sentence-transformers/squad huggingface dataset:
Passage: Von Neumann made fundamental contributions in exploration of problems in numerical hydrodynamics. For example, with Robert D. Richtmyer he developed an algorithm defining artificial viscosity that improved the understanding of shock waves. A problem was that when computers solved hydrodynamic or aerodynamic problems, they tried to put too many computational grid points at regions of sharp discontinuity (shock waves). The mathematics of artificial viscosity smoothed the shock transition without sacrificing basic physics. Other well known contributions to fluid dynamics included the classic flow solution to blast waves, and the co-discovery of the ZND detonation model of explosives.

Question: The algorithm defining artificial viscosity is a fundamental contribution to what area?

Question: What did the math of artificial viscosity do?

Question: What was the problem of computers solving fluid dynamics?
Passage: Von Neumann's principal contribution to the atomic bomb was in the concept and design of the explosive lenses needed to compress the plutonium core of the Fat Man weapon that was later dropped on Nagasaki. While von Neumann did not originate the "implosion" concept, he was one of its most persistent proponents, encouraging its continued development against the instincts of many of his colleagues, who felt such a design to be unworkable. He also eventually came up with the idea of using more powerful shaped charges and less fissionable material to greatly increase the speed of "assembly".

Question: What principal contribution did von Neumann make to atomic bomb?

Question: Did von Nemann think that the atomic bomb design was not workable?

Question: What additional ideas did von Neumann contribute to Atomic bomb?
Passage: When it turned out that there would not be enough uranium-235 to make more than one bomb, the implosive lens project was greatly expanded and von Neumann's idea was implemented. Implosion was the only method that could be used with the plutonium-239 that was available from the Hanford Site. He established the design of the explosive lenses required, but there remained concerns about "edge effects" and imperfections in the explosives. His calculations showed that implosion would work if it did not depart by more than 5% from spherical symmetry. After a series of failed attempts with models, this was achieved by George Kistiakowsky, and the construction of the Trinity bomb was completed in July 1945.

Question: what change was made when shortage of uranium 235 was apparent?

Question: What was the tolerance limit for implosion "edge effect"?

Question: Who constructed Trinity bomb?

Question: In what year was Trinity bomb completed?
Passage: Along with four other scientists and various military personnel, von Neumann was included in the target selection committee responsible for choosing the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the first targets of the atomic bomb. Von Neumann oversaw computations related to the expected size of the bomb blasts, estimated death tolls, and the distance above the ground at which the bombs should be detonated for optimum shock wave propagation and thus maximum effect. The cultural capital Kyoto, which had been spared the bombing inflicted upon militarily significant cities, was von Neumann's first choice, a selection seconded by Manhattan Project leader General Leslie Groves. However, this target was dismissed by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.

Question: What other people worked with von Neumann on target selection?

Question: What role did von Neuman play in the selection of targets?

Question: What was von Neumann's first choice for target city?

Question: Who dismissed von Neuamann's primary target city?
Passage: On July 16, 1945, with numerous other Manhattan Project personnel, von Neumann was an eyewitness to the first atomic bomb blast, code named Trinity, conducted as a test of the implosion method device, at the bombing range near Alamogordo Army Airfield, 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Socorro, New Mexico. Based on his observation alone, von Neumann estimated the test had resulted in a blast equivalent to 5 kilotons of TNT (21 TJ) but Enrico Fermi produced a more accurate estimate of 10 kilotons by dropping scraps of torn-up paper as the shock wave passed his location and watching how far they scattered. The actual power of the explosion had been between 20 and 22 kilotons. It was in von Neumann's 1944 papers that the expression "kilotons" appeared for the first time. After the war, Robert Oppenheimer remarked that the physicists involved in the Manhattan project had "known sin". Von Neumann's response was that "sometimes someone confesses a sin in order to take credit for it."

Question: On what day was the first atomic blast?

Question: Where did the first atomic blast test take place?

Question: What was the power of the first atomic blast?
Passage: Von Neumann continued unperturbed in his work and became, along with Edward Teller, one of those who sustained the hydrogen bomb project. He then collaborated with Klaus Fuchs on further development of the bomb, and in 1946 the two filed a secret patent on "Improvement in Methods and Means for Utilizing Nuclear Energy", which outlined a scheme for using a fission bomb to compress fusion fuel to initiate nuclear fusion. The Fuchs–von Neumann patent used radiation implosion, but not in the same way as is used in what became the final hydrogen bomb design, the Teller–Ulam design. Their work was, however, incorporated into the "George" shot of Operation Greenhouse, which was instructive in testing out concepts that went into the final design. The Fuchs–von Neumann work was passed on, by Fuchs, to the Soviet Union as part of his nuclear espionage, but it was not used in the Soviets' own, independent development of the Teller–Ulam design. The historian Jeremy Bernstein has pointed out that ironically, "John von Neumann and Klaus Fuchs, produced a brilliant invention in 1946 that could have changed the whole course of the development of the hydrogen bomb, but was not fully understood until after the bomb had been successfully made."

