His problems were pretty damn influential. I did my PhD on something that traces back to his list, and the research on the topic is still active. A funny anecd

His problems were pretty damn influential. I did my PhD on something that traces back to his list, and the research on the topic is still active. A funny anecdote: von Neumann was asked to deliver a similar address in the International Congress of Mathematics in 1950. He completely forgot, and ended up giving a talk on some if his results from the 1930s. The talk was highly anticipated, so after a while a disappointed audience member heckled von Neumann, who proceeded to wrap up his talk in embarrassment and promptly left the stage.