Introduction

Amongst the Hungarian mathematicians, Jansci von Neumann stood out. From a young age, there were stories of strange abilities: dividing two eight-digit numbers in his head at six; proficient in calculus at eight; reading Borel's Théorie des Fonctions at twelve. Stories abound about a photographic memory and an ability to apparently recall complete novels and pages of the telephone directory. He also accumulated an encyclopaedic knowledge of history, in time being able to recall the most minute details of the Peloponnesian Wars, the trial of Joan of Arc, and Byzantine history. Many years later in the U.S., when travelling south from Princeton, New Jersey, to Duke University, North Carolina, he astounded his fellow travellers, including mathematicians Albert Tucker and Stan Ulam, with his recollection of the most precise details of Civil War battles fought at sites along the route.

Although Max von Neumann would have preferred his son to become a well-paid financier rather than a mathematician, he was open to the encouragements of Fejér and Ortvay and finally acquiesced, letting von Neumann pursue his interests and financing his studies abroad. Von Neumann, in return, became the shining, often absent, star of the Fejér circle in Budapest. As a Gymnasium student, he caught the attention of Laszló Rátz and was tutored in university-level mathematics by Mikhail Fekete. By the time he enrolled at the University of Budapest in 1921, he had already written a paper with Fekete and, according to Ulam, was essentially recognized as a mathematician.