Now that we’ve got that all cleared up, can somebody verify the correct pronunciation of John von Neumann?
von “Noi-munn” – no doubt about this.
And the “von” part pronounced with an f at the beginning, not a v.
Does any Houston-area college math department have an intramural team called the “Houston Eulers”?
They could play the “Sturm-Liouville Sluggers” out of Kentucky.
I heard von Neumann’s daughter give a talk about her father recently, and it sounded like she said “fon NOY-muhn”, so I assume that’s correct. I’ve heard a lot of people say “von NOY-muhn” as well. In any case, it’s definitely not pronounced NEWman, as English speakers might expect it to be.
This thread reminds me of the time I was taking a college algebra class from a German professor, who kept attributing theorems to “Gau[symbol]b[/symbol]”. I think I spent half the semester wondering why I’d never heard of this Gaub fellow before. :smack:
(In case anyone doesn’t get it, Gau[symbol]b[/symbol] is Carl Friedrich Gauss, arguably the greatest mathematician of all time.)
Okay, if we’re going to whip 'em out, everyone here at Yale’s mathematics department would say oiler.
People should be harsh on those who commit rhymes like this:
You can study lambda,
If you find that you haveta,
Though actu’lly, I find it makes me numb.
I never can see,
Just to what degree,
This knowledge will increase my freedom.