![The Duties of John von Neumann’s Assistant in the 1930s](/content/images/size/w600/2023/10/f140cb77-f918-44fc-a4a4-ca29ca487277_1400x1029.webp)
Mathematics
The Duties of John von Neumann’s Assistant in the 1930s
The year is 1933. A 26 year-old former graduate student at Columbia University, Edgar R. Lorch (1907–1990) has just completed his Ph.D. in mathematics and is, in his own words “by some miracle” awarded a National Research Council Fellowship for a year of postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.