Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The MIT Press,
Massachusetts, London, 1990, 394 pp. - ISBN 0-262-01121-2
While on a war assignment in England in 1943, John von Neumann wrote to a mathematical colleague in Princeton that he had recently developed "an obscene interest in computation" and would be retuing home "a better and impurer man." Thus began the computing career of that illustrious computer scientist. It was a short career, lasting little more than a decade before being cut off by his death from cancer. But in those few years von Neumann made lasting contributions to the design, application, theory, dissemination, and legitimization of computers. Based on the first careful examination of the abundant archival record left by von Neumann and his associates, this book reveals a full and complete picture of his many different contributions to the field of computing.
Contents
Series Foreword.
Introduction.
A Mathematical Research Career.
An Education in Computing.
Planning a Computer for Scientific Research.
Engineering a Computer.
The Transformation of Numerical Analysis.
The Origins of Numerical Meteorology - (Early Numerical Meteorology. The Origins of the Numerical Meteorology Project. The Barotropic Model. The Baroclinic Model. The Beginnings of Operational Numerical Weather Prediction. General Circulation of the Atmosphere. The Computer as a Meteorological Tool.)
The Computer as a Scientific Instrument - (Experimentation on Numerical Methods. Mathematical and Statistical Research. Astrophysics. Fluid Dynamics. Atomic and Nuclear Physics. Automating Applications Research. From History of Science to Traffic Simulation. Limitations on the Computer as a Scientific Instrument.)
A Theory of Information Processing.
Scientific Consultant and Statesman.
Notes.
General Bibliography.
Writings of John von Neumann.
Index.
While on a war assignment in England in 1943, John von Neumann wrote to a mathematical colleague in Princeton that he had recently developed "an obscene interest in computation" and would be retuing home "a better and impurer man." Thus began the computing career of that illustrious computer scientist. It was a short career, lasting little more than a decade before being cut off by his death from cancer. But in those few years von Neumann made lasting contributions to the design, application, theory, dissemination, and legitimization of computers. Based on the first careful examination of the abundant archival record left by von Neumann and his associates, this book reveals a full and complete picture of his many different contributions to the field of computing.
Contents
Series Foreword.
Introduction.
A Mathematical Research Career.
An Education in Computing.
Planning a Computer for Scientific Research.
Engineering a Computer.
The Transformation of Numerical Analysis.
The Origins of Numerical Meteorology - (Early Numerical Meteorology. The Origins of the Numerical Meteorology Project. The Barotropic Model. The Baroclinic Model. The Beginnings of Operational Numerical Weather Prediction. General Circulation of the Atmosphere. The Computer as a Meteorological Tool.)
The Computer as a Scientific Instrument - (Experimentation on Numerical Methods. Mathematical and Statistical Research. Astrophysics. Fluid Dynamics. Atomic and Nuclear Physics. Automating Applications Research. From History of Science to Traffic Simulation. Limitations on the Computer as a Scientific Instrument.)
A Theory of Information Processing.
Scientific Consultant and Statesman.
Notes.
General Bibliography.
Writings of John von Neumann.
Index.