John von Neumann Symposium 2.6.2023
Are you curious to know what happens to former D-CHAB students? John von Neumann started studying chemical engineering in 1923 at the D-CHAB, but only under pressure from his father, who claimed he would never earn a living with mathematics. Later, he became known as the last of the great mathematicians and one of the 20th century’s greatest minds whose work has continued to shape research and entire disciplines.
Celebrating John von Neumann
external pageJohn (Johnny) von Neumann (1903–1957), who matriculated for a degree in chemical engineering at ETH Zurich 100 years ago in 1923, became famous not as a chemical engineer but as a mathematician.
The Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer, and polymath is regarded as contributing to a larger range of fields than any mathematician of his time and is said to be the last of the great mathematicians, equally at home in both pure and applied mathematics. His genius external pagewas legendary even in his own lifetime.
To celebrate the start of his studies at ETH Zurich 100 years ago, the John von Neumann Symposium has been organized by professors from various departments at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich and is supported by the ETH President Joël Mesot, by NCCR Automation, and by the Zurich Center for Market Design.
The symposium will take place on June 2, 2023, in ETH Zurich’s Audi Max (HG F 30), starting at 15:00 with four talks and ending with an apéro. The speakers are:
external pageSerge Haroche from ENS Paris, awardee of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012 (shared with David Wineland), will speak about quantum mechanics and quantum information.
external pageYurii Nesterov from UC Louvain, awardee of the John von Neumann Theory Prize in 2009 (shared with and Yinyu Ye), will speak about higher-order methods of finding equilibrium.
external pageLarry Samuelson from the Cowles Foundation at Yale University will speak about economics, utility, and game theory.
external pageBenny Sudakov, from ETH Zurich, who came to Zurich via the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University, will speak about some of von Neumann’s mathematical contributions.
The organizers are extremely pleased to have such an outstanding lineup of speakers and welcome anyone interested to attend. Registration is not required, but in the interest of organization, please register here: external pagehttps://forms.gle/3KAdemNHYtoub8Nv9.
For further information, please see .