2015-05-24

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."

Re:Please correct the headline...

By AchilleTalon



2015-May-24 11:21

• Score: 5, Interesting
• Thread

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.

Re:I guess that if a Mathematician...

By Carewolf



2015-May-24 11:24

• Score: 4, Informative
• Thread

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

And so preventable

By justthinkit



2015-May-24 11:24

• Score: 4, Interesting
• Thread

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?

Re:I guess that if a Mathematician...

By AthanasiusKircher



2015-May-24 11:36

• Score: 5, Informative
• Thread

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.")

Nash just got the Abel price!

By Terje Mathisen



2015-May-24 12:10

• Score: 5, Informative
• Thread

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

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