Interesting facts about famous people in the history of computer development?

Most people who are familiar with the history of computer development know that American scientist von Neumann has always been known as the "father of electronic computers." However, the history of mathematics also insists that von Neumann is one of the greatest mathematicians of this century. He has made pioneering work in ergodic theory, topological group theory, etc. Operator algebra is even named for "Von Neumann algebra". Physicists say that "The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" written by von Neumann in the 1930s has proven to be extremely valuable to the development of atomic physics; while economists have repeatedly emphasized that von Neumann The horizontal system of economic growth he established, especially his book "Game Theory and Economic Behavior" published in the 1940s, erected a monument in the fields of economics and decision science.

No matter how historians evaluate it, the Hungarian-American scholar John Von Neumann (1903-1957) is worthy of being an outstanding all-round scientific master. People are still talking about how this genius could not hire a tutor when he was a boy...

The incident happened in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, in 1931. A Jewish banker published an advertisement in a newspaper to recruit a tutor for his 11-year-old child, and the salary was 10 times higher than the regular salary. Budapest is full of talented people, but more than a month has passed and no one has applied for the job. Because everyone in this city has heard that the eldest son of a banker, von Neumann, was extremely intelligent. He could recite all the numbers in his father's account book at the age of 3, and he could mentally calculate the complex division of 8-digit numbers by 8-digit numbers at the age of 6. He learned calculus at the age of 8. His extraordinary learning ability astonished the teachers who had taught him.

My father had no choice but to send von Neumann to a regular school. Less than a semester later, the math teacher in his class walked into the house and told the banker that his mathematics level was far from meeting von Neumann's needs. "If we don't give this child the opportunity to further his education, his future will be delayed," the teacher said seriously. "I can recommend him to a mathematics professor. What do you think?"

Banker He was overjoyed when he heard it, so von Neumann studied with his classmates at school while having a professor at the University of Budapest "start a small stove" for him. However, this situation did not last for a few years. The diligent and studious middle school student soon surpassed the university professor. He actually extended his learning tentacles into the latest branches of mathematics at that time-set theory and functional analysis, and also read A large number of books on history and literature, and learned seven foreign languages. On the eve of graduation, von Neumann jointly published his first mathematics paper with a mathematics professor. That year, he was less than 17 years old.

On the eve of the university entrance examination, the political situation in Hungary was turbulent. Von Neumann traveled around Europe and attended lectures at some famous universities in Berlin and Switzerland. At the age of 22, he received a diploma in chemical engineering from the Federal University of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. One year later, he easily obtained a PhD in mathematics from the University of Budapest. After working as an unpaid lecturer in Berlin for several years, he turned to physics, researching mathematical models for quantum mechanics, and establishing himself in a prominent position in the field of theoretical physics. Von Neumann, who was in his prime, relied on his tenacious learning perseverance to "sweep thousands of armies" in the halls of science and became a super all-rounder across various disciplines of "mathematics, physics, and chemistry."

"Opportunity favors only the prepared mind." In 1928, the American mathematician and Professor O. Veblen of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton recruited talents from all over the world. A red and gilded letter of appointment was sent to this unpaid lecturer at the University of Berlin, asking him to teach in the United States. Quantum Mechanics Theory Course”. Von Neumann anticipated that the center of scientific development would move westward in the future, and readily agreed to teach in the United States. In 1930, the 27-year-old von Neumann was promoted to professor; in 1933, together with Einstein, he was hired as the first batch of tenured professors at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and he was the youngest among the six masters. name.

In the eyes of some of von Neumann's colleagues, he simply did not look like a human being on this earth.

They commented: "You see, Jonny is indeed not a mortal, but after living together with people for a long time, he also learned how to imitate the world brilliantly." Von Neumann's thinking was extremely fast, almost in the As soon as someone speaks their first few words, you immediately know their final point. Genius comes from hard work. He worked until dawn almost every day before falling asleep. He was often fascinated by his hard work and made little jokes.

It is said that one day, von Neumann was pulled to the card table by his colleagues because he was uneasy. While playing cards, he was still thinking about his topic, and he "lost" 10 yuan in embarrassment. This colleague, who is also a mathematician, suddenly came up with a plan to tease his friend, so he used the 5 yuan he won to buy a copy of "Game Theory and Economic Behavior" written by von Neumann, and wrote it The remaining 5 yuan was affixed to the cover of the book to show that he had "defeated" the "gambling economic theorist", which really made von Neumann "very embarrassed".

