John von Neumann (1093-1957) y Andrej Nikolaevic Kolmogorov (1903-1987): vidas paralelas y el papel de las matematicas en la comprension de la realidad John von Neumann (1903-1957) and Andrey Nikolaevic Kolmogorov (1903-1987)'s bioi paralleloi and the role of mathematics in the understanding of the world

This contribution draws parallels between the figures and aspects of the intellectual journeys of two great scientists trained in Europe, John von Neumann (1903–1957) and Andrej Nikolaevic Kolmogorov (1903–1987). It explores a classical view of the connection between mathematical knowledge and the human effort to understand reality that they shared. This view had its fulcrum in the field of classical mechanics (in which they interacted directly, albeit at different times in their lives), although for both of them, as 20th-century scholars, technological knowledge and disciplines dedicated to the study of the inanimate world could be enriched by the concepts and approaches characteristic of mathematics. This “panmathematical” conception declines the mathesis universalis in an advanced phase of the scientific-technological revolution.