Von Neumann’s talents stood out, even in Budapest. “Johnny’s most characteristic trait was his boundless curiosity about everything and anything, his compulsive ambition to know, to understand any problem, no matter on what level,” Klári recalls. “Anything that would tickle his curiosity with a question mark, he could not leave alone; he would sulk, pout and be generally impossible until, at least to his own satisfaction, he had found the right answer.” He was able to disassemble any problem and then reassemble it in a way that rendered the answer obvious as a result. He had an ability,
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