John von Neumann
Von Neumann connected mathematical logic, machine design, and computation. His EDVAC report became a widely influential account of a computer holding instructions and data in memory.
John von Neumann was a mathematician whose work reached logic, physics, economics and computing. At the Institute for Advanced Study he helped lead the IAS computer project, while his 1945 First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC described a stored-program organization that strongly influenced subsequent machine designs.
Computing and its limits
The phrase “von Neumann architecture” is useful historical shorthand, but it should not erase the work of the engineers, programmers and collaborators who made early machines operate. His later work also examined automata and the relation between computers and the brain.
In memoriam
Von Neumann died in 1957. His unfinished and posthumously published work remains part of the historical record of early computing.
Timeline
- 1903-12-28Born in Budapest, Hungary.
- 1933Joins the Institute for Advanced Study as a founding professor.
- 1945Circulates the First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC.
- 1957-02-08Dies in Washington, D.C.
John von Neumann
- Type
- Person
- Era
- 1940s-1957
- Born
- 1903
- Died
- 1957
- Known for
- mathematics; stored-program computing; computer architecture; automata theory
- Tags
- mathematics, stored-program computing, computer architecture, automata theory
Created by Joas A Santos · Something wrong or want it removed? Open an issue.