Call Number:

C1245

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); John Von Neumann Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1919-1949 (bulk) and 1919-1966 (inclusive)

Creator:

Princeton University. Library. Special Collections and Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957.

Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century and Manuscripts -- 20th century.

Abstract:

Consists of selected letters and a manuscript of John Von Neumann, one of the 20th century's preeminent mathematicians, and an early pioneer in fields such as game theory, nuclear deterrence, and modern computing.

Hungarian-born John Von Neumann was a world-famous mathematician. Between 1930 and 1933 he was a visiting professor of mathematical physics at Princeton University and one of four people selected for the first faculty of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study (one of the others was Albert Einstein), position he held from its formation in 1933 until his death. The best known of Von Neumann's accomplishments was his development of one of the speediest, most accurate, and most useful computers, which made the essential calculations that enabled the United States to build and test its first full model of the hydrogen bomb. Another computer he later developed enabled the Navy to do twenty-four hour weather predictions in a few minutes and helped the armed forces plan the movement of men and material by mathematically simulating logistic problems. His work in quantum mechanics gave him a profound knowledge concerning the application of nuclear energy to military and peacetime uses, enabling him to occupy an important place in the scientific councils of the nation. During the Second World War, Von Neumann played a major role among the scientists who developed the atomic bomb. He was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission and a key consultant to the American Air Force on nuclear weapons.

The Magnetic Drum Digital Differential Analyzer (ADDIA) was a computer built by Northrop Aircraft Corporation in 1950.

The collection consists of twenty-nine autograph letters and a typed manuscript (copy) of the mathematician John Von Neumann. ‡b The letters were sent to Von Neumann's mathematics professor, Gábor Szegő, spanning a period of twenty-three years, starting when Neumann was in his last year of high school. In the first thirteen letters, penned during his high school years, Neumann writes about mathematical problems and solutions. In a letter dated February 28, 1933, he writes about teaching at Princeton University as a visiting professor, and in the letter dated October 12, 1933, when he was at the Institute For Advanced Study, he writes about the American system of recruiting staff members at American universities. Other topics include the Depression of 1934, his lectures at different universities, quantum theory and quantum mechanics, his second marriage, and his childhood friend, Princeton's Nobel laureate physicist Eugene Wigner.

The 30 p. typescript is a copy of a lecture titled "An Adaptation of the MADDIDA : A Digital Differential Analyser of Northrup Aircraft, Inc." According to a handwritten note at the bottom of p. 1, the lecture was presented during the Cowles Commission Conference at the University of Chicago in 1949.

Also included is a photocopy of and article by Charles E. Pepper from the Princeton Alumni Weekly issue of June 7, 1966 titled "The Computer - Big Machine on Campus," in which he writes about a new computer at Princeton University and mentions the first computer built by Von Neumann, which is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute.