82 Books & arts The Economist October 9th 2021
working on reforms inpostcommunist
Russia she was assumed tobea prostitute
on entering a hotel forameeting.Asa
speaker at a conference shewasmistaken
for a tea lady. In the WhiteHouseMrTrump
supposed she was a secretary.Foryearsshe
was paid less than menwhoweredoing
equivalent jobs.
Not only did Ms Hillovercomethese
difficulties, she turned themtoheradvan
tage, drawing on her experiencestospot
patterns and connections.In particular,
she sees striking similaritiesbetweenthe
impoverished region of herrootsanddis
advantaged areas of both AmericaandRus
sia. The cold war had concealedthefact
that Britain, America andRussiahadmuch
in common: visiting grimpartsofRussia
she “encountered the northeastofEng
land on a vast scale”.
The similarities extendtopolitics,she
argues. The chasm betweenordinarypeo
ple in such neglected placesandthepoliti
cal elites creates fertile groundforpopu
lists claiming to representtheirinterests.
Once the hope was thatRussiawouldin
time become more like America.Instead,
Ms Hill suggests, the reverse has hap
pened: “Trump would come more to
resemble Putin in political practiceand
predilection than he resembledanyofhis
recent American presidential predeces
sors.” As she watched hiscoupattempt
develop, the parallels withRussiabecame
striking, and alarming.
Lest they forget
Her journey from disadvantagedoriginsto
success has echoes of thebestsellingtales
of Tara Westover’s “Educated” and J.D.
Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy”. Inallcaseseduca
tion is the key. Ms Hill weavespolicywon
kery into her story, liberallyreferringto
studies by colleagues at the Brookings
Institution, the thinktankwhereshenow
works. An afterword includesa checklistof
ideas for how individuals,frombusiness
executives to teachers andstudents,cando
their bit to help remove barrierstooppor
tunity and overcome the drawbacks of
“forgotten places”.
Ms Hill calls this one ofthegreatest
imperatives of the 21st century.Shemay
exaggerate the parallels betweenAmerica
and Russia (the differencesinpoliticalin
stitutions and culture areenormous).Yet
the alarm she sounds is urgent.America’s
political polarisation is notjusta domestic
problem, but a nationalsecurityonetoo.
“I have seen firsthand justhowvulnerable
America is to the politicalafflictionsthat
have befallen Russia,” shewarns;Russia’s
slide into authoritarianism since 2000
could become America’s.JustasBorisYelt
sin amassed executive powersandpaved
the way for Mr Putin, sotheTrumppresi
dency could allow a morecapablepopulist
to “pull a Putin in America”.n
Thehistoryofscience
Martian’s landing
I
n1945,whileina stateofexhaustion,
themathematicianJohnvonNeumann
hada kindofstammeringpremonition.He
wasinLosAlamos,workingontheatom
bomb,andhetoldhiswifeKlarithatthe
“energysource”hewashelpingtodevelop
wouldmakescientists“themosthatedand
alsothemostwantedcitizensofanycoun
try”.Thenheinformedherthathisother
ongoingproject,thecomputer,wouldone
daybeevenmoreimportant—andpoten
tiallyevenmoredangerous.
Goodbiographiesofsomeofthegreat
estmathematicalmindsarerare:because
theywerepolymaths,biographerswhocan
interprettheirmanifoldachievementsfor
theordinarymortalarethemselvesthinon
theground.ThishasbeenvonNeumann’s
fate,andtheupshotisthathehasnothad
therecognitionhedeserves.AnanyoBhat
tacharya,a sciencejournalistformerlyat
TheEconomist, setsouttocorrectthatin
justice,andsofilla yawninggapinthehis
toryofscience.
Von Neumann belonged to a small
groupofbrilliantHungarians,ofmainly
Jewishbackgrounds,whointhe1930sfled
Nazism for America, where they were
dubbed “the Martians” because of their
strange language and even stranger brains.
All would transform science, but von Neu
mann would transform daily life, and he
did so in varied and profound ways. He was
undoubtedly a genius, and reading this
book gives you an inkling of what that
overused word really means. More than
one highly intelligent acquaintance re
marks that it was as if von Neumann was
the only person who was really awake.
The problem facing the biographer of a
mathematician is that conveying math
ematical concepts in mere words risks
either boring the cognoscenti or bemusing
the uninitiated. Rather like the books of
Stephen Hawking or Carlo Rovelli, though,
this one is rewarding on different levels.
Everyone can grasp the significance of the
puzzles posed, and if readers want to fol
low the genius through the steps of his
solutions then Mr Bhattacharya is a clear
and authoritative guide.
Perhaps it was because he was fluent in
the language of the universe that von Neu
mann flitted so easily between disciplines.
While still a young man he made impor
tant contributions to quantum mechanics.
Later he played a seminal role in the Man
hattan Project that built the bomb, and
devised the architecture for the first pro
grammable computers. He laid the founda
tions of game theory (introducing the term
“zerosum” along the way), stimulating
revolutions across the social sciences and
biology. At times he was in such demand
that a usAir Force plane was kept on stand
by to whisk him from one topsecret gov
ernment lab to another.
He was equally comfortable in basic
and applied research, sitting with pencil
and paper in his dining room in Princeton
or debating with top military brass out in
the New Mexico desert; but his interests
were clearly linked. He needed program
mable computers to calculate the size and
force of shock waves from explosions, and
game theory to address the thorny ques
tion of nuclear deterrence. The years of the
second world war were especially produc
tive for him, as if he were propelled by the
destruction of the “perfect intellectual
setting” that was the Central Europe of his
youth, not to mention the deaths of mil
lions of its inhabitants.
And yet, Mr Bhattacharya argues, the
reputation that von Neumann acquired as
the coldest of cold warriors was un
deserved. He knew the depths to which
humankind could sink, but he was by
nature more cooperative than competi
tive. The man from the future had seen for
himself that science could be used for both
good and bad, and considered the
only legitimate responsetobe the exercise
of intelligent judgment.“Forprogress,” he
wrote, “there is no cure.”n
The Man from the Future. By Ananyo
Bhattacharya. Allen Lane; 368 pages; £20.
To be published in America in February by
W.W. Norton & Company; $30
Greetings, earthlings