John Forbes Nash Jr.

American mathematician and economist (1928-2015) · United States · Academics · Died at 86

John Forbes Nash Jr. is read about 4,320 times a day, in 95 languages.

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A mind that reshaped how we understand competition, cooperation, and strategic choice - then spent decades fighting itself.

Scientists Academic Mathematics Economics United States Americas 20th Century

A life in dates

2024New Jersey Hall of FameAward2015Died23 May 2015Abel PrizeAward2013Fellow of the American Mathematical SocietyAward2007Honorary Doctor of the University of AntwerpAward2006“You don't have to be a mathematician to have a feel for numbers. A movie, by the way, was made - sort of a small-scale offbeat movie - called Pi recently.”In their wordsStatement of 2006, partly cited in Stop Making Sense: Music from the Perspective of the Real (2015) by Scott Wilson, p. 117Read the whole statement

2001“Though I had success in my research both when I was mad and when I was not, eventually I felt that my work would be better respected if I thought and acted like a 'normal' person.”In their wordsAs quoted in A Beautiful Mind, (2001); also cited in Quantum Phaith (2011), by Jeffrey Strickland, p. 197Read the whole statement

1999Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to ResearchAward1994“By the time I was a student in high school I was reading the classic Men of Mathematics by E. T.”In their words"Autobiographical essay" in Les Prix Nobel - The Nobel Prizes 1994 (1995) edited by Tore FrängsmyrRead the whole statement

“At the present time I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists.”In their words"Autobiographical essay" in Les Prix Nobel - The Nobel Prizes 1994 (1995) edited by Tore FrängsmyrRead the whole statement

Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred NobelAward1990Fellow of the Econometric SocietyAward1978John von Neumann Theory PrizeAward1951“A less obvious type of application (of non-cooperative games) is to the study of .”In their wordsSeptember 1951"Non-cooperative Games" in Annals of Mathematics, Vol. 54, No. 2 (September 1951); as cited in Can and should the Nash program be looked atRead the whole statement

“We give two independent derivations of our solution of the two-person cooperative game. In the first, the cooperative game is reduced to a non-cooperative game.”In their wordsSeptember 1951"Non-cooperative Games" in Annals of Mathematics, Vol. 54, No. 2 (September 1951)Read the whole statement

1928Born13 June 1928

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

John Forbes Nash, Jr. by Peter Badge

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In their own words 9

John Forbes Nash Jr.

9 statements, newest first

You don't have to be a mathematician to have a feel for numbers. A movie, by the way, was made - sort of a small-scale offbeat movie - called Pi recently.
2006, Statement of 2006, partly cited in Stop Making Sense: Music from the Perspective of the Real (2015) by Scott Wilson, p. 117, Own words
People are always selling the idea that people with mental illness are suffering. I think madness can be an escape.
2002, As quoted in "A Brilliant Madness A Beautiful Madness (2002), PBS TV program; also cited in Doing Psychiatry Wrong: A Critical and, Own words
Though I had success in my research both when I was mad and when I was not, eventually I felt that my work would be better respected if I thought and acted like a 'normal' person.
2001, As quoted in A Beautiful Mind, (2001); also cited in Quantum Phaith (2011), by Jeffrey Strickland, p. 197, Own words

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Awards

New Jersey Hall of Fame2024

Abel Prize2015

Fellow of the American Mathematical Society2013

Honorary Doctor of the University of Antwerp2007

Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research1999

Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel1994

Fellow of the Econometric Society1990

John von Neumann Theory Prize1978

Honorary Doctor of the University of Athens

Honorary Doctor of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Family

Father John Forbes Nash, Sr.

John Forbes Nash Jr.

Partners

Spouse Alicia Nash

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About this person

John Forbes Nash Jr. introduced the Nash equilibrium and other core game theory concepts as a graduate student at Princeton, work that would eventually earn him the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics alongside John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten. In the 1950s he proved the Nash embedding theorems by solving nonlinear partial differential equations in Riemannian geometry, and with Ennio De Giorgi resolved Hilbert's nineteenth problem - a question open for nearly sixty years - through their theorem on the smoothness of solutions to elliptic and parabolic equations. In 1959 Nash began showing signs of schizophrenia and spent years in psychiatric hospitals; after 1970 his condition slowly improved, and by the mid-1980s he had returned to academic work. He shared the 2015 Abel Prize with Louis Nirenberg for contributions to partial differential equations. Sylvia Nasar's 1998 book A Beautiful Mind and the 2001 Ron Howard film brought his illness and recovery to a mass audience; Nash died in a car accident weeks after receiving the Abel Prize.

Country

United States

In common with John

Milton FriedmanBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

Friedrich HayekBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

Jean-Pierre SerreBoth received Abel Prize

Richard S. HamiltonBoth received Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research

Paul KrugmanBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

Amartya SenBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

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