I'm reading 'The Man From The Future, the Visionary Life of John von Neumann', by Ananyo Bhattcharya. Von Neumann was a mathematician who was pivotal in quantum mechanics, the implosion atomic bomb, the invention of the programmable computer, the creation of early computer programs, economic and other game theories, proofs of currently accepted views of mathematics, etc.
The folks who worked at Los Alamos on the bomb in the early 1940s thought he, Edward Teller and a few others were geniuses, and called them 'The Martians'. And they certainly were geniuses. von Neumann was explaining math to college professors when he was eleven years old. Yeah, you read that right. Eleven.
Von Neumann died at an early age, in 1957. He didn't get to live to see his ideas come to fruition in today's computers, but my goodness, what a brilliant mind. In fact, his wife was one of the first people to write programs on that helped test ideas about the H-bomb for the ENIAC computer. She doesn't get much credit, but she was very important as well.
It's a good read, and though I'm no mathematician, I can attest to the fact that it's written in a way that ordinary human beings can understand. I'm enjoying it, and think most anyone interested in the modern development of math and science would. Very well written.
