John von Neumann collapses while on the phone with Lewis Strauss. He will be diagnosed with bone cancer and undergo emergency surgery. He will be confined to a wheelchair, but will continue to produce and work, writing the book “The Computer and the Brain,” published posthumously. Among the book’s thoughts: “Brains don’t look so impressive. (…) Neurons do not fire one after the other, like in von Neumann architecture computers, but in parallel, massively so.” Today, the neural networks underlying AI (Artificial Intelligence) are based precisely on this concept. John von Neumann will be personally awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Ike Eisenhower. Von Neumann died on February 8, 1957. Edward Teller will be at his side frequently in his final days and reports that John was not only dedicated to thinking but benefited from it. Perhaps like no other. Unfortunately, the final stages of his illness affected his brain. Teller says he has never seen another human being suffer so much from a loss due to illness.