Question: With whom did von Neumann collaborate for further development of the hydrogen bomb?

Question: What improvement did von Neumann see in the nuclear weaponry?

Question: What country was afforded access to design of improved nuclear weapon through espionage?
Passage: In 1950, von Neumann became a consultant to the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG), whose function was to advise the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United States Secretary of Defense on the development and use of new technologies. He also became an adviser to the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP), which was responsible for the military aspects on nuclear weapons.Over the following two years, he also became a consultant to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a member of the influential General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission, a consultant to the newly established Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group of the United States Air Force.

Question: In 1950 von Neumann became a consultant for what organization?

Question: What military organization did von NEumann also consult with for military aspect of nuclear weapons?

Question: What committee did von Neumann serve on within the Atomic Energy Commission?
Passage: In 1955, von Neumann became a commissioner of the AEC. He accepted this position and used it to further the production of compact hydrogen bombs suitable for Intercontinental ballistic missile delivery. He involved himself in correcting the severe shortage of tritium and lithium 6 needed for these compact weapons, and he argued against settling for the intermediate range missiles that the Army wanted. He was adamant that H-bombs delivered into the heart of enemy territory by an ICBM would be the most effective weapon possible, and that the relative inaccuracy of the missile wouldn't be a problem with an H-bomb. He said the Russians would probably be building a similar weapon system, which turned out to be the case. Despite his disagreement with Oppenheimer over the need for a crash program to develop the hydrogen bomb, he testified on the latter's behalf at the 1954 Oppenheimer security hearing, at which he asserted that Oppenheimer was loyal, and praised him for his helpfulness once the program went ahead.

Question: In what year did von Neumann become commissioner of the AEC?

Question: What were compact hydrogen bombs useful for?

Question: What was the concern with longer range ICBM with Hbomb?

Question: Von Neumann testified at whose hearing about loyalty and help?
Passage: Shortly before his death, when he was already quite ill, von Neumann headed the United States government's top secret ICBM committee, and it would sometimes meet in his home. Its purpose was to decide on the feasibility of building an ICBM large enough to carry a thermonuclear weapon. Von Neumann had long argued that while the technical obstacles were sizable, they could be overcome in time. The SM-65 Atlas passed its first fully functional test in 1959, two years after his death. The feasibility of an ICBM owed as much to improved, smaller warheads as it did to developments in rocketry, and his understanding of the former made his advice invaluable.

Question: What was the purpose of top secret ICBM committee?

Question: What argument did von Neumann make about ICBMs?

Question: In what year did SM-65 Atlas pass its first fully functional test?
Passage: Von Neumann is credited with the equilibrium strategy of mutual assured destruction, providing the deliberately humorous acronym, MAD. (Other humorous acronyms coined by von Neumann include his computer, the Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator, and Computer—or MANIAC). He also "moved heaven and earth" to bring MAD about. His goal was to quickly develop ICBMs and the compact hydrogen bombs that they could deliver to the USSR, and he knew the Soviets were doing similar work because the CIA interviewed German rocket scientists who were allowed to return to Germany, and von Neumann had planted a dozen technical people in the CIA. The Russians believed that bombers would soon be vulnerable, and they shared von Neumann's view that an H-bomb in an ICBM was the ne plus ultra of weapons, and they believed that whoever had superiority in these weapons would take over the world, without necessarily using them. He was afraid of a "missile gap" and took several more steps to achieve his goal of keeping up with the Soviets:

Question: What was MAD?

Question: What was the goal of MAD?

Question: What were Russians opinions of future weaponry?

Question: What was the concern of a missile gap?
Passage: Von Neumann entered government service (Manhattan Project) primarily because he felt that, if freedom and civilization were to survive, it would have to be because the US would triumph over totalitarianism from Nazism, Fascism and Soviet Communism. During a Senate committee hearing he described his political ideology as "violently anti-communist, and much more militaristic than the norm". He was quoted in 1950 remarking, "If you say why not bomb [the Soviets] tomorrow, I say, why not today? If you say today at five o'clock, I say why not one o'clock?"

Question: Why did von Neumann join government work?

Question: How did von Neumaan describe his political ideology?

