The Man from the Future: The Life of John von Neumann, Who Created Our World

Born in Hungary at the dawn of the twentieth century, physicist and mathematician John von Neumann lived just over fifty years, yet his contribution to science is impossible to overstate. Von Neumann played a significant role in the creation of the atomic bomb, developed many principles of modern computer architecture, laid the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics, and defined the essence of game theory. In his truly captivating book, Ananyo Bhattacharya, a doctor of biophysical sciences and a regular contributor to Nature and The Economist, paints a portrait of a thinker and visionary whose ideas were so ahead of their time that they are only truly being realized now. By describing von Neumann's life story and exploring the evolution of his scientific views, Bhattacharya shows how a combination of genius and uniquely developed circumstances helped one person encompass so many different fields of science and shape the face of the modern world.