•Saturday, June 20, 2015
Mathematicians
have propensity to be eccentric more than most people.But there was no hint
that it would shade over into delusionary psychotic behavior.
He so
impressed one Professor that his letter of recommendation for Princeton has
just one line” This man is Genius.” This one line is enough to describe him.He
was so incredibly himself,so special,so unusual.
I am stunned and saddened by news of the untimely passing of
John Nash (86) and his wife Alicia (82).On May 23,2015,they were killed in a
taxi accident in New Jersey.
John Nash is known for Groundbreaking work in Game
Theory.Nash as a Princeton University Graduate student had produced 27-page
thesis on Game Theory(1950).It is the applied Mathematical study of
decision-making in situations of
conflict.It offers insight into the dynamics of human rivalry.His thesis
contained definitions and properties of Nash Equilibrium.He expanded Game Theory
to Cooperative Games and
Non Cooperative games.
In 1958,he threw himself into solving Riemann Hypothesis,the
Holy Grail of Mathematics.The work was mentally and physically exhausting.In
1959,his wife,Alicia learned that he was
suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.Next 20 years took him into endless
darkness.In 1980,he recovered from mental illness.
He won Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994 for his work in Game Theory.Apart
from Game Theory his work on Differential Geometry and Partial Differential
Equations dazzled the Mathematics world.A few days before his
death he received Abel Prize in Mathematics.
I wished to meet the Genius. My wish can’t be fulfilled,but the
Idea he invented and developed would always inspire me.
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