4 ms·
I heard or read a story from Freeman Dyson about a somewhat legendary conference where von Neumann was to present his version of Hilbert's problems, presumably
by inasio 6y ago
I heard or read a story from Freeman Dyson about a somewhat legendary conference where von Neumann was to present his version of Hilbert's problems, presumably about the new computing age, I think at the IAS. It was highly anticipated, but Dyson and everybody else present were shocked because von Neumann was in a state of advanced mental decline when he presented it, and people there agreed to pretend it hadn't happened. Sorry that I can't find a reference to it, the memory of it is vague.
- pbsd 6y agoThis is probably the story in page 220 of [1], beginning at "Von Neumann got into trouble at the end of his life because he was really a frog but everyone expected him to fly like a bird.". [1] http://www.uvm.edu/pdodds/files/papers/others/2009/dyson2009a.pdf http://www.uvm.edu/pdodds/files/papers/others/2009/dyson2009...
- exolymph 6y agoGreat read, thanks.
- inasio 6y agoThat was exactly it, thanks for posting the link!
- BlueTemplar 6y agoSo many brilliant ideas in so few pages !