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Re:The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann by roca on Friday November 15, 2019 @05:54AM (#21543879)
A real comparison is of course impossible, but of that coterie, Kurt Gödel is a strong contender. As the original post mentions, he singlehandedly destroyed Hilbert's formalist program (which von Neumann was also working on) and von Neumann is quoted as saying he was "in a class by himself". There is the famous letter from Gödel to von Neumann which anticipates the P=NP problem by decades.

In a different era, I think Blaise Pascal is also a contender. At age 19 he invented a working mechanical calculator with a functional carry mechanism, which somehow his contemporaries failed to achieve for the next sixty years.

Re:The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann by carapace on Friday November 15, 2019 @02:07PM (#21547714)
Legend has it that when Gödel presented his paper von Neumann was the only one in the room that threw in the towel on Hilbert's program on the spot.
Re:The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann by wholmezy on Friday November 15, 2019 @08:11AM (#21544447)
What is the letter? Sounds interesting.
Re:The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann by roca on Saturday November 16, 2019 @01:58AM (#21551407)
The first part is actually quoted in the original post. The full letter is here: https://rjlipton.wordpress.com/the-gdel-letter/