I would like to add a comment for a perspective that's a little different to some of the others here. I'm sure many of you here are familiar with John von Neumann. He died in 1957 at the age of 53. Throughout his life he was a busy man, and many times he deferred doing things saying that he would do them at some later unspecified date. For example he once said he would write a big treatise on von Neumann algebras, a technical mathematical subject of his own creation. However once WW2 started his interests changed and he became very involved not just in applied mathematics related to the war, but in consulting and advising too. By the 1950s the majority of his time was not spent on academic work, but rather on this latter subject, advising big important agencies of the US military on various matters.
Some of his colleagues at the Institute of Advanced Study and in other places resented this. They said he was wasting his time, wasting his talent, on this work that could be done by other people, while his mathematical brain could be doing academic research that others could not do. Just shortly after being appointed commissioner of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the pinnacle of his non-academic career, he was diagnosed with cancer. Within 2 years he would be dead. At the time of his first diagnosis the main academic subject he was dealing with was his theory of automata, however at first he was optimistic about his cancer and continued working heavily on things to do with the AEC. After some time the doctors made it clear to him that he was going to die soon, and he should wrap up any affairs that he wanted to complete quickly before he died.
Now he panicked, after living his life and having so many incomplete things he wanted to do he was going to die and he was running out of the one thing he could not escape from - time. He tried to finish the topic he was currently working on, the theory of automata, however cancer affected him quicker and quicker and he could not. He wouldn't even finish a lecture he was asked to give - Yale's Silliman lecture, although the lecture he didn't finish would be cobbled together and published as a book, The Computer and the Brain, as would his work on automata, which was edited by Arthur Burks. He had grand aspirations for his theory of automata, it would be his greatest work, something he created entirely on his own, combining mathematical logic, information theory and biology. However, he put other things first, and he never got to finish it, indeed it seemed like he wanted to write far more, the book edited by Burks covered only 2 or 3 of the planned set of 5 lectures, and this was only the first set of five.
After he died several of his colleagues again made comments when interviewed that they felt that his talents were wasted. Considering his working life was only about 30 years they felt much of the last 10 years of his life, primarily spent consulting and working with the government, would be better spent on things that only von Neumann could do, his treatise on von Neumann algebras, his work on automata (incidentally, his theory of automata hasn't really made much progress since he died, especially in comparison to other fields), many other things that he worked on for a bit, got interested in other things, and said he would come back to later.
I am not sure what conclusion I should make of this, but I hope this little story is interesting to others too.
I found this interesting, thank you. I am familiar with Von Neumann's reputation as a genius but haven't read much about his life. A few biographies of him are on my to-read list. Do you know which ones have more detail on this portion of his life and his thoughts on time?
From studying other historical figures, this phenomenon of "dying before the Great Work is done" seems to be a common theme. Alexander, Caesar, and Nietzsche come to mind.
I'm not sure what to make of it. On the one hand, most such figures still end up being influential, so if your goal is to be remembered by others, you mostly just need to do something important, at some point in your life.
On the other hand, if you feel that the most important part of your work is continually being pushed to "some point in the future", then it would be fruitful to take a step back and figure out how to minimize the "not really important work" (running government agencies in Von Neumann's case.)
On a society-wide scale, I think there are quite a few adjustments that I wish would be implemented to minimize this "wasted administrative time." Things like waiting in traffic and cities oriented toward cars, software that is designed to be addictive, and so on.
Yes definitely, but I feel that the mindset is to make a lasting contributions, something significant enough that it would remain important even one hundred years into the future. For example von Neumann had incredible respect for Kurt Gödel and said his incompleteness theorems were a "landmark in space and time", he wanted to make discoveries on that tier, and I am not sure he felt he did. Of course the way technology and computers panned out he ended up being more famous than basically any other mathematician for his role there, but obviously he couldn't have known that at the time. I would also add getting rid of bullshit jobs to the adjustments that you have listed as examples.
Most biographies of him strangely enough don't really go into too much detail on his work at the AEC, perhaps because there's already so much to talk about but also perhaps because a lot of this stuff was classified. It doesn't help either that the earliest biographies were only written more than 20 years after he died, and back in his lifetime in the first half of the 20th century not as much was written down as these days. I am assuming you are talking about his life in the 1940s and 1950s when you say "this portion of his life" so I'll give recommendations based off that. All the main biographies generally cover it but I'll give a few notes to help you make a decision. Not in any particular order.
