"Kurt Gödel's achievement in modern logic is singular and monumental – indeed it is more than a monument, it is a landmark which will remain visible … - John von Neumann
"Kurt Gödel's achievement in modern logic is singular and monumental – indeed it is more than a monument, it is a landmark which will remain visible far in space and time. ... The subject of logic has certainly completely changed its nature and possibilities with Gödel's achievement." — John von Neumann
About John von Neumann
John von Neumann (28 December 1903 – 8 February 1957) was a Hungarian-American-Jewish mathematician, physicist, inventor, computer scientist, and polymath. He made major contributions to a number of fields, including mathematics (foundations of mathematics, functional analysis, ergodic theory, geometry, topology, and numerical analysis), physics (quantum mechanics, hydrodynamics and quantum statistical mechanics), economics (game theory), computing (Von Neumann architecture, linear programming, self-replicating machines, stochastic computing), and statistics.
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Additional quotes by John von Neumann
The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work - that is correctly to describe phenomena from a reasonably wide area. Furthermore, it must satisfy certain esthetic criteria - that is, in relation to how much it describes, it must be rather simple.
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Apart from all other considerations, the main limitation of analog machines relates to precision. Indeed, the precision of electrical analog machines rarely exceeds 1:10^3, and even mechanical ones achieve at best 1:10^4 to 10^5... On the other hand, to go from 1:10^12 to 1:10^13 in a digital machine means merely adding one place to twelve; this means usually no more than a relative increase in equipment (not everywhere!) of 1/12 = 8.3 percent, and an equal loss in speed (not everywhere!) — none of which is serious.