From Bucharest to New York, the 120th anniversary of János Neumann is being celebrated
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On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the birth of John von Neumann, the namesake and inventor of the operating principle of today’s computers, the John von Neumann Computer Society is participating in prestigious events organized in the United States, the Netherlands, Serbia, and Romania.
Budapest, November 24, 2023. In addition to numerous domestic programs in the #neumann120 memorial year in 2023, significant events are being celebrated beyond the borders at the end of November in honor of the 120th anniversary of the birth of the world-renowned mathematician John von Neumann.
Celebratory conference and gala in New York
As part of the American series of events, a reception was held at the Hungarian Consulate in New York on November 8, where, in recognition of decades of work and, in particular, for preserving Neumann’s scientific legacy, Professor Péter Dávid Lax, an Abel Prize laureate who had previously worked under Neumann’s direction in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, was awarded the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Hungarian Order of Merit by the decision of the President of the Republic. This year, due to his age, the 97-year-old Péter Lax was represented by his son, James D. Lax, who received the award on his behalf.
The following day, a full-day interdisciplinary conference based on John von Neumann’s scientific achievements took place at New York University. The panel discussions and presentations covered questions related to the future development of artificial intelligence, the possibilities of artificial intelligence in medicine, the physical sciences, economics, and social sciences. A gala dinner was held at the prestigious National Museum of Mathematics after the conference, where Ananyo Bhattacharya, the author of the book ’The Man from the Future: The Visionary Ideas of John von Neumann’ which was also published in Hungarian this year, delivered a keynote address. The event was addressed by Tamás Novák, scientific and technological attaché, John Overdeck, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics, and David Nirenberg, the newly appointed director of the Institute of Advanced Study.
For the participants from Hungary, Tamás Novák, the scientific and technological attaché, organized a visit to Princeton on November 10, during which the participants visited the graves of John von Neumann and physicist Eugene Wigner.
Neumann Memorial Conference in Subotica (Szabadka), Serbia
On the occasion of the Hungarian Science Festival on November 6, the Vojvodina Hungarian Academy Council organized a Neumann Memorial Conference in Subotica for the #neumann120 memorial year. During the full-day program organized at the Hungarian-language Teacher Training College, participants heard lectures on John von Neumann’s life and scientific achievements in the fields of computer science, game theory, economic-mathematical applications, and artificial intelligence. Representing the Neumann Society, Gábor Képes presented the stages of the polymath Neumann’s career.