Interesting stories of celebrities in the history of computer development?

Anyone familiar with the history of computer development knows 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 in this century. He made pioneering work in ergodic theory and topological group theory, and operator algebra was even named "von Neumann algebra". Physicists said that the Mathematical Basis of Quantum Mechanics written by von Neumann in 1930s has proved to be of great value to the development of atomic physics. Economists have repeatedly stressed that the horizontal system of economic growth established by von Neumann, especially his book Game Theory and Economic Behavior published in the 1940s, made him erect a monument in the fields of economics and decision science.

No matter what historians say, Hungarian-American scholar john von neumann (1903- 1957) deserves to be regarded as an outstanding master of all-round science. People still talk about it. In his youth, the genius could not find a tutor. ...

It happened in Budapest, Hungary 193 1. A Jewish banker advertised in a newspaper to recruit a tutor for his 1 1 year-old child, and the salary was 10 times higher than the regular one. Budapest is full of talents, but after more than a month, no one applied. Because everyone in this city has heard of von Neumann, the eldest son of a banker, who is brilliant. At the age of 3, he could recite all the figures in his father's ledger. At the age of six, he was able to mentally work out a complicated arithmetic problem of dividing eight figures. At the age of eight, he studied calculus. His extraordinary learning ability surprised the teachers who had taught him.

Father had no choice but to send von Neumann to an ordinary school. In less than a semester, the math teacher in his class walked into the house and told the banker that his math level was far from von Neumann's requirements. "If we don't give this child a chance for further study, it will delay his future," the teacher said seriously. "I can recommend him to a professor of mathematics. What do you think? "

When the banker heard this, he was overjoyed, so von Neumann studied at school, while a professor at Budapest University "started a small stove" for him. However, this situation did not last for several years, and eager middle school students soon surpassed university professors. He actually extended his learning tentacles to the latest branches of mathematics at that time-set theory and functional analysis. At the same time, he also read a lot of books on history and literature and learned seven foreign languages. On the eve of graduation, Von Neumann and a professor of mathematics jointly published his first mathematics paper. That year, he was less than 17 years old.

On the eve of the college entrance examination, the political situation in Hungary was turbulent. Von Neumann traveled all over Europe and attended lectures in some famous universities in Berlin and Switzerland. At the age of 22, he received a diploma in chemical engineering from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. A year later, I easily got a doctorate in mathematics from Budapest University. After several years as an unpaid lecturer in Berlin, he turned to physics, studied the mathematical model of quantum mechanics, and made himself occupy a prominent position in the field of theoretical physics. Von Neumann, in his prime of life, with his tenacious study perseverance, "swept away a thousand troops" in the hall of science and became a super generalist across "mathematical chemistry" and other disciplines.

Opportunities only favor those who are prepared. 1928, Professor O.Veblen of Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, an American master of mathematics, recruited talented people and sent a gold-plated red letter of appointment to the unpaid lecturer of Berlin University, inviting him to teach "the course of quantum mechanics theory" in the United States. Von Neumann foresaw that the center of scientific development would move westward in the future and readily agreed to teach in the United States. 1930, 27-year-old von Neumann was promoted to professor; 1933 Together with Einstein, he was hired as the first batch of tenured professors at Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies, and he was the youngest of the six masters.

In the eyes of some of von Neumann's colleagues, he hardly looks like people on our planet. They commented: "You see, Jonny is really not a mortal, but after getting along with people for a long time, he has also learned how to imitate the world well." Von Neumann's thinking is very fast, and he immediately knows the final point of view when others say a few words. Genius comes from hard work He works until dawn almost every day, and is often fascinated by hard work and makes some jokes.

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 "very embarrassed".

Another joke happened during the development of ENIAC computer. Several mathematicians got together to discuss mathematical problems, and they couldn't come up with an answer. A man decided to go home with a desktop calculator and continue to calculate. The next morning, he walked into the office with black eyes and a tired face, proudly boasting, "I counted from last night until 4: 30 this morning, and finally found five special answers to that difficult problem." They are more difficult than one! "While speaking, von Neumann pushed the door and came in." What is more difficult? Although he only heard the second half of the sentence, the word "more difficult" made him excited at once. When someone told him the topic, the professor immediately left his Java business and suggested happily, "Let's work out these five special solutions together. "

Everyone wants to see the professor's mental arithmetic ability. I saw von Neumann staring at the ceiling, saying nothing, and soon entered a state of "concentration". After about five minutes, I said the first four plans, and I was thinking about the fifth. The young mathematician couldn't bear it any longer. He couldn't help blurting out the answer. Von Neumann was taken aback, but he didn't answer the phone. After another 1 minute, he said, "You're right!"

The mathematician left with reverence. He thought, "Why build a computer? Isn't the professor's mind just an ultra-high-speed computer? " However, von Neumann stood still, lost in hard thinking, and could not extricate himself for a long time. Someone asked him softly why, and the professor replied uneasily, "I don't know what method he used to get the answer so quickly." Everyone couldn't help laughing: "He used a desktop calculator to calculate the whole night!" " "Von Neumann one leng, also follow to laugh.

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

1944 On a midsummer evening, Goldstein came to Abedin Station, waiting for the train to Philadelphia, and suddenly saw a familiar figure coming towards him not far ahead. The newcomer is the world-famous mathematician von Neumann. A godsend, Goldstein felt that he would never let go of this accidental encounter. He poured out several mathematical problems that had already been buried in his heart and asked the master of mathematics for advice. Mathematicians are affable and unassuming, and patiently solve problems for Goldstein. Listening, von Neumann unconsciously showed a surprised look, and keenly felt that something unusual was happening around the young man from the math problem. He began to ask Goldstein questions in turn, and asked the young people "as if they had experienced another doctoral thesis defense". Finally, Goldstein told him frankly about the computer project and the current research progress of Moore College.

