Rutherford traces its original settler and earliest history to a 17th-century Dutch family, one of the first to arrive in the nascent colony of New Netherland. Throughout the next 12 generations, this family joined thousands of others to create a quaint oasis just beyond New York City. In 1835, the sleepy farm village greeted the arrival of one of America's first railroads with wonder and anticipation. The long history of Rutherford is rich with pioneers in government, education, the arts, medicine, and commerce. In the 1880s, a local attorney sparked a revolution in municipal government just as a young boy, William Carlos Williams, began his journey to become a beloved world-class poet. Rutherford is home to the oldest real estate business in the country as well as the cradle of one of the world's premier medical supply companies and New Jersey's largest private university. Beyond its extraordinary advances, Rutherford schools, churches, civic buildings, historic downtown, and simple homes nurtured a citizenry who wove a colorful quilt of social history and hometown dreams.
A masterful work of science writing that’s "both a fascinating biography of von Neumann, the Hungarian exile whose mathematical theories were building blocks for the A-bomb and the digital computer, and a brilliant social history of game theory and its role in the Cold War and nuclear arms race" (San Francisco Chronicle). Should you watch public television without pledging?...Exceed the posted speed limit?...Hop a subway turnstile without paying? These questions illustrate the so-called "prisoner's dilemma", a social puzzle that we all face every day. Though the answers may seem simple, their profound implications make the prisoner's dilemma one of the great unifying concepts of science. Watching players bluff in a poker game inspired John von Neumann—father of the modern computer and one of the sharpest minds of the century—to construct game theory, a mathematical study of conflict and deception. Game theory was readily embraced at the RAND Corporation, the archetypical think tank charged with formulating military strategy for the atomic age, and in 1950 two RAND scientists made a momentous discovery. Called the "prisoner's dilemma," it is a disturbing and mind-bending game where two or more people may betray the common good for individual gain. Introduced shortly after the Soviet Union acquired the atomic bomb, the prisoner's dilemma quickly became a popular allegory of the nuclear arms race. Intellectuals such as von Neumann and Bertrand Russell joined military and political leaders in rallying to the "preventive war" movement, which advocated a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union. Though the Truman administration rejected preventive war the United States entered into an arms race with the Soviets and game theory developed into a controversial tool of public policy—alternately accused of justifying arms races and touted as the only hope of preventing them. Prisoner's Dilemma is the incisive story of a revolutionary idea that has been hailed as a landmark of twentieth-century thought.
William Aspray provides the first broad and detailed account of von Neumann's many different contributions to computing. John von Neumann (1903-1957) was unquestionably one of the most brilliant scientists of the twentieth century. He made major contributions to quantum mechanics and mathematical physics and in 1943 began a new and all-too-short career in computer science. William Aspray provides the first broad and detailed account of von Neumann's many different contributions to computing. These, Aspray reveals, extended far beyond his well-known work in the design and construction of computer systems to include important scientific applications, the revival of numerical analysis, and the creation of a theory of computing.Aspray points out that from the beginning von Neumann took a wider and more theoretical view than other computer pioneers. In the now famous EDVAC report of 1945, von Neumann clearly stated the idea of a stored program that resides in the computer's memory along with the data it was to operate on. This stored program computer was described in terms of idealized neurons, highlighting the analogy between the digital computer and the human brain. Aspray describes von Neumann's development during the next decade, and almost entirely alone, of a theory of complicated information processing systems, or automata, and the introduction of themes such as learning, reliability of systems with unreliable components, self-replication, and the importance of memory and storage capacity in biological nervous systems; many of these themes remain at the heart of current investigations in parallel or neurocomputing.Aspray allows the record to speak for itself. He unravels an intricate sequence of stories generated by von Neumann's work and brings into focus the interplay of personalities centered about von Neumann. He documents the complex interactions of science, the military, and business and shows how progress in applied mathematics was intertwined with that in computers. William Aspray is Director of the Center for the History of Electrical Engineering at The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
William Burnside was one of the three most important algebraists who were involved in the transformation of group theory from its nineteenth-century origins to a deep twentieth-century subject. Building on work of earlier mathematicians, they were able to develop sophisticated tools for solving difficult problems. All of Burnside's papers are reproduced here, organized chronologically and with a detailed bibliography. Walter Feit has contributed a foreword, and a collection of introductory essays are included to provide a commentary on Burnside's work and set it in perspective along with a modern biography that draws on archive material.
