諾曼·麥剋雷（Norman Maerae），1923年生，1942～1945年為英國皇傢空軍導航員，1945年進入劍橋大學學習，1947年獲經濟學一等榮譽學位，1947-1949年在劍橋大學從事經濟學研究及教學工作，1949年加盟《經濟學傢》（The Economist）雜誌社。他利用業餘時間齣版瞭8本著作並擔任一些顧問工作．在五大洲均開設過講座，曾為許多雜誌撰稿，1989年退休。在美國齣版的書籍有《神經質的萬億富翁》（TheNeurotic Trillion-aire）、《美國的第三個世紀》（America’SThird Century）、《2025年度報告：1975～2025之未來史》（The2025Report：AFutureHistoryof1975-2025）。與哈剋特（John Hackett）將軍閤著的有關第三次世界大戰的兩本著作全球銷量超過300萬冊。1989年他被英國女王授予英國CBE榮譽勛章。

This volume is the reprinted edition of the first full-scale biography of the man widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the century after Einstein.

Born in Budapest in 1903, John von Neumann grew up in one of the most extraordinary of scientific communities. From his arrival in America in the mid-1930s--with bases in Boston, Princeton, Washington, and Los Alamos--von Neumann pioneered and participated in the major scientific and political dramas of the next three decades, leaving his mark on more fields of scientific endeavor than any other scientist. Von Neumann's work in areas such as game theory, mathematics, physics, and meteorology formed the building blocks for the most important discoveries of the century: the modern computer, game theory, the atom bomb, radar, and artificial intelligence, to name just a few.

From the laboratory to the highest levels of government, this definitive biography gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the politics and personalities involved in these world-changing discoveries. Written more than 30 years after von Neumann's untimely death at age 54, it was prepared with the cooperation of his family and includes information gained from interviewing countless sources across Europe and America. Norman Macrae paints a highly readable, humanizing portrait of a man whose legacy still influences and shapes modern science and knowledge.