The Forgotten Einstein
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2022
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived, a man who was in his day as well-known as Einstein and considered smarter. Von Neumann was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory. He created the first-ever programmable digital computer, prophesied the potential of nanotechnology and, from his deathbed, expounded on the limits of brains and computers - and how they might be overcome.
Ananyo Bhattacharya, science writer and former medical researcher, joins Dan on the podcast. They discuss the story of the 20th century’s foremost forgotten intellectual - who von Neumann was and his remarkable contributions to mathematics that continue to impact our lives today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit. This is a wild podcast you're about to |
| 0:07.6 | listen to. I'm interviewing on Ono Battachari. He's a science writer who's worked at the Economist |
| 0:12.5 | Nature and he used to be a medical researcher at the Burnham Institute in San Diego, California. |
| 0:18.0 | Now this, he's got a degree in physics, he's got a PhD in protein crystallography from |
| 0:22.4 | Imperial College, he's so, he's not full. But compared to the man he has just written about, compared to |
| 0:30.5 | John Von Neumann, he doesn't know anything. John von Neumann was born in Budapest at the |
| 0:39.6 | turn of the last century. He's called the Forgotten Einstein and frankly I think he was more |
| 0:45.0 | brilliant at Einstein. It's bonkers. Game theory, evolutionary biology, nuclear weapons, |
| 0:50.2 | smartphones, computers, they all were contributed to by John von Neumann. He talked about all |
| 0:57.0 | the things we're talking about now. He talked about AI. He talked about nanotechnology. He helped |
| 1:01.6 | program the first-digit computer. He talked about the interaction, the ethics of humans and machines. |
| 1:07.6 | He could not enter a field of science without sparking a revolution. It's an unbelievable story |
| 1:15.9 | and I'm very excited to bring it to you right here on Downssoe's History here. If you haven't |
| 1:20.0 | listened to other exciting podcasts but without the ads or you want to watch amazing history |
| 1:23.8 | documentaries which I can highly recommend, go to History Hit TV. We got all the best old documentaries |
| 1:29.4 | on there. We make new documentaries every week. It's all happening at History Hit TV. Join the |
| 1:33.5 | Evergreen Army of subscribers by just clicking the link in the description of this podcast. So |
| 1:39.2 | you go do, it's got that thumb working. Click. Takes you through, get two weeks free if you |
| 1:43.9 | sign up today and you enter a world that will expand your mind. You'll end up being like John |
| 1:49.2 | von Neumann. You'll end up being, I've ever got nine style. If you watch all that content, |
| 1:53.9 | let me tell you. In the meantime though folks, here is Ono No Batted Charrier. Enjoy. |
| 2:04.4 | Another thank you very much for coming on the podcast. It's pleasure. Thank you. |
... |
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