Von Neumann, John (1903–57)

JOHN VON NEUMANN is a Hungarian-born American mathematician who contributed important theories to all the different branches of the discipline. His discoveries influenced quantum theory, automata theory, economics, and defense planning. Von Neumann was one of the founders of game theory and, along with Alan Turing and Claude Shannon, was one of the conceptual inventors of the stored-program digital computer. He is mostly remembered in the field of global warming for his elaboration of general circulation models and for his 1955 article in Fortune, in which he stated that “microscopic layers of colored matter spread on an icy surface, or in the atmosphere above one, could inhibit the reflection-radiation process, melt the ice, and change the local climate.” This is one of the earliest conceptualizations ...