

The Legend of John von Neumann - Arun2009
http://stepanov.lk.net/mnemo/legende.html

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btilly
My favorite von Neumann story involved a lecture he gave in German. At the end
of the lecture David Hilbert's first question was, "That was very nice, but
what are these 'Hilbert spaces'?"

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crux
I'm afraid I don't get it :(.

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btilly
The point is that Hilbert spaces were named after David Hilbert by von
Neumann. Which lead to the odd situation where Hilbert didn't know what
Hilbert spaces were.

~~~
calibraxis
I also recall a talk about the diverse kinds of people in math. One (I hope I
don't misremember) was Hilbert, held up as an example of someone who could
seem frustratingly dense -- he'd ask many questions during a talk. But once he
started wrapping his mind around things, he could see very profoundly.

In contrast, the other was a fast calculator like von Neumann; maybe it was
von Neumann. The point of the talk was that there's no single type who does
good mathematical work. And the moral was that you shouldn't feel bad if you
feel confused and foggy while others seem quicker on the uptake. This could
also describe Hilbert, Einstein and Grothendieck.

(I hope it's clear that my knowledge of famous mathematicians is very sketchy,
based on half-listened talks and random snatches from books...)

