John von Neumann's conception of the minimax theorem: A journey through different mathematical contexts (Q5952718)

The article is a very carefully elaborated and well argumented historical study of von Neumann's insight into the importance of minimax theorems. In 1928 von Neumann considered two-person zero-sum games; that publication was about linear inequalities. In 1937, the subject was linked to fixed point properties, mainly Brouwer's theorem; solutions appeared as saddle points. During the meantime E. Borel had been the initiator of game theory. Von Neumann's 1944 book, written in collaboration with the economist Morgenstern, covers the whole subject. The question of priority, raised mainly by M. Fréchet, was acknowledged by von Neumann, who had been informed of Borel's work while proofreading his 1937 article. The author primarily stresses the impact of the minimax theorem and sees a philosophical issue raised by the question whether theorems that turn out to be equivalent have the same significance or the same potential for stimulating further developments regardless of their mathematical context. Also it should be noticed that von Neumann's results prepared the later discipline of linear and nonlinear programming.