Of course great interview.
Loved his comment about Fermi. Feynman while working on the Atomic Bomb project was stuck on this problem. Fermi came on over and asked what was going on. He explained clearly and in simple terms the solution. Feynman was sort of shocked - that was Feynman's forte, but he out Feynmaned Feynman. After that their was a threesome often seen together in deep discussion - Feynman, Fermi and Von-Neumann. I think Feynman basically thought both above him. They had a lot of contests doing mental calculation, often joined by Bethe, and who usually came out on top - Fermi - yes Von-Neumann was bested at what he was good at, like Feynman was. Fermi - a much underrated physicist who like Feynman was also a great teacher, but unlike Feynman was also a very good experimentalist. He was known as the Pope for good reason. Of course it has to be said Von-Neumann made a number of key contributions to the project such as using a bomb around the fissionable material to get it to critical density and keep it there long enough to really go BANG - up there with actually creating the first self sustaining fission reactor that Fermi did - just to add a bit of perspective.
Thanks
Bil
