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A Beautiful Mind Mathematician John F. Nash Jr. Dies

Posted by samzenpus on from the rest-in-peace dept.

Rick Zeman writes: John F. Nash Jr. revolutionized the mathematical field of game theory and was given a mind that was unique and deeply troubled. He became known to most people by the movie about his life, A Beautiful Mind. Dr. Nash died, along with his wife, May 24 in a two-car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike. The Washington Post reports: "In 1994, when Dr. Nash received the Nobel Prize in economics, the award marked not only an intellectual triumph but also a personal one. More than four decades earlier, as a Princeton University graduate student, he had produced a 27-page thesis on game theory — in essence, the applied mathematical study of decision-making in situations of conflict — that would become one of the most celebrated works in the field. Before the academic world could fully recognize his achievement, Dr. Nash descended into a condition eventually diagnosed as schizophrenia. For the better part of 20 years, his once supremely rational mind was beset by delusions and hallucinations. By the time Dr. Nash emerged from his disturbed state, his ideas had influenced economics, foreign affairs, politics, biology — virtually every sphere of life fueled by competition. But he been absent from professional life for so long that some scholars assumed he was dead."

13 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. I guess that if a Mathematician... by TWX · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...wants a Nobel Prize, one's work must be in Economics, or Physics, or otherwise be recognizable in another discipline beyond one's actual field of study.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:I guess that if a Mathematician... by Carewolf · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, but the Fields medal is bit difficult because it has a low age limit. So you have write somthing great and get recognized for it before the age of 30

    2. Re:I guess that if a Mathematician... by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 5, Informative

      There isn't a Nobel prize in Economics though, even if that is what the article says. It is the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences as Alfred Nobel did not set it up.

      Yes, it's technically correct, though I get tired of hearing this brought up all the time, as if it's some sort of weird conspiracy theory to make it sound like there's a "Nobel Prize" when there isn't one.

      Look -- the Nobel Prizes are awarded by the Nobel Foundation. They use the same administrative mechanisms and process for choosing the economics prize, the same academic body (the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) makes the selections as most other prizes, they give the same award money, and they give the award at the same ceremony.

      The difference is that the other prizes were created by Nobel himself, while the economics prize was later endowed by contributions to the Nobel Foundation, who agreed to administer the prize under the same criteria.

      So yes, while Nobel himself didn't set it up, the fact is that the only body that matters NOW is who awards the prize, that that foundation (which actually OWNS and administers things called "Nobel Prizes") has decided to award a prize in economics too, which it basically treats in every way EXACTLY THE SAME as the other prizes.

      This strikes me like someone claiming that the Harvard Medical School or the Harvard Business School aren't REALLY "Harvard" schools, because John Harvard didn't explicitly will money to create schools of medicine or business or whatever back in the 1630s... he just wanted to create a college, and it was mostly a kind of seminary in the early days. So, you may think you are a Harvard Medical School grad -- but it's not REALLY "Harvard."

      There IS a bit of a difference here because the Nobel Foundation itself tries to keep a subtle distinction in the naming of the prizes, probably due to legal constraints about how the will was worded exactly. But acting like there's some big difference and it's not "really a Nobel Prize" is ridiculous -- it's just a historical and semantic distinction, not one that actually means anything in terms of how the prize is administered, selected, or awarded. And that's probably why the media usually makes little distinction, because in all ways that ACTUALLY MATTER, there isn't one.

      (And by the way, usually this argument tends to come up from people who want to claim economics isn't a "real science" or something. I won't get into that argument, but well, neither is "peace" or "literature.")

    3. Re:I guess that if a Mathematician... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When Barack Hussein Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing ... oh yeah, absolutely nothing, the entire credibility of all Nobel prizes took a swift kick in the gonads. Including those based on science and mathematics.

    4. Re:I guess that if a Mathematician... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      It was to make up for having awarded it to Henry Kissinger in 1973.

      To do that they would have had to award it to Starlight Glimmer.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  2. A true loss by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Truly a tragic loss, not just for science, but for all who were still learning from him. Both math, and that limitations are not what stops you.

  3. Thanks You Dr. Nash by cosm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Historical inaccuracies aside, the movie A Beautiful Mind inspired me to pursue and receive my B.S. in Mathematics which resulted in a very lucrative and satisfactory career. My thanks go out to Dr. Nash and my condolences go out to his family.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
    1. Re:Thanks You Dr. Nash by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Hey, he wasn't just a mathematician, he was also a computer geek. I used to see him back in the early 80's in the middle of the night in the Princeton computer center, wandering around with a deck of punch cards for the IBM mainframe.

      I was playing Frisbee in a field with some friends, and it started to drizzle. Professor Nash walked by, and laid down on a bench under a tree. He folded his hands together, closed his eyes, and looked really placid, but we could see that he was thinking about something.

      You know that saying, "A penny for your thoughts?" I would have paid a fortune to know what he was thinking about!

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  4. Re:Please correct the headline... by AchilleTalon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He is known for his work in game theory, however he is not a game theory mathematician since before fading into his mental illness he was working on quantum theory. His paper on game theory is his Ph. D. thesis. Just the tip of the iceberg this mathematician was and could have been if the illness didn't stopped him. Anyhow, it is very sad he and his wife died in an automobile accident.

    --
    Achille Talon
    Hop!
  5. And so preventable by justthinkit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A taxi that they were riding in was struck by another vehicle and the pair were ejected from the taxi.

    Why don't we wear seatbelts in taxi cabs? Is it even legal to not wear seat belts?

    --
    I come here for the love
  6. Nash just got the Abel price! by Terje+Mathisen · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just 5 days ago, John F. Nash and Louis Nirenberg got the Abel price in a ceremony in Oslo:

    http://www.abelprize.no/

    With a diploma handed over by the Norwegian King Harald and a NOK 6M prize this is the closest thing math has to a Nobel prize.

    Unlike the Fields Medal there is no age limit, so just like the Nobel prizes it tends to be given out at a later date, for work that has proven itself to be really outstanding.

    Terje

    --
    "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
  7. Re:Taxicab vs Uber by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In a high speed accident anything can happen of course. The real benefit is in lower speed accidents. In the past at speeds under 50mph many people were dying or being crippled for life without the use of seat belts. Properly belted in those are almost entirely walk away accidents. At really high speeds I'm not sure it makes that much difference. I remember back in the early sixties I was 5 years old and my Dad was driving his 59 Ford (on skinny bias-ply tires) with the needle on the speedometer right between the 00 on the 100MPH mark. The car had no belts at all and I was standing on the front seat gleefully yelling "pass another one daddy" as my father sipped on a jug of moonshine he had sitting on the floorboards between his legs. He's 90 now and when I remind him of it (he loves to criticize MY driving) he almost cries. It's amazing any of us survived. But hell it was fun.

  8. Re:Alicia by HuguesT · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A pretty remarkable woman by all accounts. She stood by him (even though they divorced) through the dark decades of his illness and remarried after.