Another joke happened during the development of the ENIAC computer. Several mathematicians got together to discuss mathematical problems, and they couldn't figure out the solution to a certain problem. One man decided to take his desktop calculator home and continue his calculations. Early the next morning, he walked into the office with dark circles under his eyes and a tired look on his face. He proudly showed off to everyone: "I counted from last night to 4:30 this morning, and finally found five special solutions to the problem. They are Each one is more difficult than the other!" As he spoke, von Neumann opened the door and asked, "What question is more difficult?" Although he only heard the last half of the sentence, the word "harder" immediately made him excited. Someone told him the topic, and the professor immediately left his duties in Java and suggested enthusiastically: "Let's calculate these five special solutions together."

Everyone Everyone wants to see the professor's "divine calculation" ability. I saw von Neumann looking at the ceiling, saying nothing, and quickly entered a state of "trance". After about 5 minutes, I came up with the first four answers, and was thinking about the fifth one... The young mathematician could no longer hold back and blurted out the answer. Von Neumann was startled, but did not answer. After another minute, he said: "You are right!"

The mathematician left with a feeling of reverence. He thought teasingly: "Why are you building a computer, Professor?" Isn't the mind just a 'super-fast computer'?" However, von Neumann stayed where he was, falling into hard thinking and unable to extricate himself for a long time. Someone asked him softly why, and the professor replied uneasily: "I'm wondering what method he used to calculate the answer so quickly." Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but laugh: "He used a desktop calculation The machine was calculated all night long!" Von Neumann was stunned and started laughing.

Von Neumann's greatest contribution to science is of course in the field of computers.

One evening in the midsummer of 1944, Goldstein came to Abedin Station, waiting for the train to Philadelphia, when he suddenly saw a familiar figure walking towards him not far ahead. The person who came was none other than the world-famous mathematician von Neumann. God-given opportunity, Goldstein felt that he could not let go of this chance encounter. He poured out several mathematical problems that had been buried in his mind and asked the mathematics master for advice. The mathematician was affable, without any airs, and patiently helped Goldstein solve his problems. As he listened, von Neumann showed an expression of surprise. From the mathematical problems, he keenly felt that something unusual was happening around the young man in front of him. He began to ask Goldstein questions in turn, asking the young man "as if he had gone through another doctoral thesis defense." Finally, Goldstein told him the electronic computer topic and current research progress of Moore College without any secret.

Von Neumann was really shocked, and then extremely excited. Since 1940, he had been a consultant at the Abedin test gun range. The same calculation problems had also made the math master extremely anxious. He impatiently expressed to Goldstein that he hoped to go to Moore College to see the unborn machine in person. Years later, Goldstein recalled: "When Jonny saw a piece of work we were working on, he jumped with both feet to the computer."

Mauchly and Eckert happily awaited von Neumann's visit. They were eager to get guidance from this famous scholar, but at the same time they were a little skeptical. Eckert said to Mauchly privately: "You only need to listen to the first question he asks to judge whether von Neumann is a real genius."

In the scorching sun of August, von Neumann rushed to the test base of Moore College and met with members of the research team without stopping. Mauchly remembered Eckert's words and listened carefully to the math master's first question. When he heard that von Neumann first asked about the logical structure of the machine, he couldn't help but smile tacitly to Eckert. Both of them were impressed by the wisdom of this great scientist! From then on, von Neumann became the actual consultant of the electronic computer research team of Moore College and frequently exchanged opinions with the team members. The young people cleverly put forward various ideas, and von Neumann used his profound knowledge to lead the discussion in depth and gradually formed the system design ideas of electronic computers. Von Neumann used his solid scientific and technological foundation and strong comprehensive ability to combine with young people, which greatly improved the overall level of Mohr's group and made Mohr's group a "talent amplifier", which is still admired by the scientific community. A model of scientific research organization.

