John von Neumann was the oldest of 3 children of a banker and his speed of learning new ideas and of solving problems stood out early. At 17, his father tried to persuade him not to become a mathematician because he may lead a poor life being a mathematician, and so von Neumann agreed to study chemistry as well. In 1926, at 23, he received a degree in chemical engineering and a Ph. D. in mathematics. From then on, mathematics provided well enough for him, and he never had to turn to chemistry.
In 1930, von Neumann visited Princeton University for a year and then became a professor there. His first book was published in 1932. In 1933, the Institute for Advanced Study was formed, and he became one of the 6 fulltime people(Einstein was one of the others)in the School of Mathematics.
World War II hugely changed von Neumann's areas of interest. Until 1940 he had been a great pure(纯粹的)mathematician. During and after the war, he became one of the best mathematicians who put mathematics theories into practice. During the last part of the war he became interested in computing machines and made several fundamental contributions. After the war, von Neumann continued his work with computers, and was generally very active in government service. He received many awards, was president of the American Mathematical Society and was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He died in 1957 of cancer.
Von Neumann made several great contributions and any one of them would have been enough to earn him a firm place history. He will be remembered as one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.
Von Neumann really was a legend(传奇)in his own time, and there are a number of stories about him. His driving ability is a part of this legend. He reported one accident this way, "I was driving down the road. The trees on the right were passing me in an orderly fashion at 60 miles per hour. Suddenly one of them stepped in my path. ”
