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I'd be curious to see a von Neumann portrayal. It seems he's not in the film even though he was a part of the Manhattan Project. Are there any good biopics of
by Oarch 3y ago
I'd be curious to see a von Neumann portrayal. It seems he's not in the film even though he was a part of the Manhattan Project.
Are there any good biopics of him?
- anta40 3y agoJust watched the movie. Yep, he's not mentioned at all in the movie. Interesting though I just learn that JvN also worked in Los Alamos. All I know about him was von Neumann architecture.
- ramraj07 3y agoI'll always recommend a first tryst with "the making of the atomic bomb" by Richard Rhodes, he won the Pulitzer prize for it and it's my favourite book of all time. He explores the history and mind of every important person involved which includes Neumann, Szilard, Bohr and Oppenheimer.
- vanattab 3y agoI will second "the making of the atomic bomb". Definitely the best book on the topic. The audio book on audible is well done as well.
- pjmorris 3y agoI'll third the recommendation for 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb,' one of the best books I've ever read. It is a long, challenging read, but it is thorough and rewarding in proportion. On the topic of Oppenheimer, I came away with a deep respect for him as a project manager.
- arethuza 3y ago"When Szilárd told the story later he never mentioned his destination that morning. He may have had none; he often walked to think. In any case another destination intervened. The stoplight changed to green. Szilárd stepped off the curb. As he crossed the street time cracked open before him and he saw a way to the future, death into the world and all our woe, the shape of things to come."
- BenjiWiebe 3y agoAnd I'll fourth the suggestion. Excellent book.
- karmakurtisaani 3y agoI "came here to say this", but then thought about it and was thinking what kind of a movie it would be. The synopsis of the movie would basically be "there's this guy who knows everything, creates a few fields of science and pretty much solves any problem coming at him", not sure if that would be interesting to large audiences (although super interesting to me for sure). I'm a but bummered to hear he's not in the movie tho, so I'm gonna just go ahead and share an anecdote about him: apparently the first time he joined the Manhattan project and met with the team in a dinner party, he basically explained them that the charges around the uranium have to be arranged spherically in order to maximize the compression of the uranium. This was already known by the team, but only after experimenting with several different shapes!
- defrost 3y agoSo .. your anecdote is that Oppenheimer repeated the contents of the Frisch–Peierls memorandum as explained to him by the Australian physicist Mark Oliphant?
- karmakurtisaani 3y agoIt was about von Neumann, but I have no idea, just something I read somewhere. As with all anecdotes about him, I take them as entertaining stories. Another one: Von Neumann was supposed to give an address on the international mathematics congress in 1950 (I think) as the keynote speaker. He was expected to deliver similar speech as Hilbert did 50 years ago. Somehow he forgot and did not prepare much, and ended up talking about operator theory and his work in the 1930s. After the disappointed audience had listened to his address for a while, someone heckled him, he apologized and promptly left the stage.
- mitchbob 3y agoNot a biopic, but an engrossing book where von Neumann is the main character is Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson. [1] [1] https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/44425/turings-cathedral-by-george-dyson/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/44425/turings-cathe...
- Oarch 3y agoI've read this and that's probably what sparked my curiosity!