John von Neumann: Game Theory, Atomic Bomb, MAD, and Catholic Convert

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

History, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

John von Neumann invented Game Theory, redefined ordinal numbers, contributed mightily to quantum mechanics, and developed the architecture which enables modern computing. He also designed the trigger mechanism which detonated the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and he was key in developing "Mutually Assured Destruction" as a means of balancing the world order as the nuclear age dawned. He possessed an intellect rivaled by only a handful of other persons, and he was, without doubt, one of the most important individuals of 20th century. He also was agnostic for the majority of his life, though he was baptized Catholic at 30 years old in order to marry his Catholic fiancee. But when suddenly facing his own death at just 53 years old, he had to face the questions of the afterlife and the existence of God. Ever the gamer, Pascal's Wager gave him the argument that convinced him to return to the Catholicism of his first wife, and then significant conversations with a learned Benedictine priest helped him to understand the faith and desire the sacraments. He died with the Last Rites in January 1957.

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic History, brought to you by the support of listeners like you.
0:11.0	If you like this podcast and would like to support our work, please visit American Catholic
0:16.0	history.org slash support. I'm Noelle Heister Crow. And I'm Tom Crow.
0:21.8	Today we're talking about a last-minute Catholic, the brilliant polymath John von
0:26.7	Neumann.
0:28.0	John von Neumann was a key figure in many of the most significant advances in technology and
0:33.1	mathematics of the 20th century.
0:34.8	The development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, the infrastructure
0:38.7	that makes computing possible, game theory, quantum mechanics, and he formulated the definition
0:44.5	of ordinal numbers that we rely on today. The definition of ordinal number. I know, right? Ordinal
0:51.8	numbers, of course, are numbers that indicate the position of something
0:54.6	in a series. So first, second, third, et cetera. It's a simple concept you'd think. But within super smart
1:01.2	mathematical circles, they put effort into writing a definition of these sorts of really obvious things.
1:06.5	And apparently, whatever definition all of humanity used up until John von Neumann came along was lacking in some way.
1:12.9	And only he figured out the problem.
1:15.1	But now, all better thanks to John von Neumann.
1:18.6	Yes, bullet dodged.
1:20.8	But seriously, brilliant people thought he was brilliant.
1:25.4	Yeah.
1:25.6	It's actually an anecdote that people who knew him share as an
1:28.6	example of how quick his mind was. The following math problem was given to him. Two bicycles
1:34.3	begin traveling on a crash course toward each other and each is going 10 miles per hour.
	...

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