By naming the new centre John von Neumann Institute for Computing, the Research Centre Jülich and the German Electron Synchrotron Foundation acknowledge John von Neumann's great scientific achievements in computer science and mathematics and his effective impact on computer applications. The broad spectrum of his scientific interests addressed very different fields of science and ranged from automata and game theory through quantum mechanics up to hydrodynamics and ballistics. There is no doubt that his visit and speech at the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences at the invitation of Leo Brandt, State Secretary and founder of the Research Centre Jülich, in September 1954 profoundly influenced the organization of mathematics and computing at the Research Centre Jülich founded in 1956.