Question: What was the project that von Neumann first participated in government?
Passage: Von Neumann was a founding figure in computing. Donald Knuth cites von Neumann as the inventor, in 1945, of the merge sort algorithm, in which the first and second halves of an array are each sorted recursively and then merged. Von Neumann wrote the sorting program for the EDVAC in ink, being 23 pages long; traces can still be seen on the first page of the phrase "TOP SECRET", which was written in pencil and later erased. He also worked on the philosophy of artificial intelligence with Alan Turing when the latter visited Princeton in the 1930s.

Question: Who was the inventor of the merge-sort algorithm?

Question: With whom did von Neumann work on the philosophy of artificial intelligence?

Question: What does a merge sort algorithm do?
Passage: Von Neumann's hydrogen bomb work was played out in the realm of computing, where he and Stanislaw Ulam developed simulations on von Neumann's digital computers for the hydrodynamic computations. During this time he contributed to the development of the Monte Carlo method, which allowed solutions to complicated problems to be approximated using random numbers. His algorithm for simulating a fair coin with a biased coin is used in the "software whitening" stage of some hardware random number generators. Because using lists of "truly" random numbers was extremely slow, von Neumann developed a form of making pseudorandom numbers, using the middle-square method. Though this method has been criticized as crude, von Neumann was aware of this: he justified it as being faster than any other method at his disposal, and also noted that when it went awry it did so obviously, unlike methods which could be subtly incorrect. "Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin."

Question: Where were the computations for hydrogen bomb worked out?

Question: What was the Monte Carlo method?

Question: Due to slow use of random numbers what was developed?
Passage: While consulting for the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania on the EDVAC project, von Neumann wrote an incomplete First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC. The paper, whose premature distribution nullified the patent claims of EDVAC designers J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, described a computer architecture in which the data and the program are both stored in the computer's memory in the same address space. This architecture is to this day the basis of modern computer design, unlike the earliest computers that were "programmed" using a separate memory device such as a paper tape or plugboard. Although the single-memory, stored program architecture is commonly called von Neumann architecture as a result of von Neumann's paper, the architecture's description was based on the work of J. Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly, inventors of the ENIAC computer at the University of Pennsylvania.

Question: What nullified patent claims of EDVAC designers?

Question: What was the significance of EDVAC?

Question: Where was ENIAC located?
Passage: John von Neumann also consulted for the ENIAC project. The electronics of the new ENIAC ran at one-sixth the speed, but this in no way degraded the ENIAC's performance, since it was still entirely I/O bound. Complicated programs could be developed and debugged in days rather than the weeks required for plugboarding the old ENIAC. Some of von Neumann's early computer programs have been preserved. The next computer that von Neumann designed was the IAS machine at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He arranged its financing, and the components were designed and built at the RCA Research Laboratory nearby. John von Neumann recommended that the IBM 701, nicknamed the defense computer include a magnetic drum. It was a faster version of the IAS machine and formed the basis for the commercially successful IBM 704.

Question: What was the speed difference with new ENIAC?

Question: What were advantages for programming new ENIAC?

Question: After the design of IAS, who built the computer?
Passage: Stochastic computing was first introduced in a pioneering paper by von Neumann in 1953. However, the theory could not be implemented until advances in computing of the 1960s. He also created the field of cellular automata without the aid of computers, constructing the first self-replicating automata with pencil and graph paper. The concept of a universal constructor was fleshed out in his posthumous work Theory of Self Reproducing Automata. Von Neumann proved that the most effective way of performing large-scale mining operations such as mining an entire moon or asteroid belt would be by using self-replicating spacecraft, taking advantage of their exponential growth. His rigorous mathematical analysis of the structure of self-replication (of the semiotic relationship between constructor, description and that which is constructed), preceded the discovery of the structure of DNA. Beginning in 1949, von Neumann's design for a self-reproducing computer program is considered the world's first computer virus, and he is considered to be the theoretical father of computer virology.

Question: When was stochastic computing introduced?

Question: How long before stochastic computing could be implemented?

Question: When did von NEumann develop first self reproducing computer program?

Question: What is another name for the first self reproducing computer program?
Passage: Von Neumann's team performed the world's first numerical weather forecasts on the ENIAC computer; von Neumann published the paper Numerical Integration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation in 1950. Von Neumann's interest in weather systems and meteorological prediction led him to propose manipulating the environment by spreading colorants on the polar ice caps to enhance absorption of solar radiation (by reducing the albedo). thereby inducing global warming. Noting that the Earth was only 6 °F (3.3 °C) colder during the last glacial period, he noted that the burning of coal and oil "a general warming of the Earth by about one degree Fahrenheit."

Question: On what computer was the first numerical weather forecast produced?

