num_pages: 368
description: The smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Nuclear weapons and self-replicating spacecrafts. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable yet largely overlooked man: John von Neumann.Born in Budapest at the turn of the century von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived. A child prodigy he mastered calculus by the age of eight and in high school made lasting contributions to mathematics. In Germany where he helped lay the foundations of quantum mechanics and later at Princeton von Neumanns colleagues believed he had the fastest brain on the planetbar none. He was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and the design of the atom bomb; he helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory; he created the first ever programmable digital computer; he prophesized the potential of nanotechnology; and from his deathbed he expounded on the limits of brains and computersand how they might be overcome.Taking us on an astonishing journey Ananyo Bhattacharya explores how a combination of genius and unique historical circumstance allowed a single man to sweep through a stunningly diverse array of fields sparking revolutions wherever he went. The Man from the Future is an insightful and thrilling intellectual biography of the visionary thinker who shaped our century.
language: English
title: The Man from the Future: The Visionary Ideas of John von Neumann
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company