Von Neumann was really shocked, and then he was very excited. Since 1940, he has been the consultant of Abedin test range, and the same calculation problem makes the mathematicians extremely anxious. He eagerly told Goldstein that he hoped to go to Moore College to have a look at the unborn machine for himself. Years later, Goldstein recalled, "When Johnny saw a job we were doing, he jumped in front of the computer with his feet." .

Morceli and eckert are happily waiting for von Neumann's visit. They are also eager for the guidance of this famous scholar, but at the same time they are a little skeptical. Eckert said to Mocelli privately, "You only need to listen to von Neumann's first question to know if he is a real genius." .

In the hot August, Von Neumann traveled to the experimental base of Moore College and met with the members of the research team non-stop. Morceli remembered eckert's words and pricked up his ears to listen to the first question of the master of mathematics. When he heard von Neumann first ask about the logical structure of the machine, he couldn't help smiling at eckert tacitly. Both of them were impressed by the wisdom of the great scientist! From then on, Von Neumann became a practical consultant of the computer research team of Moore College, and frequently exchanged opinions with team members. Young people skillfully put forward various ideas, while von Neumann used his profound knowledge to deepen the discussion and gradually formed the system design idea of electronic computers. Von Neumann, with his solid scientific and technological foundation and strong comprehensive ability, combined with young people, greatly improved the overall level of Moore Group, making it a "talent amplifier", which is still a scientific research organization model highly praised by the scientific community.

It is not groundless that people later put the title of "the father of electronic computers" on von Neumann's head instead of the two actual developers of the first computer. The ENIAC computer developed by Morceli and eckert has achieved great success, but its most fatal shortcoming is the separation of program and calculation. Program instructions to control the operation of nearly 20,000 electronic tubes "switches" are stored in the external circuit of the machine. There is a problem that needs to be calculated. At present, eckert must send someone to manually connect hundreds of lines and work like a telephone operator for several hours or even days to perform the operation for a few minutes.

Before ENIAC was put into operation, von Neumann had already begun to prepare to transform this electronic computer. In just 10 months, von Neumann quickly turned the concept into a plan. The new machine scheme is named "discrete variable automatic electronic computer", which is abbreviated as EDVAC in English. 1June, 945, von Neumann and Goldstein jointly published a 10 1 page report, which is the famous "10 1 page report" in computer history. This report laid a solid foundation for modern computer architecture, and it is still regarded as a landmark document for the development of modern computer science today.

In the EDVAC report, von Neumann clearly defined the five components of a computer: arithmetic unit CA, logic controller CC, memory M, input device I and output device O, and described the functions and relationships of the five components. Compared with ENIAC, the improvement of EDVAC lies in von Neumann's ingenious way of "storing programs", which are also stored in the machine as data, so that the computer can automatically execute instructions one by one without connecting any lines. Secondly, he clearly pointed out that this machine must adopt the binary number system in order to give full play to the working characteristics of electronic devices and make the structure compact and more universal. Later, the machines designed according to this idea were collectively called "Neumann machines".

From the EDVAC computer designed by von Neumann, to the multimedia computer made of Pentium chips today, and the "descendants" of computers from generation to generation, thousands of computers, large and small, in Qian Qian have failed to jump out of the palm of Neumann's machine. Von Neumann pointed out the direction for the development of modern computers. In this sense, he is a well-deserved "father of electronic computers". Of course, with the development of artificial intelligence and neural network computer, the pattern of "Neumann machine" dominating the world has been broken, but von Neumann's great contribution to computer development will never be lost!

After the end of World War II, for various reasons, the development team of ENIAC had a deplorable division, and the machine of "memory program" could not be developed immediately. Von Neumann, Goldstein and Boxer returned to Princeton University in New Jersey. 1946, they developed a new IAS computer for Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies.

The return of von Neumann set off a strong computer craze in Princeton. The institute, which has always been deserted, is boiling, and a large number of professionals admire his name, which makes Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies become the research center of American computers for a time. Von Neumann struck while the iron was hot and put his 10 1 page computer scheme into practice. 195 1 this EDSAC computer that has condensed his hard work for many years has finally come out. After the program is stored in the machine, the efficiency is hundreds of times higher than ENIAC. Only 3563 electron tubes and 1000 crystal diodes are used to store programs and data, and 1024 mercury delay lines are used to store programs and data, which consumes only one third of ENIAC's power consumption and floor space.

During von Neumann's development of ISA computers, a number of computers appeared in the United States that were copied according to the ISA photo structure provided by Princeton University. For example, MANIAC developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and ILLAC manufactured by the University of Illinois. W. Ware, a scientist from Remington Rand Company, even ignored the opposition of von Neumann, and named his own machine Johanik ("Johanik", "John" is von Neumann's name). 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 put forward a research plan of forecasting weather by computer, which formed the basis of today's systematic meteorological numerical forecast; He was hired as a scientific consultant of IBM, and helped the company to produce the first computer for storing programs, IBM 701; He is interested in the similarity between computer and human brain, and is going to study human thinking from the perspective of computer. Although he didn't attend the first conference on artificial intelligence in Dartmouth, he initiated a mathematics school in the field of artificial intelligence research. He was even the first person to suggest that computer programs can be copied, and predicted the emergence of computer viruses half a century ago. ...

1On February 8th, 957, Von Neumann suffered from bone cancer, and died in Delhi Hospital of the United States before he even finished writing the Lecture Notes on Computer Simulation of Human Language, only living for 54 years. He won numerous awards in his life, including two presidential awards, and 1994 won the National Basic Science Award. He is the most influential generation in the history of computer development.