Was Von Neumann a Child Prodigy?

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The Jewish love of learning and so on, I'm sure that played a role. Max von Neumann was clearly an exception amongst a lot of exceptional people. As many wealthy families, they received tutoring from a young age. The idea that you've worked hard at school is just you try and excel academically. That is just ingrained. And I think there is amongst many migrants this kind of mentality. Is there something more to it? There's a lot of crazy theories and oh my word. Well, Quacious provocateurs in my handle on Twitter can't shut up about it.

Ananyo Bhattacharya is the author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann, a brilliant biography of one of the most prolific and influential scientists to have ever lived. He joins the show to discuss von Neumann’s contributions to quantum physics, game theory, the Manhattan Project, and much more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

How did John von Neumann even exist?
Would von Neumann’s discoveries have happened without him?
The Martians of Hungary
The migrant mentality
Innovation in the face of extinction
Science, genius & the herd mentality
Von Neumann’s contribution to quantum physics
Game theory, Minimax and zero-sum games
von Neumann: quant in the streets; romantic in the sheets
The eccentricity of brilliance
Von Neumann and the Manhattan Project
The godfather of the open-source movement
Von Neumann as a project manager
How writing the book changed Ananyo’s understanding of von Neumann
Ananyo’s next projects
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann; **by **Ananyo Bhattacharya
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour; by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern