Volume 29, Number 2 · February 18, 1982
Odd Couple
By Rudolf Peierls
John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener: From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death
by Steve J. Heims
MIT Press, 547 pp., $19.95
The subjects of this biography, John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener, were two mathematicians of outstanding ability. Their careers had a few features in common: both were infant prodigies; both started in the most abstract fields of pure mathematics, and derived some of their inspiration from David Hilbert in Göttingen. Both later extended their interests to topics that had practical applications, and their work had indeed a major impact on practical matters. Both were of Jewish origin.
Review, 3414 words
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