Question: In what year did von Neumann publish the paper Numerical Integration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation

Question: How much colder was world in last glacial age?
Passage: Von Neumann's ability to instantaneously perform complex operations in his head stunned other mathematicians. Eugene Wigner wrote that, seeing von Neumann's mind at work, "one had the impression of a perfect instrument whose gears were machined to mesh accurately to a thousandth of an inch." Paul Halmos states that "von Neumann's speed was awe-inspiring." Israel Halperin said: "Keeping up with him was ... impossible. The feeling was you were on a tricycle chasing a racing car." Edward Teller wrote that von Neumann effortlessly outdid anybody he ever met, and said "I never could keep up with him". Teller also said "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us. Most people avoid thinking if they can, some of us are addicted to thinking, but von Neumann actually enjoyed thinking, maybe even to the exclusion of everything else."

Question: How quickly was von Neumann able to complete math in his head?

Question: Were other mathematicians amazed by von Neumann?

Question: Did von Neumann enjoy thinking?
Passage: Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim described von Neumann as the "fastest mind I ever met", and Jacob Bronowski wrote "He was the cleverest man I ever knew, without exception. He was a genius." George Pólya, whose lectures at ETH Zürich von Neumann attended as a student, said "Johnny was the only student I was ever afraid of. If in the course of a lecture I stated an unsolved problem, the chances were he'd come to me at the end of the lecture with the complete solution scribbled on a slip of paper." Halmos recounts a story told by Nicholas Metropolis, concerning the speed of von Neumann's calculations, when somebody asked von Neumann to solve the famous fly puzzle:

Question: How did Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim describe von Neumann?

Question: What did Jacob Bronowski think of von Neumann?

Question: What did Lecturer Polya think about von Nuemann?
Passage: Herman Goldstine wrote: "One of his remarkable abilities was his power of absolute recall. As far as I could tell, von Neumann was able on once reading a book or article to quote it back verbatim; moreover, he could do it years later without hesitation. He could also translate it at no diminution in speed from its original language into English. On one occasion I tested his ability by asking him to tell me how A Tale of Two Cities started. Whereupon, without any pause, he immediately began to recite the first chapter and continued until asked to stop after about ten or fifteen minutes." Ulam noted that von Neumann's way of thinking might not be visual, but more of an aural one.

Question: What did Herman Goldstone write about von NEumann?

Question: Could von Neumann recall written text much later?

Question: What did Ulam think of von Nuemann's cognitive ability?
Passage: "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man", said Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe of Cornell University. "It seems fair to say that if the influence of a scientist is interpreted broadly enough to include impact on fields beyond science proper, then John von Neumann was probably the most influential mathematician who ever lived," wrote Miklós Rédei in "Selected Letters." James Glimm wrote: "he is regarded as one of the giants of modern mathematics". The mathematician Jean Dieudonné called von Neumann "the last of the great mathematicians", while Peter Lax described him as possessing the "most scintillating intellect of this century".

Question: What did Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe think of von NEumann's ability?

Question: What did James Glimm have to say about von Nuemann?

Question: What description did Peter Lax use for von Neumann?
Passage: In 1955, von Neumann was diagnosed with what was either bone or pancreatic cancer. His mother, Margaret von Neumann, was diagnosed with cancer in 1956 and died within two weeks. John had eighteen months from diagnosis till death. In this period von Neumann returned to the Roman Catholic faith that had also been significant to his mother after the family's conversion in 1929–1930. John had earlier said to his mother, "There is probably a God. Many things are easier to explain if there is than if there isn't." Von Neumann held on to his exemplary knowledge of Latin and quoted to a deathbed visitor the declamation "Judex ergo cum sedebit," and ends "Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix iustus sit securus?" (When the judge His seat hath taken ... What shall wretched I then plead? Who for me shall intercede when the righteous scarce is freed?)

Question: In what year was von Neumann diagnosed with cancer?

Question: From when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, how long did she live?

Question: How long did von Neumann survive with cancer?
Passage: He invited a Roman Catholic priest, Father Anselm Strittmatter, O.S.B., to visit him for consultation. Von Neumann reportedly said in explanation that Pascal had a point, referring to Pascal's Wager. Father Strittmatter administered the last sacraments to him. Some of von Neumann's friends (such as Abraham Pais and Oskar Morgenstern) said they had always believed him to be "completely agnostic." "Of this deathbed conversion, Morgenstern told Heims, "He was of course completely agnostic all his life, and then he suddenly turned Catholic—it doesn't agree with anything whatsoever in his attitude, outlook and thinking when he was healthy." Father Strittmatter recalled that von Neumann did not receive much peace or comfort from it, as he still remained terrified of death.

Question: Who administered the last sacrament to von Neumann?

Question: Did the last sacrament ease von Neumann?

Question: Was there conflict of faith and beliefs at the end of von NEumann's life?

Question: What did Oskar Morgenstern feel about von Neumann's beliefs?