5.2 John von Neumann and the “Report on the EDVAC” | Bit by Bit

In the summer of 1944, a few weeks before the EDVAC contract was let, a powerful new figure stepped into the history of computers – a figure who would exercise enormous influence on both the development of computers and on the historical record of that development. John von Neumann (Noy-man) was one of the world’s most talented and famous mathematicians, a dazzlingly productive and original intellect. He was a consultant to Los Alamos and the BRL and a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Despite his connections with the BRL, he learned about ENIAC and EDVAC by accident, not through channels. One day in August, Goldstine was at the Aberdeen train station waiting for the train back to Philadelphia…

saved by

• 宇