- The Martian's Daughter: A Memoir
His daughter's autobiography, first part of the book talks about their relationship and given she was born in 1935 most of it covers the last parts of his life.
- John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener: From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death
This is the first biography by Heims; goes more into detail about their war work but I would point out though that Heims pretty clearly aims to denigrate von Neumann as a war hawk, none of the quotes are false or anything like that but when the book first came out several of von Neumann's colleagues criticized the book for trying to character assassinate him.
- The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann
Goldstine talks about the history of the computer but about two-thirds of the book covers work von Neumann and him both did together and there is plenty of biographical material on von Neumann. Obviously more focused on computers though.
- John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing
Unlike Goldstine's book this is a biography von Neumann, however unlike Goldstine Aspray didn't know von Neumann as a close collaborator. Like Goldstine's it also focuses more on computing, not as much Goldstine however a lot of von Neumann's automata work is tied up with computers so it's a good read regardless.
- Prisoner's Dilemma: John Von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb
This book focuses more on game theory with less biographical material on von Neumann, however it does have a dedicated chapter to his last years and what he was doing then.
- John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More
This is probably the biggest biography, it is very even describing each stage of von Neumann's life. It is a bit more of a hero worship compared the other books which you'll notice if read the reviews of the book. Less technical compared to the others too.
- The World as a Mathematical Game: John Von Neumann and Twentieth Century Science
This one tries to evaluate von Neumann's contributions to 20th century science overall, as it was written in 2009 it does source to the previous books quite a bit. Shorter compared to the others.
- The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann
This one was only released this year, it's a biography but it kind of tries to describe the world around von Neumann at his time and how he fits into it. Obviously by now almost everyone who knew him personally aside from his daughter and a handful of others are dead so it focuses more on his technical contributions rather than anecdotes on his influence.
- Turing's Cathedral: the Origins of the Digital Universe
This one is also more focused on computing, has some things that aren't written in the others as Dyson did a particularly good job going through some of the archives, but not as much focused on von Neumann compared to the others.
- A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon
Isn't a biography of von Neumann but of Schriever, who worked with von Neumann to setup the first ICBM programs in the USA. Obviously the main focus here is on the military and political side of von Neumann's work in the 1940s and 50s, and not much else in terms of his life. However contains lots of information on this particular part of his life that other books lack.
If you look at the "Further Reading" section of his Wikipedia page there is a long list of books that feature him heavily in case you want more. Happy reading!
This is really helpful, thank you! By "this portion of his life" I meant his realization that he wouldn't be able to accomplish all of his goals. It looks like some of the books you mentioned do cover that.
Some of his colleagues at the Institute of Advanced Study and in other places resented this. They said he was wasting his time, wasting his talent, on this work that could be done by other people, while his mathematical brain could be doing academic research that others could not do. Just shortly after being appointed commissioner of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the pinnacle of his non-academic career, he was diagnosed with cancer. Within 2 years he would be dead. At the time of his first diagnosis the main academic subject he was dealing with was his theory of automata, however at first he was optimistic about his cancer and continued working heavily on things to do with the AEC. After some time the doctors made it clear to him that he was going to die soon, and he should wrap up any affairs that he wanted to complete quickly before he died.
Now he panicked, after living his life and having so many incomplete things he wanted to do he was going to die and he was running out of the one thing he could not escape from - time. He tried to finish the topic he was currently working on, the theory of automata, however cancer affected him quicker and quicker and he could not. He wouldn't even finish a lecture he was asked to give - Yale's Silliman lecture, although the lecture he didn't finish would be cobbled together and published as a book, The Computer and the Brain, as would his work on automata, which was edited by Arthur Burks. He had grand aspirations for his theory of automata, it would be his greatest work, something he created entirely on his own, combining mathematical logic, information theory and biology. However, he put other things first, and he never got to finish it, indeed it seemed like he wanted to write far more, the book edited by Burks covered only 2 or 3 of the planned set of 5 lectures, and this was only the first set of five.
After he died several of his colleagues again made comments when interviewed that they felt that his talents were wasted. Considering his working life was only about 30 years they felt much of the last 10 years of his life, primarily spent consulting and working with the government, would be better spent on things that only von Neumann could do, his treatise on von Neumann algebras, his work on automata (incidentally, his theory of automata hasn't really made much progress since he died, especially in comparison to other fields), many other things that he worked on for a bit, got interested in other things, and said he would come back to later.
I am not sure what conclusion I should make of this, but I hope this little story is interesting to others too.