Von Neumann, John

Hungarian-born US scientist and mathematician, a pioneer of computer design. He invented his ‘rings of operators’ (called Von Neumann algebras) in the late 1930s, and also contributed to set theory, game theory, quantum mechanics, cybernetics (with his theory of self-reproducing automata, called Von Neumann machines), and the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs.

He designed and supervised the construction of the first computer able to use a flexible stored program (named EDVAC) at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton 1940–1952. This work laid the foundations for the design of all subsequent programmable computers.