Edward Teller on John von Neumann

“I believe that if a mentally superhuman race ever develops, its members will resemble Johnny von Neumann.”

“Johnny was the most versatile and brilliant scientist I have ever known. His mind operated at speeds that suggested neural superconductivity.”

“That deep, practically monomaniacal devotion to the thinking process is what set Johnny von Neumann apart from everyone else I have ever known.”

“He could and did talk to my 3-year-old son on his own terms, and I sometimes wondered whether his relation to the rest of us were a little bit similar.”

“Two were in their early twenties: Eugene Wigner, who became a great theoretical physicist, and Johnny von Neumann, whose brilliance as a mathematician is internationally acknowledged.”

“Johnny von Neumann was so valuable, not only as a mathematician but in virtually every field, that he was welcome to work with us even for very short periods. He was allowed to come and go freely.”

“I have come to suspect that to most people thinking is painful. Some of us are addicted to thinking. Some of us find it a necessity. Johnny enjoyed it. I even have the suspicion that he enjoyed practically nothing else.”