Most students who pursue a career in archaeology will find employment in cultural resource management (CRM), rather than in academia or traditional fieldwork. It is CRM, the protection and preservation of archaeological and other resources, that offers the jobs and provides the funding. Few textbooks, however, are dedicated to teaching students the techniques and practices of this field. Cultural Resources Archaeology, now brought completely up date in this second edition and replete with new case studies from the western U.S., fills in the gap. Drawing on their decades of teaching and field experience, the authors walk students through the intricacies of CRM. They clearly describe the processes of designing a project, conducting assessment, testing, doing essential mitigation work (Phases I, II, and III), and preparing reports. The book's emphasis on real-world problems and issues, use of extensive examples from around the country, and practical advice on everything from law to logistics make it an ideal teaching tool for archaeology students who dream of becoming practicing archaeologists.
William Burnside was one of the three most important algebraists who were involved in the transformation of group theory from its nineteenth-century origins to a deep twentieth-century subject. Building on work of earlier mathematicians, they were able to develop sophisticated tools for solving difficult problems. All of Burnside's papers are reproduced here, organized chronologically and with a detailed bibliography. Walter Feit has contributed a foreword, and a collection of introductory essays are included to provide a commentary on Burnside's work and set it in perspective along with a modern biography that draws on archive material.
Recent inroads in higher-dimensional nonlinear quantum field theory and in the global theory of relevant nonlinear wave equations have been accompanied by very interesting cognate developments. These developments include symplectic quantization theory on manifolds and in group representations, the operator algebraic implementation of quantum dynamics, and differential geometric, general relativistic, and purely algebraic aspects. Quantization and Nonlinear Wave Equations thus was highly appropriate as the theme for the first John von Neumann Symposium (June 1994) held at MIT. The symposium was intended to treat topics of emerging signifigance underlying future mathematical developments. This book describes the outstanding recent progress in this important and challenging field and presents general background for the scientific context and specifics regarding key difficulties. Quantization is developed in the context of rigorous nonlinear quantum field theory in four dimensions and in connection with symplectic manifold theory and random Schrodinger operators. Nonlinear wave equations are exposed in relation to recent important progress in general relativity, in purely mathematical terms of microlocal analysis, and as represented by progress on the relativistic Boltzmann equation. Most of the developments in this volume appear in book form for the first time. The resulting work is a concise and informative way to explore the field and the spectrum of methods available for its investigation.
Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In many countries, such as the four examined in Looking Beyond the Horizon, the risks of climate change are an immediate and fundamental problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for its livelihood. The risks of climate change to agriculture cannot be eff ectively dealt with--and the opportunities cannot be eff ectively exploited--without a clear plan for aligning agricultural policies with climate change, developing the capabilities of key agricultural institutions, and investing in infrastructure, support services, and on-farm improvements. Developing such a plan ideally involves a combination of high-quality quantitative analysis; consultation with key stakeholders, particularly farmers and local agricultural experts; and investments in both human and physical capital. The diverse experiences of Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan, highlighted in this book, show that it is possible to develop a plan to meet these objectives--one that is comprehensive and empirically driven as well as consultative and quick to develop. The approach of this volume is predicated on strong country ownership and participation, and is defi ned by its emphasis on "win-win" or "no regrets" solutions to the multiple challenges posed by climate change for the farmers of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The solutions are measures that increase resilience to future climate change, boost current productivity despite the greater climate variability already occurring, and limit greenhouse gas emissions--also known as "climate-smart agriculture." Looking Beyond the Horizon draws on the experiences of applying this approach to these four nations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the goal of helping each country mainstream climate change adaptation into its agricultural policies, programs, and investments. The book also highlights the projected impacts of climate change on agriculture in these countries through forecast variations in temperature and rainfall patterns, which are crucial to farming, and off ers a map for navigating the risks and realizing the opportunities. Finally, a detailed e xplanation of the approach, as well as lessons learned from its implementation, is provided for those who would like to implement similar programs in other countries of Europe, Central Asia, or anywhere else in the world.
This World Bank study brings together the forecast climate change impacts, costs vs. benefits of adaptation measures, and recommendations from the work conducted in Moldova.
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