On February 15, 1946, at the University of Pennsylvania, the world's first electronic calculator, ENIAC, was officially put into operation. At the grand unveiling ceremony, ENIAC performed its "trick": 5,000 addition operations in 1 second; 500 multiplication operations in 1 second. This was more than 1,000 times faster than the fastest electrical calculator at the time. The audience stood up and cheered, cheering that science and technology have entered a new historical development period.
Technically speaking, however, ENIAC is almost obsolete before it is officially operational. Because before it was officially put into operation, a design report for a new electronic calculator set a new milestone in the history of calculator development! The drafter of this design report was one of the most talented mathematical masters of the 20th century, the Hungarian-American mathematician Feng. Neumann.
On December 28, 1903, Feng. Iman was born in Budapest, Hungary. He has shown amazing mathematical talent since he was a child. It is said that he was able to calculate 8-digit mathematical division in his mind at the age of 6, mastered calculus at the age of 8, and actually understood the general outline of a profound mathematical work "Theory of Functions" at the age of 12. ! Later, Feng. Neumann received rigorous training under the guidance of Feyer, the "father of Hungarian mathematics". At the age of 18, he collaborated with his instructor and published his first mathematics paper in a foreign magazine.
In 1926, Feng. Neumann graduated from two universities almost at the same time: a diploma in chemical engineering from the Higher Institute of Technology in Zurich; and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Budapest.
In 1930, Feng. Neumann arrived in the United States and was hired as a visiting professor at Princeton University. Three years later, Feng, who was only 30 years old. Neumann, together with the great scientist Einstein, became the first permanent members of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
With Feng. Those who have worked with Neumann unanimously agree that he is extremely intelligent. His teacher, the famous mathematician Polya said: "Feng. Neumann was the only student I was afraid of. If I presented a difficult problem in my lecture, at the end of the lecture he would hold up a scrawled piece of paper and say he had solved it. "Once, a mathematician used a hand calculator to calculate five situations of a problem all night long, and went to ask Feng for advice the next day. Neumann, it turned out that he calculated all the answers in only 7 minutes. Then, von. Neumann thought for half an hour and discovered a better and simpler algorithm. However, Feng. Neumann's wife thought he "had no geometrical mind at all." Once, she asked Feng. Neumann went to get a glass of water, von. Neumann had lived in this house for 17 years, but he couldn't figure out where the glass was. He walked around for a long time, then came back and asked his wife where the glass was. His inattention to the trivial matters of life reflected his concentration on scientific research from another aspect. Feng. Neumann is highly focused when studying problems, so he can keenly grasp the essence of the problem.
Before 1940, Feng. Neumann's contributions to mathematics focused on pure mathematics. He has studied the field of "operator rings" for 20 years and has always been the undisputed world authority in this field; another of his brilliant scientific achievements is the partial solution of Hilbert's fifth problem, which provides He made a significant contribution to completely solving this famous mathematical problem.
In 1940, Feng. Neumann actively participated in the anti-fascist war and began the transformation process from a pure mathematician to an outstanding applied mathematician. During the war years, he was employed as a consultant to the U.S. Naval Ordnance Bureau and many other units. He also directly participated in the development of nuclear weapons and made many important suggestions for designing the optimal structure of the atomic bomb.
Feng. Neumann has an outstanding advantage, which is that he is good at axiomatic and systematizing practical problems that people think cannot be solved by mathematics, and skillfully applies abstract mathematical theories to real life fields. For example, at a trade fair attended by dozens of businessmen, the businessmen will seek the optimal strategy that is beneficial to themselves. Its mathematical complexity far exceeds the movement of the planets in the solar system, Feng. Neumann dared to overcome difficulties and used a series of mathematical creations to reveal the laws of such phenomena, thereby laying the foundation for game theory, a branch of mathematics.
Feng. Neumann's contribution to computer science is particularly appreciated. Interestingly, it was pure chance that led him to this field.
In the summer of 1944, Feng. While Neumann was waiting at a train station, he accidentally met the mathematician Lieutenant Gerstein, one of the leaders of the ENIAC development team. At that time, Feng. Neumann was troubled by a large number of calculation problems encountered in the atomic bomb experiment. For example, problems related to the nuclear fission reaction process required billions of elementary arithmetic operations. Hundreds of female computers used desktop calculations to work day and night, and still could not solve the problem. Unable to complete tasks on time. While chatting with Lieutenant Gerstein, Feng. Neumann heard the news that ENIAC was being developed and immediately understood the far-reaching significance of this work. Soon, he became a frequent visitor to the development team and contributed to the solution of some key issues.
