From his quirky habit of whistling almost continuously to his seminal work in advancing game theory, a snapshot of the life of one of the greatest modern-day mathematicians
As the world mourns the sudden passing of one of the greatest mathematicians of our time, we look back at the absolutely remarkable life of John Forbes Nash. From an unspectacular yet prodigious childhood to the flurry of path-breaking mathematical discoveries as a young man to a tormenting descent into a debilitating mental ailment to finally rising out of it to win a Nobel prize in 1994, his life was a thing of inspiration.
His ‘Nash Equilibrium’ is today central to Economic theory and has even found its way into other seemingly unrelated fields like social sciences and evolutionary biology, all of which will benefit from his genius in furthering game theory.
Here are 12 things about this amazing individual that you probably never knew (even if you saw the Oscar-winning movie):
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John F Nash was born on 29 July, 1928. He happens to share the same birthday and birth year as the richest person in Asia, Sir Li Ka-shing, a Hong Kong business magnate, investor and philanthropist worth $33.5 billion.
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Even though he was not an exceptionally smart student, he was a prodigy: as a child, he read voraciously, played chess and whistled entire classical compositions.
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Nash’s advisor and former Carnegie Tech professor, R J Duffin, wrote a letter to support his application to Princeton University’s doctoral program in math. It had just one sentence: “This man is a genius.”
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He did not pioneer the field of Game Theory (this was originally done by Hungarian mathematician John Von Neumann), but he did extend the theory to take the analysis beyond zero-sum (I-win-you-lose type outcomes) to more complex results where both parties could win or both could lose.
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The majority of his mathematical discoveries happened well before he was 30.
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He married Alicia Larde, herself an MIT Physics Major who hailed from an aristocratic Central American family. Even though they divorced in 1963, she continued to stand by him and even took him into her home to live as he battled mental illness. They married a second time in 2001.
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He exhibited several quirks, including whistling almost continuously, walking away from a conversation sometimes mid-way through. He was also extremely arrogant and fanatical about chasing his challenges.
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He was credited with the ‘Nash Equilibrium’ and the theory of noncooperative games (game theory) in 1950. A simple but powerful tool that aids in analysing several types of competitive scenarios as found in corporate rivalries, legislative decision-making and sporting strategy.
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The scene in the movie adaptation of his life, where the four friends in the bar want to woo the beautiful blonde who walks in never really happened in real life.
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It was in early 1959 when his life began to spiral downward. Plagued with bouts of paranoia and delusion, he was hospitalized near Boston. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, he underwent shock therapy and moved to Europe even as his condition worsened. When he returned, he roamed the Princeton campus as a forgotten figure, often scribbling unintelligible gibberish on the blackboards he used years ago to prove fantastic mathematical conundrums.
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He was jobless and had no social security, and all but faded from public consciousness. There were rumors of him having a lobotomy, or even being presumed dead. All the while, his previous work assumed ever-increasing significance and was being taught widely in economics courses around the world.
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By the early 1990s, he began showing signs of coming around to rationality, an occurrence he largely attributed to the natural hormonal changes associated with ageing.
Here, the Nash equilibrium explained lucidly in this excellent Khan Academy video using the popular ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ scenario.
Prisoners' dilemma and Nash equilibrium: Why two not-so-loyal criminals would want to snitch each other out
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