraordinary intelligence is always the opinion of people who know him.

From 65438 to 0929, von Neumann was transferred to the University of Hamburg as a part-time lecturer. 1930 went to America for the first time and became a guest lecturer at Preston University. The United States, which is good at pooling talents, soon hired von Neumann as a visiting professor.

Von Neumann once calculated that German universities have few vacancies to look forward to. According to his typical reasoning, three professors can be appointed in three years, and more than 40 lecturers compete. In Princeton, von Neumann returned to Europe every summer until 1933 became a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton. At that time, the Institute for Advanced Studies hired six professors, including Einstein, and von Neumann, who was only 30 years old, was the youngest among them.

From 65438 to 0946, von Neumann began to learn programming. He is one of the founders of modern numerical analysis and computational mathematics. He first studied the numerical calculation of linear algebra and arithmetic, then focused on the discretization and stability of nonlinear differential equations, and gave the error estimation. He helped develop some algorithms, especially the Monte Carlo method.

In the late 1940s, he began to study automata theory, general logic theory and self-replication system. At the last moment of his life, he made a profound comparison between natural automata and artificial automata. After his death, his unfinished manuscript was published in the name of computer and human brain at 1958.

Von Neumann's major works are included in The Complete Works of Von Neumann (6 volumes, 196 1).

Whether in pure mathematics or applied mathematics research, von Neumann has shown outstanding talents and made many far-reaching and significant achievements. It is his characteristic to constantly change the research theme and succeed repeatedly in the cross-infiltration of several disciplines.

To put it simply, his quintessential contribution is two points: binary thought and program memory thought.

Von Neumann Architecture

When it comes to the development of computers, we can't help but mention American scientist von Neumann. Since the beginning of the 20th century, scientists in the fields of physics and electronics have been arguing about what kind of structure should be used to make machines that can perform numerical calculations. People are troubled by decimal system, which is a common counting method for human beings. Therefore, at that time, the voice of developing analog computers was louder and more powerful. In the mid-1930s, American scientist von Neumann boldly proposed to abandon decimal system and adopt binary system as the basis of digital computer. At the same time, he also said that the calculation program is prepared in advance, and then the computer will carry out numerical calculation according to the calculation order set in advance.

The main points of von Neumann's theory are: the number system of digital computer adopts binary; Computers should be executed in program order.

The main points of von Neumann's theory are: the number system of digital computer adopts binary; Computers should be executed in program order.

People call this theory Von Neumann architecture. At present, the most advanced computers adopt Von Neumann architecture. So von Neumann is the father of digital computers.

A computer based on von Neumann architecture must have the following functions:

Send the required programs and data to the computer.

Must have the ability to memorize programs, data, intermediate results and final operation results for a long time.

Able to complete arithmetic, logical operation, data transmission and other data processing.

Can control the direction of the program as required, and can control the coordinated operation of all parts of the machine according to the instructions.

The processing results can be output to users as required.

In order to accomplish the above functions, a computer must have five basic components, including:

An input device for inputting data and programs.

A memory for storing programs and data.

An arithmetic unit used for data processing.

A controller that controls program execution.

The output device outputs the processing result.

Operator method of classical mechanics

Mathematical basis of quantum mechanics (1932)

After von Neumann's death, this unfinished manuscript was published in the name of computer and human brain in 1958. His major works are included in the six-volume Complete Works of von Neumann and published in 196 1.

In addition, the book Game Theory and Economic Behavior (co-written with Morgenstein) published by von Neumann in the 1940s made him erect a monument in the fields of economics and decision science. He is recognized by economists as the father of game theory. At that time, young johnf nash began to research and develop this field when he was studying at Princeton University, and won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics for his outstanding contribution to game theory.

Program memory is another masterpiece of Neumann. Through the investigation of ENIAC, Neumann keenly grasped its biggest weakness-no real memory. ENIAC has only 20 registers, its program is extrapolated, and its instructions are stored in other circuits of the computer. In this way, before solving the problem, we must first think of all the necessary instructions and manually connect the corresponding circuits. This preparation takes hours or even days, while the calculation itself takes only a few minutes. There is a great contradiction between the high speed of calculation and the manual operation of the program

1. Once, at a math party, a young man excitedly found him and asked him a question. He looked at it and reported the correct answer. The young man was glad to let him tell him the simple method and complained that other mathematicians were tedious in solving infinite series. However, von Neumann said, "You misunderstood. I found it with infinite series. " It can be seen that he has extraordinary mental arithmetic ability.

2. It is said that one day, Von Neumann was distracted by his colleagues and pulled to the poker table. I was still thinking about his topic while playing cards, and I lost in a panic 10. This colleague, who is also a mathematician, suddenly had a plan to play tricks on his friends, so he bought a book Game Theory and Economic Behavior written by von Neumann with the money he won in 5 yuan, and posted the remaining 5 yuan money on the cover of the book to show that he "defeated" the gambling economic theorist, which really made von Neumann "lose face".