Jewry's Role in
Human Events
Community
VON NEUMANN UNVEILED - A SPECIAL REPORT
"Von Neumann was a genius,
in the sense that a genius is a
man who has two great ideas."
Jacob Bronowski, quoted from
The Ascent of Man (1973)
Here's To...
Museum Gallery
Receives Award
This salute from a noted
social commentator actually
understates the brilliance of
John von Neumann--an immen-
sely gifted Hungarian-born
mathematician (Budapest, 1903)
who brought the world three
great ideas. His first discovery
provided economists and scientists with
an invaluable technique to analyze problems and bring them rapidly to
realistic solutions. A second idea helped shorten and end World War Two.
A third idea led to an essential development that resides in more than 90%
of the world's computers.
Mathematicians are seldom in the public eye, a reason for the
relative obscurity of von Neumann whose Jewish origins are also rarely
known. Yet his work touches us all, and has proven that mathematics is not
just an exercise in intellectual calisthenics, but a discipline which could
shape our very way of life.
Von Neumann has been called "one of the last people able to span
the fields of pure and applied mathematics," with contributions to quantum
physics, meteorology, hydrodynamics, • topology, logic, and computer
science and technology. Few if any mathematicians in history have
surpassed his prodigious flow of -insights put to practical use.
Graduating from the University of Berlin as a chemical engineer,
he switched focus and earned a Ph.D in mathematics from -the University
of Budapest in 1926. Among the more than 150 papers he published were
several announcing the principles of the Game Theory for which he was
most highly regarded. In 1944, he co-authored The Theory of Games and
Economic Behavior that opened a new branch of mathematics presenting
an accurate way to evaluate economic performance. The landmark theory
also proposed unique statistical programs later adopted for planning
American military strategies.
Sensing the Nazi threat, von Neumann had earlier settled in the
U.S. (1931) and accepted a professorship at Princeton University. Within
two years he became associated, for the rest of his life, with the newly
formed Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. While there, he enjoyed
an enduring friendship with Albert Einstein. And in the late Thirties, he
evolved the "Neumann Algebras" whose concepts remain among today's
most powerful tools for studying quantum mechanics.
The war years found von Neumann consulting with J. Robert
Oppenheimer, Hans Bethe and Edward Teller at the Manhattan Project in
Los Alamos. His formulations were of major importance in achieving a
sustained nuclear reaction--speeding the completion of our first atomic
devices which abruptly ended the Pacific conflict.
Soon after, von Neumann became the director of the Institute's
Electronic Computer Project. His group developed computer systems such
as the famous MANIAC involved in building and testing our hydrogen
weapon, the future cornerstone of America's defense network. In the
process he designed the digital storage and retrieval system which equips
all of today's ROM-based computers to function as they do. In that sense,
Bronowski's avowed "genius" was also a virtually unrecognized father of
our computer age.
During the last several years of his life, von Neumann continued
to serve our nation on the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Atomic
Energy Commission. To honor his accomplishments, he was awarded the
coveted Enrico Fermi Award shortly before his untimely death at age 54.
- Walter L. Field
- Saul Stadtmauer
COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
5/15
1998
48
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Harold Berry & Irwin S. Field, Co-chairmen
Harriet F. Siden, Secretary
The Jewish Community Centers Asso-
ciation of North America has awarded
a 1998 Biennial Achievement Award
to the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit for the Youth
Education Project of the Janice
Charach Epstein Museum Gallery.
The award recognizes the JCC for its
innovative use of an existing resource
to develop groundbreaking Jewish
educational programming in a JCC.
Beth Greenapple directs the project
in collaboration with Sylvia Nelson,
the museum gallery director. The pro-
ject provides museum education expe-
riences for schoolchildren. During
group visits to the museum gallery,
children engage in hands-on activities
with media to supplement their
understanding of the form of expres-
sion, while interactive discussions and
activities are designed to help them
draw meaning from the art on display.
Visitors, both Jewish and non-Jewish
gain insight through art into Jewish
history, culture, and belief.
For information about museum
education visits to the Janice
Charach Epstein Museum Gallery,
- call Beth Greenapple, (248) 661-
7634.
Renee Michelle Schoichit, graduating
from North Farmington High School,
took third-place honors for an original
piece of sculpture from her school. At
an honors convocation, Renee won a
scholarship award to Emerson College
in Boston.
Shlomo Sawilowsky, a professor of
statistics, psychometry and research
design, was the
recipient of the
1998 Wayne State
University Out-
standing Graduate
Mentor Award
and the College, of
Education's Excel-
lence in Teaching
Award. Professor
Sawilowsky is a-
Shlomo
member of Bais
Sawilowsky
Chabad of West
Bloomfield and is
a 1980 graduate of the Rabbinical
College of America, affiliated with the
world-wide Lubavitch movement, of
Morristown, N.J.
Dr. Naida Rikki Bader Simon of
Bloomfield Hills recently received her
Ph.D. in higher education from
Wayne State University. Her disserta-
tion received an award for excellence
in research at the annual convention
of the American College Personnel
Association in St. Louis, Mo. Dr.
Simon will present her dissertation
research on personality factors and the
delivery of customer service at the
1999 annual convention to be held in
Atlanta, Ga. Dr. Simon is employed
by the College of Nursing at Wayne
State University.
Chuck Newman, a civic and business
leader of Ann Arbor, was elected chair
c-/
of the board of
directors of Hillel:
The Foundation
for Jewish Cam-
pus Life. Newman
has served as chair
of the organiza-
tion's budget
committee and
most recently as
board treasurer.
Chuck Newman
He is a past chair
of the annual Schusterman Hillel
International Lay Leadership Confer-
ence. He is on the board of the East-
ern Michigan University Hillel, and is
active also with the Hillel at the Uni-
versity of Michigan. He is president of
the Michigan Jewish Conference.
Ken Marblestone and Miriam
Bergman are the 1997 winners of the
Jewish Community Center of Metro-
politan Detroit's Susan Alterman JCC
Leadership Award. The award honors
volunteer leaders whose commitment
to the JCC has strengthened the Jew-
ish community.
Marblestone has been a board
member for one year. He is a member
of the Marketing and Budget &
Finance Committees and formerly
served with the Strategic Planning
Group. Bergman has been on the
board since 1994. She began her JCC
involvement as a liaison from the Jew-
ish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Young Adult Division. She
has served as co-chair of the Child
Development Center Committee sinc__ \
1995 and as a member at large of the
Executive Committee since 1997. She
is also on the Day Camp Committee.
Rob Goren, a sixth-grade student at
Birmingham Covington School, has
been awarded second place in the 8-11
year old category of the International
HyperStudio Contest for his project