It is not unfounded that people later crowned von Neumann as the "Father of Electronic Computers" instead of the two actual developers of the first computer. The ENIAC computer developed by Mauchly and Eckert was a huge success, but its most fatal shortcoming was the separation of program and calculation. The program instructions that command the "switches" of nearly 20,000 vacuum tubes are stored in the machine's external circuit. Before he needed to calculate a certain problem, Eckert had to send people to connect hundreds of lines by hand, working like a telephone operator for hours or even days to perform a few minutes of calculations.

Before ENIAC was put into operation, von Neumann had already begun preparing to completely transform this electronic computer. In just 10 months, von Neumann quickly turned the concept into a plan. The new machine plan is named "Discrete Variable Automatic Electronic Computer", the English abbreviation EDVAC. In June 1945, von Neumann, Goldstein and others jointly published a 101-page report, which is the famous "101-page report" in the history of computers. This report laid a solid foundation for modern computer architecture, and to this day is still considered a landmark document in the development of modern computer science.

In the EDVAC report, von Neumann clearly defined the five major components of the computer: arithmetic unit CA, logic controller CC, memory M, input device I and output device O, and described the five major components. functions and interrelationships. Compared with ENIAC, the improvement of EDVAC first lies in von Neumann's ingenious way of "stored programs". The programs were also stored inside the machine as data so that the computer could automatically execute instructions one after another. , no need to connect any lines anymore. Secondly, he clearly stated that this kind of machine must adopt a binary number system to give full play to the working characteristics of electronic devices and make the structure compact and more versatile. People later referred to machines designed according to this scheme as "Neumann machines".

From the EDVAC computer designed by von Neumann to today's multimedia computers made with "Pentium" chips, computers have been "descended" from generation to generation, and there are thousands of them, large and small. Computers have not been able to escape the palm of the "Neumann machine". Von Neumann pointed out the direction for the development of modern computers. In this sense, he is the well-deserved "Father of Electronic Computers". Of course, with the development of artificial intelligence and neural network computers, the world-dominating pattern of "Neumann machines" has been broken, but von Neumann's great contribution to the development of computers will never be wiped out by this. Brilliance!

After the end of World War II, due to various reasons, the ENIAC development team suffered a regrettable split, and the "memory program" machine could not be developed immediately. Von Neumann, Goldstein, and Burks returned to Princeton University in New Jersey.

In 1946, they developed a new IAS computer for the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (IAS is the English abbreviation of the Institute for Advanced Study).

Von Neumann's return set off a strong computer craze in Princeton. The always deserted institute was in a state of excitement. A large number of professionals admired his name and came one after another, making the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton become the research center of electronic computers in the United States. Von Neumann struck while the iron was hot and set out to put his 101-page computer plan into action. In 1951, the EDSAC computer, which was the result of his many years of hard work, was finally launched. After the program was stored inside the machine, its efficiency was hundreds of times higher than that of ENIAC. It only used 3563 electron tubes and 10000 crystal diodes, and 1024 mercury delay lines. To store programs and data, it consumes only one-third of the power and floor space of ENIAC.

While von Neumann was developing the ISA computer, a number of computers that copied the ISA photo structure provided by Princeton University emerged in the United States. For example, MANIAC developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and ILLAC manufactured by the University of Illinois. Remington Rand Corporation scientist W. Ware even named the machine he developed JOHNIAC ("John" after von Neumann's name) despite von Neumann's objections. ). Von Neumann's name has become synonymous with modern computers.

At Princeton, von Neumann also used computers to solve problems in various scientific fields. He proposed a research plan for using computers to forecast weather, which formed the basis of today's systematic numerical weather forecasting; he was hired as a scientific consultant to IBM and helped the company produce the first stored-program computer, the IBM 701; he was responsible for With a strong interest in the similarities between computers and human brains, he prepared to study human thinking from a computer perspective; although he did not attend the first artificial intelligence conference at Dartmouth, he created a mathematical school in the field of artificial intelligence research; he even He was the first person to propose that computer programs could be copied, and he predicted the emergence of computer viruses half a century ago...

On February 8, 1957, von Neumann suffered from bone cancer and even Before he had time to finish writing the lecture on using computers to simulate human language, he passed away in a Delhi hospital in the United States. He only lived for 54 years. He received numerous awards throughout his life, including two U.S. Presidential Awards, and was posthumously awarded the U.S. National Medal of Basic Science in 1994. He is the most influential generation of great men in the history of computer development.