John von Neumann

John von Neumann (1903-1957) was a Hungarian born mathematician who immigrated to the United States when Hitler rose to power. He was a child prodigy who contributed a broad range of fields, from quantum physics to set theory to computer science. He is credited with doing early work on the modern digital computer and the application of operator theory to quantum mechanics. He was a member of the Manhattan Project who later worked with Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam to develop the steps for thermonuclear reactions necessary to build the hydrogen bomb.

Not religious most of his life, von Neumann surprised friends by requesting to see a Catholic priest on his deathbed.

While other physicists such as Robert Oppenheimer were criticizing the atomic bomb they helped create, von Neumann was unapologetic. Oppenheimer remarked that physicists had "known sin" by developing the first atomic bombs. Von Neumann cleverly replied that "sometimes someone confesses a sin in order to take credit for it."