A new biography explains the genius of John von Neumann
His peers transformed science. He transformed daily life
The Man from the Future. By Ananyo Bhattacharya. Allen Lane; 368 pages; £20. To be published in America in February by W.W. Norton & Company; $30
IN 1945, WHILE in a state of exhaustion, the mathematician John von Neumann had a kind of stammering premonition. He was in Los Alamos, working on the atom bomb, and he told his wife Klari that the “energy source” he was helping to develop would make scientists “the most hated and also the most wanted citizens of any country”. Then he informed her that his other ongoing project, the computer, would one day be even more important—and potentially even more dangerous.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Martian’s landing"
Culture October 9th 2021
From the October 9th 2021 edition
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