Smartphones; game theory; nanotechnology; nuclear weapons. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable man: John von Neumann. Born into a Jewish family in culturally dazzling fin de siècle Budapest, von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived, reputed by his colleagues to have the fastest brain on the planet – bar none. Physicist and science writer Ananyo Bhatttacharya explores how a combination of genius and unique historical circumstance allowed a single man to sweep through so many different fields of science, sparking revolutions wherever he went. In conversation with scientist and author Bernard Bulkin.