Von Neumann Architecture - Computerphile 

Apologies to all those of you distressed by the unsolved Rubik cube (which also appeared in my recent video about the Wheeler Jump). I'm afraid it will still be there in the up-coming video(s) about EDSAC - because all of this material was filmed by Sean in the same session in early February. If we do any follow-up filming in that same room I'll ensure that the cube is solved.

I am Hungarian and the fact that professor Brailsford knew how to correctly pronounce János and he also knew about the fact that we put our surname first, just made me so happy. It is so thoughtful.

5 hours ago I told a goodnight story to my daughter. Now Prof Brailsford told a goodnight story for me and just like my daughter, I crave more. Excellent video!

Hi everyone! At some time last night (24 Feb. 2018 ) "Computerphile" reached 1,000,000 subscribers! Just wish Uncle Johnny could be here to buy endless bottles of champagne for all those who became subscribers as a result of watching this video :-)

I could listen to Professor Brailsford a whole evening. Love these stories of the men and women responsible for the development of computers and their programming languages.

Professor Brailsford, excellent pronunciation of Hungarian names!

I love Brailsford's history monologues :)

Title should be "Story of Von Neumann", not "Von Neumann Architecture"

Many people may have heard this little story about von Neumann: There's this math puzzle about a fly flying between two trains approaching each other, turns around when it reaches the either side of the train, and then asks you to find out how far the fly have flied until the two trains met. Von Neumann gave the correct answer almost immediately, and when asked about if he is using the shortcut solution, he responded that he explicitly summed up the infinite series to get the answer.

I am from Budapest and his secondary school is two blocks from my house. That was an incredible alma mater, three Nobel-laureates studied there: Wigner, Neumann and Harsányi. Everytime I pass the building it gives me chills. Some friends studied there in the early 90's and once took me in to see the building -- well, was I intimidated :) Neumann and Wigner studied with the same maths teacher, Mikola Sándor (family name first, right, prof? :) ). He was an extraordinary teahcer, as you might imagine. The other one who was maybe even more important was Rátz László (often only referred to as "Rátz tanár úr" or Professor Rátz). There is a statue erected in his memory at the joint headquarters of Graphisoft and Microsoft Hungary in the northern part of Budapest. Also, regarding the hydrogen bomb: Einstein's letter to Roosevelt was actually initiated by Wigner (who, as I said, studied at the same school as Neumann + grew up near the end of my street) and Teller. It's crazy to think about it that three Hungarians were very deeply involved in the creation of the most deadly weapon ever made (even if they regretted it greatly and lobbied very heavily for rearmament).

title: Von Neumann Architecture Video: Von Neumann Biography

Von Neumann was very much indeed an international figure, but still, thanks for the effort for saying and pronouncing his name correctly in it's original Hungarian way as well. Respect, and great fan of the channel.

this guy should make an Audiobook, I could listen to him for hours!

I love the way Sean kicks off the most arcane topics with, "A Lot of people ask ... " and Professor Brailsford chuckles at the fact nobody has asked, it's just something he's offered to enlighten us on for quarter an hour!

A lot of of people don't know John Von Neumann, when I tell them about him they are shocked to hear his accomplishments. Great Genius.

Professor Brailsford is the professor you want in class...Where you feel bad if you missed something. Where you know it's your liss if you weren't listening.

So many brilliant Hungarian mathematicians who were involved in the history of computing. Von Neumann is just one of them, but what a guy he was! Another, John Kemeny, invented BASIC and was the president of my undergraduate institution (Dartmouth). Just one of the many reasons I'm proud to be Magyar! :)

I love the Computerphile segments with Prof. Brailsford for the historical perspective and context he gives the subjects.

The professor pronounces all things Hungarian so effortlessly, I must assume he has some affiliation with the language or the country :)

I could listen to Professor Brailsford for a year and still want more.

It's strange how little Von Neumann is brought up, by all rights he should be as famous as Einstein.

German Computer-Enthusiast here: This is the first time I ever saw Zuse mentioned. Especially when its also a lot about Turing. Thanks for that ;) He actually is the father of the computer (maybe not computing ;) )

This is absolutely amazing, we are blessed to have a professor with such great knowledge available for everyone here on RU-vid, thank you Professor Brailsford and Sean.

Absolutely COMPELLING! I could listen to this man tell stories ALL DAY!