At that time, the development work of ENIAC was nearing completion, and Feng. Neumann and the university focused on the shortcomings of ENIAC. In March 1945, he drafted a design report for the "Discrete Variable Automatic Electronic Calculator" and made two major improvements to ENIAC.
One improvement is to change the decimal system into binary system, which greatly simplifies the structure and operation process of the calculator; another improvement is to store the program and data together in the calculator. All operations of the electronic calculator become a truly automatic process.
This design report is the most important reform of calculator structural thinking, marking the true beginning of the electronic calculator era. Even the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which has always specialized in theory, made an exception and approved Feng. Neumann's development work. Since then, his brand-new design ideas have been deeply imprinted in the basic design of modern electronic calculators. Western scientists are concerned about Feng. Neumann's work was highly praised and he was regarded as the "father of electronic calculators".
Later, Feng. Neumann further studied the automaton theory. He used amazing perseverance to overcome the pain caused by cancer and explored similar phenomena in calculators and human brain mechanisms. Unfortunately, on February 8, 1957, the lecture on "Calculators and the Human Brain" had not yet been completed, and Feng. Neumann was killed by bone cancer.
Feng. Neumann left a rich scientific legacy to the world. He was one of the most prolific scientists of the 20th century, and left traces of his hard work in theoretical physics, economics, meteorology and many other scientific fields. For example, his early book "The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" incorporated quantum mechanics into a rigorous mathematical system for the first time, and it is still a classic work of theoretical physics. Experts pointed out: "If we discuss Feng in chronological order. Neumann's personal ambitions and academic achievements are tantamount to exploring the outline of the history of scientific development in the past 30 years. 〃
By 1956, thousands of large-scale electronic computers had been produced around the world, some of which could perform operations as high as tens of thousands of times per second. These electronic calculators all use vacuum tubes as their main components, so they are called vacuum tube calculators. Using this generation of electronic calculators, people launched artificial satellites into the sky. This was the first generation of electronic calculators.
The second generation of electronic calculators were transistor calculators. In 1956, Bell Laboratories in the United States used transistors instead of vacuum tubes to create the world's first all-transistor calculator, Lepreachaun. It greatly reduces the size, weight and power consumption of the calculator. By the 1960s, more than 30,000 transistor calculators had been produced in the world, with operating speeds reaching 3 million operations per second.
The third generation of electronic calculators are small and medium-sized integrated circuit calculators. In 1962, an American Texas company cooperated with the U.S. Air Force to build an experimental prototype using integrated circuits as the basic electronic components of the calculator. During this period, the size and power consumption of calculators were further reduced, but their reliability was greatly improved, and the computing speed reached 40 million operations per second.
The fourth generation electronic calculator is a large-scale integrated circuit calculator. It is generally believed that this started in 1970. Now, the computing speed of supercomputers has reached hundreds of millions of times per second, playing an irreplaceable role in scientific research and economic management; while microcomputers have greatly reduced the size and cost of calculators, and have penetrated into industrial production and Every corner of daily life. Today, to build a calculator with the same functions as ENIAC, it would be enough to be one millionth the size.
The development of fifth-generation electronic calculators has been carried out for many years. Whether it is a "dream-like" superconducting calculator, an optical calculator, a biological calculator, or an artificial intelligence amplifier, all have been achieved. Some progress.
The speed of this generation of computers will reach one trillion operations per second, and they can simulate human intelligence to a greater extent and exceed human intelligence in some aspects.
Mathematicians give their intelligence to electronic calculators, and electronic calculators will make mathematicians smarter. And the electronic calculator is not only a tool, it is different from other tools: the electronic calculator is a side extension of the human brain. Because electronic calculators not only have extraordinary computing power and unmatched speed, but can also simulate some of people's thinking functions, perform logical judgments and logical reasoning according to certain rules, and replace part of people's mental work. In 1976, mathematicians used electronic calculators to prove the four-color theorem, "relying on machines to accomplish things that humans cannot accomplish," which caused a sensation in the entire international mathematics community.
Electronic calculators lead people's thinking into unknown areas more effectively. From this perspective alone, it is not difficult to realize what a great scientific invention the electronic calculator is.