Peter D. Lax 

Professor Lax began his career in the United States, working at Los Alamos for the Manhattan Project under the direction of John von Neumann. Between 1972 and 1980, he was director of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, one of the most important research centers for pure and applied mathematics. He was both president (1977-80) and vice president (1969-71) of the American Mathematical Society. In 2005, Lax was honored with the highest award in mathematics, the prestigious Abel Prize  "for his pioneering contributions to the theory and application of partial differential equations and to the computation of their solutions". In addition to his outstanding scientific work, Professor Lax was always a great advocate of preserving the scientific legacy of John von Neumann. He always believed that von Neumann should be known in much broader circles because his contributions to physics, mathematics, neuroscience, economics, computer science, and other fields have given impetus to the development of these fields far beyond his lifetime. Peter has organized high-profile events dedicated to the work of John von Neumann over the past several decades, and has spoken about his work at dozens of occasions in the United States and Hungary. Below is one of his major speeches on John von Neumann.