The calculus was the first achievement of modern mathematics and it is difficult to overestimate its importance. I think it defines more unequivocally than anything else the inception of modern mathematics, and the system of mathematical analysis, which is its logical development, still constitutes the greatest technical advance in exact thinking.
John von Neumann, in James R. Newman The World of Mathematics
Young man, in mathematics you don’t understand things. You just get used to them.
John von Neumann
- Killing of Brian Thompson (Wikipedia)
On December 4, 2024, Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, New York City. He was in town to attend an annual investors meeting for UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. Authorities believe the attack was not random and are investigating it as an assassination. The shooting occurred early in the morning and the suspect, described as a white man, fled the scene and as of December 6 has not been apprehended.
- John von Neumann (Wikipedia)
John “Johnny” von Neumann (/vɒn ˈnɔɪmən/; Hungarian: Neumann János Lajos, pronounced [ˈnɒjmɒn ˈjaːnoʃ ˈlɒjoʃ]; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest coverage of any mathematician of his time and was said to be “the last representative of the great mathematicians who were equally at home in both pure and applied mathematics”. He integrated pure and applied sciences.