I love how he has a radio in the background. It has such an oldschool good times vibe now. I love it

Wow Professor Brailsford that was incredible! Can't wait for part II. The strange thing is, that when I was an undergraduate none of this had come out, and I had to write a 2000 essay on the history of computers (to get through year 1 - no marks awarded). Turing wasn't even mentioned in any of my references, and we had to rely on the US version of events.

Correction: He wasn't 35 when he was offered the IAS professorship. He wasn't 30 either, though he would celebrate his 30th birthday later that year in Princeton.

Hey! Listening to professor Brailsford was like watching a documentary or living in that time. Very inspiring and fun stories about these mathematician, with a lot of extras. Thanks again! I hope that Computerphile makes more of these videos telling us how computers became what today we know about. Congratulations!

Professor Brailsford's brain must be like national library. He drops so much history so fluently and well constructedly. I forget the names of the things I was just talking or thinking about.

Prof B. The David Attenborough of computer ecosystem.

We are so lucky to get these videos thanks Computerphile.

I genuinely love this channel. Thank you so much for all the hard work you do for our benefit.

What a joy listing to him. I wish I had him as a teacher for all of my classes from KG to PHD.

I have never heard a more complete and concise setup of the problem of 1946 and why Johnny was THE one to tackle it.

What an amazing storyteller/historian the Professor is. I really enjoy listening to him, always very interesting.

Important as the von Neuman architecture has been historically - more Harvard architecture machines are made each year! More than One Billion Microchip Technologies PIC and Atmel AVR chips are sold each year for embedded applications (washing machines, cars...) and have been around since the mid-1970s. Deserve a video too!

I’m pleased to see the ABC mentioned here, along with other early computers. One thing I like about Atanasoff was his view on priority. He said "I have always taken the position that there is enough credit for everyone in the invention and development of the electronic computer." That’s the right spirit. Remember people for their individual contributions without arguing about who should be considered the inventor.

I love your story telling skills professor. It makes anyone get excited about computing.

Aaah! I love his passion as he speaks about all of this! It makes me feel more passionate and interested too. Thanks for doing these videos. I appreciate it!

You're enthusiasm, really makes listening to the story enjoyable.

What a fascinating story! Thank you Professor, thank you Computerfile.

Im fascinated by the founders of computing. They’re the ones who solved some of the secrets of math & physics. Now a lot of these things are broadly understood but to be the first ones to discover and define how these things could work was a mountainous and extremely complex effort that we sometimes take for granted

John von Neumann actually did his PhD at ETH Zurich. His first degree from Budapest was in chemical engineering and his PhD was in mathematics.

Professor Brailsford can do narrating job very well :)

Great story, remembered me of my Computer Architecture classes. Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks Professor Brailsford! It's a nice touch to have the cube as another Hungarian reference in the background:P

Professor Brailsford is by far my favorite in this channel. He is full of so much useful information. And no I'm not being sarcastic.

Brilliant video! Loved the passion, the knowledge and the content delivery about Von Neumann

What a passion to share knowledge, one more fan now... congratulations professor!

Hello Sir. Thank you for your theory we are using it now in Chess Sir. 6.4.1 in Preliminarity,Transivity,and Signaling. My mother taught me Backgammon in turn is apart of my data Sir. And now you are. What a great influence.

This video essay of reminiscence, I'll call it, was wonderful. Dr. Brailsford, thank you so very much for an engaging and accurate telling of an era, the core personalities, the institutions, achievements, means and ends of a momentous time. It was an era that defined our own, whether we view it from the angle of mathematics, computing, nationalism, academia, history, the Second World War or the great social ferment that peace permitted--the anti-colonial upheavals, the age and racial, sexual, gender and intellectual movements. It was a time of great men, greater science, great portent and yet greater moment. What a worthy summary!

Wow thank you for sharing these stories from history. Astounding.

Wow. So much knowledge he seems to have on the topic. Super interesting to learn more of these details.

These are my favorite videos.

Most informative and engaging videos on youtube, thank you.

Brilliant insight on the various types of WWII computers and how Von Neumann shepherded the general purpose computer

I always keep telling people how (At least here in my country) the biggest pitfalls in academia is that people who teach because of their knowledge don't necessarily know how to teach, they are smart, they have the degrees to back up their position, but no talent for speaking and teaching. Those who are very knowledgeable and capable of teaching in an interesting manner are very rare, YOU are one of these people, I wholeheartedly enjoyed every minute of this video, I wish every lecture in every university was presented by people who CAN teach.

I came here to learn about the architecture of von Neumann for my exams but I stumbled upon a gem that was this video

Love this kind of story telling professor!! Thanks

My old maths lecturor was Hungarian and used to talk a whole hell of a lot about von Neumann

Hello from Germany! Please, Professor Brailsford, keep on making videos about computers.

Sitting in Göttingen and being reminded of the great minds that came through here is always humbling. It feels like I'm on the pulse of physics/maths here

Almost 1 million subs! I love this channel keep going!

Professor Brailsford is one of the best professors I have learned from.

I love the math and comp sci history videos. They're awesome.

Professor Brailsford, always compelling to view and learn from :)

I heard that Von Neumann was impossibly smart and talented

so von Neumann was essentially one of those gods whose death is lamented by every genius, but also he was charismatic af

I just said " I Should try to study harder" Suddenly Computerphile uploaded a video , I'm super confused now.

Though this video was not particularly on Von Neumann Architecture, this video surely led me to learn more about computer architecture.

These videos are gold. Thank you.

Thank you Professor Brailsford

The always whimsical and rambunctious Dr Brailsford.

Aaaa! Video ended too early! I needed another hour of fascinating computing history!

Man, these history talks are great!

Computerphile is one of my top-three sources of inspiration, Thank you! Greetings from: Sharif University of Technology, Iran, Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Sweden, and now, Hamburg University, Germany.

Reading through the comments it's hard not to come to the conclusion that Computer scientists and programmers are amongst the most petty and humour free people in existence. A great overview of a truly great mans life and every fourth comment is along the lines of "THE TITLE'S MISLEADING, I WANTED TO BE TOLD SOMETHING I ALREADY KNOW!!!". Presumably so that they can prove just how super intelligent they are by pointing out that they too have attended a computer course.

Claude Shannon next !

articulate story telling, thank you, indeed, for an engaging video.

These are great little history lessons.

How wonderful story was that!

I look forward to the follow-up story!

Some days later we want to know this much details about Prof.Brailsford also.... he is a true *_GENIUS GRANDPA_*

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you.

Yet again my plans for the afternoon were derailed by Prof Brailsford's remarkable stories (he himself fits the bill for the very charismatic very knowledgeable uncle; don't know about rich :) Just resurfaced after spending an hour researching Zuse (didn't know of him before, incredibly), Frieder Nake, and from there a digression into abstract art

Could listen to the professor for hours.

I know it's not the point, but what great curtains! I think you make a strong argument that there are applications where you want to keep intstruction and storage memory very separate.

Great video! You should a video like this about Edsger W. Dijkstra it would be very interesting

Awesome discussion from Professor Brailsford... as always. It's interesting the concept for which he is most famous, the von Neumann Architecture, was originally put forth by Mauchly and Eckert. Both hated the fact they never got proper credit... but then Mauchly never gave Atanasoff his due credit either. I wonder if the professor ever crossed path Tommy Flowers and, if so, would he talk about him. He seems like one of the interesting and forward thinking characters in early computing. The fact that he was thinking about electronic circuit switching in the mid-30s while the rest of the world was content to innovate using relays attests to his prowess.

göttingen in germany is more like harvard in the US ,there is literaly gods graduate from there

I wonder how many dislikes will come from distressed cubers seeing that unsolved cube in the back...

Nice video! Now, do you have a video about the von Neumann architecture as well?

I could listen to ProfDave readout even grocery receipts for hours.

Wow, just wow. I could listen to you all day. I was on a search for a great vpn Neumann biography and stumbled on this video. Anyone have a recommendation?

I feel like he's my grandpa, and I'm asking for another bedtime story

Nice video, i like it very much. Soon to be 1Mil Subs guys!! Keep up the good work! :D

Not sure if it's accurate, but I've heard that people from different fields would bring some of their hardest unsolved problems to Von Nuemman and he would solve them right away and be like "Did you even think about the problem?".

Video on the EDVAC! and oh wow.. what a man.

Princeton has offered Neumann a job before Einstein and Gödel was there and he's condition was to get Einstein and Gödel invited because "he doesn't want to work at a place where he is the smartest". So even as a superstar in the scientific community he was aware of his limits.

I had no idea of the connections between Neumann and Hilbert, Godel and Turing. Amazing.