John Von Neumann

This book represents the views of one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century on the analogies between computing machines and the living human brain. John von Neumann concludes that the brain operates in part digitally, in part analogically, but uses a peculiar statistical language unlike that employed in the operation of man-made computers. This edition includes a new foreword by two eminent figures in the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and consciousness.

The Computer and the Brain

Ray Kurzweil

Computer and the Brain

Oskar Morgenstern

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

The computer and the brain

ordenador y el cerebro

Rudolf Carnap

Otto Neurath

Marguerite Young

Max Black

Herbert Feigl

Reinhardt Grossmann

Erwin Tegtmeier

Philipp Frank

Herbert Hochberg

Wilfrid Sellars

Alexius Meinong

Adolf Grünbaum

Gustav Bergmann

William Henry Hay

William Smith Heald

Edwin Bonar Allaire

May Brodbeck

Rosaria Egidi

Alan Michael Hausmann

Philosophers discussed include Franz Brentano, Kurt Gödel, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Correspondents include May Brodbeck, Herbert Feigl, John von Neumann, and Marguerite Young.

Papers of Gustav Bergmann

Papers of John Von Neumann on Computing and Computer Theory

This is a heretofore unpublished set of lecture notes by the late John von Neumann on invariant measures, including Haar measures on locally compact groups. The notes for the first half of the book have been prepared by Paul Halmos. The second half of the book includes a discussion of Kakutani's very interesting approach to invariant measures.

Invariant Measures

Theory of Self-reproducing Automata

Operators, Ergodic theory and almost periodic functions in a group

Miklós Rédei

John von Neuman was perhaps the most influential mathematician of the twentieth century, especially if his broad influence outside mathematics is included. Not only did he contribute to almost all branches of mathematics and created new fields, but he also changed post-World War II history with his work on the design of computers and with being a sought-after technical advisor to many figures in the U.S. military-political establishment in the 1940s and 1950s. The present volume is the first substantial collection of (previously mainly unpublished) letters written by von Neumann to colleagues, friends, government officials, and others. The letters give us a glimpse of the thinking of John von Neumann about mathematics, physics, computer science, science management, education, consulting, politics, and war. Readers of quite diverse backgrounds will find much of interest in this fascinating first-hand look at one of the towering figures of twentieth century science.

Selected Letters

John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern conceived a groundbreaking mathematical theory of economic and social organization, based on a theory of games of strategy. Not only would this revolutionize economics, but the entirely new field of scientific inquiry it yielded--game theory--has since been widely used to analyze a host of real-world phenomena from arms races to optimal policy choices of presidential candidates, from vaccination policy to major league baseball salary negotiations. And it is today established throughout both the social sciences and a wide range of other sciences.

Steve J. Heims

A double biography compares the lives and careers of two innovative mathematicians and assesses their respective contributions in the areas of quantum mechanics and cybernetics

From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death

John Von Neumann and Norbert Wiener

Theory of games, astrophysics, hydrodynamics and meteorology

Operators, ergodic theory and almost periodic functions in a group

F. Br¢dy

Tibor V mos

After three decades since the first nearly complete edition of John von Neumann's papers, this book is a valuable selection of those papers and excerpts of his books that are most characteristic of his activity, and reveal that of his continuous influence.The results receiving the 1994 Nobel Prizes in economy deeply rooted in Neumann's game theory are only minor traces of his exceptionally broad spectrum of creativity and stimulation.The book is organized by the specific subjects-quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, operator algebra, hydrodynamics, economics, computers, science and society. In addition, one paper which was written in German will be translated and published in English for the first time.The sections are introduced by short explanatory notes with an emphasis on recent developments based on von Neumann's contributions. An overall picture is provided by Ulam's, one of his most intimate partners in thinking, 1958 memorial lecture. Facsimilae and translations of some of his personal letters and a newly completed bibliography based on von Neumann's own careful compilation are added.

The Neumann Compendium

Continuous geometry and other topics

This is the classic work upon which modern-day game theory is based. What began as a modest proposal that a mathematician and an economist write a short paper together blossomed, when Princeton University Press published Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. In it, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern conceived a groundbreaking mathematical theory of economic and social organization, based on a theory of games of strategy. Not only would this revolutionize economics, but the entirely new field of scientific inquiry it yielded--game theory--has since been widely used to analyze a host of real-world phenomena from arms races to optimal policy choices of presidential candidates, from vaccination policy to major league baseball salary negotiations. And it is today established throughout both the social sciences and a wide range of other sciences.

John Von Neumann

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