Birthday of John von Neumann (1903)

Von Neumann was a polymath: set theory, quantum mechanics, game theory, computer architecture, and the atomic bomb. He defined the ‘von Neumann architecture’ used in almost all computers (shared memory for code and data). He developed the minimax theorem for zero‑sum games. He applied mathematics to hydrodynamics and meteorology. He was the first to describe self‑replicating machines (von Neumann probes). He could memorise a phone book and recite it decades later. His mind, said Eugene Wigner, was ‘the only one that was fully at home in the 20th century’.