This year, Hungarians are celebrating the 120th anniversary of the birth of the mathematician János Neumann, the Neumann Society is organising a year-long series of programs to mark the anniversary, the opening event of which was held on Wednesday at the Óbuda University, reports MTI.

"Today begins the year-long nationwide series of events in which we commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of János Neumann, one of the most prominent and decisive Hungarian scientists of the 20th century, who also developed the operating principle of digital computers used today," emphasised Levente Kovács, rector of Óbuda University, in his greeting at the press conference preceding the professional conference.

János Neumann (Source: njszt.hu)

He explained that during the memorial year, many joint programs are being planned with the Neumann Society, among which he mentioned that they cooperate in organising, among other things, the Researchers' Night and the Night of Museums programs, provide a venue for the travelling exhibition about the life of János Neumann, and also organise several educational and professional programs in connection with the Neumann Memorial Year.

György Beck, the president of the Neumann Society, said at the event that the opening event of the commemorative year was connected with the Hungarian IT Day so that the speakers could present a number of topics at the professional conference planned for this day, from the history of the development of information technology in Hungary to the results achieved up to the present day.

György Beck, the president of the Neumann Society, gives a speech at the opening event of "Neumann 120" memorial year at the central campus of Óbuda University on 18 January 2023 (Photo: MTI/Noémi Bruzák)

Imre Szalay, managing director of the Neumann Society, explained the programs and said that one of the highlights of the commemorative year will be the International Olympiad in Informatics, which will be held in Szeged at the end of August. About 400 competitors from 100 countries are expected to attend the competition.

In addition, an interdisciplinary conference will be organised at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) in September, a memorial tree will be planted and an exhibition will be held in Balatonfüred to pay tribute to János Neumann. The Hungarian National Bank is issuing a collector coin on the occasion of the jubilee. He said that an essay contest and a short story contest were also announced in connection with the commemorative year. The applicants submitted 150 works for their fine arts competition. An exhibition of the best entries will be organised in the Deák 17 Youth Gallery.

He mentioned that several publications will be published on the occasion of the jubilee, among other things, an album with rich photographic material, titled Memorable Neumann (Idézhető Neumann), will be out soon. Among the exhibitions, a travelling exhibition about Neumann's oeuvre starts its journey from Fasori High School, which will also be presented in Szeged, Balatonfüred and Óbuda.

The statue of mathematician János Neumann was wreathed in the garden of the central campus of Óbuda University (Photo: MTI/Noémi Bruzák)

János Neumann's daughter, Marina von Neumann Whitman, who lives in the United States, greeted the commemorative year in a video message at the event. After the press conference, the participants placed a wreath at the statue of János Neumann in the sculpture park of Óbuda University

More information about the memorial year can be found at https://n120.njszt.hu/.

Source: MTI

Cover photo: Statue of János Neumann in the garden of the central campus of Óbuda University (Photo: MTI/Noémi Bruzák)