Part 1 (2/2)
The first ti scene on the Lower East All the principals were there because a New York Ti to interview us all
I met Akiva Goldsman, the screenwriter without whom the movie would never have been made, much less won an Oscar It was Goldsh Nash's eyes for the first half of thepulled out from under them, the movie audience was not only drawn into the story but experienced what it's like not to be able to distinguish between reality and delusion
After Ron Howard screened the movie for John and Alicia, I called them ”So, John, what did you think?”
I don't remember all of his exact words, but I do recall that he s: First of all, that it was funny
Second, John being an actionwas fast
Third
”I think Russell Crowe looks a little likehimself, at a Q&A with Ron Howard at New York University's film school, some mathematicians from the Courant Institute came up to Ron Howard to tell him that John Nash actually had looked like Russell Crowe in the white T-shi+rt scene
The ht to Mu Aame theory conference The wo to India when the flight attendant caraph of John Nash, the keynote speaker, on the front page, right next to one of Sen All I had to do was to point In Mu and other places he was invited to speak, he was mobbed by hundreds of reporters and ishers
Nash's story appealed to children and teenagers ere thrilled by the notion that so things and outseneration And it made math seem cool
Dear Mr Nash,
Hi! I airl I really ads I think you are the smartest person who ever lived I really wish to be like you I would love to study ood at ood at it Was that what it was like for you when you were a kid? Please write back Love, Ellie
PS I LOVE your naue
Where the statue stood Of Neith his prising through strange seas of Thought, alone
- WILLIAM W WORDSWORTH
JOHN F FORBES N NASH, JR - enius, inventor of a theory of rational behavior, visionary of the thinkingwith his visitor, also a mathematician, for nearly half an hour It was late on a weekday afternoon in the spring of 1959, and, though it was only May, uncomfortably warm Nash was slue, carelessly dressed in a nylon shi+rt that hung limply over his unbelted trousers His powerful fra doll's, his finelydully at a spot ime Mackey, hardlydark hair away from his forehead in a fitful, repetitive ht, oppressed by the silence, acutely conscious that the doors to the rooer His voice was slightly querulous, but he strained to be gentle ”How could you,” began Mackey, ”how could you, a ical proof how could you believe that extraterrestrials are sending yourecruited by aliens from outer space to save the world? How could you?”
Nash looked up at last and fixed Mackey with an unblinking stare as cool and dispassionate as that of any bird or snake ”Because,” Nash said slowly in his soft, reasonable southern drawl, as if talking to his came to me the same way that mygenius frohly eccentric - burst onto the mathematical scene in 1948 Over the next decade, a decade as notable for its supreme faith in human rationality as for its dark anxieties about mankind's survival,2 Nash proved himself, in the words of the eeometer Mikhail Gromov, ”the most reeometer Mikhail Gromov, ”the most remarkable mathey, economic rivalry, coeoinary spaces, the ination His ideas were of the deep and wholly unanticipated kind that pushes scientific thinking in new directions Gay, economic rivalry, coeoinary spaces, the ination His ideas were of the deep and wholly unanticipated kind that pushes scientific thinking in new directions
Geniuses, the mathematician Paul Halmos wrote, ”are of two kinds: the ones who are just like all of us, but very much more so,and the ones who, apparently, have an extra human spark We can all run, and some of us can run thethat most of us can do that coue”4 Nash's genius was of that mysterious variety more often associated with music and art than with the oldest of all sciences It wasn't merely that his mind worked faster, that his memory was reater The flashes of intuition were non-rational Like other greatFriedrich Bernhard Riemann, Jules Henri Poincare, Srinivasa Ra the laborious proofs long afterward But even after he'd try to explain so result, the actual route he had taken re Donald Newman, a mathematician who knew Nash at MIT in the 1950s, used to say about hi for a path somewhere on the ether and froht back onto the first peak” Nash's genius was of that mysterious variety more often associated with music and art than with the oldest of all sciences It wasn't merely that his mind worked faster, that his memory was reater The flashes of intuition were non-rational Like other greatFriedrich Bernhard Riemann, Jules Henri Poincare, Srinivasa Ra the laborious proofs long afterward But even after he'd try to explain so result, the actual route he had taken re Donald Newman, a mathematician who knew Nash at MIT in the 1950s, used to say about hi for a path somewhere on the ether and froht back onto the first peak”5 No one was inality, more disdainful of authority, orh priests of twentieth-century science - Albert Einstein, John von Neumann, and Norbert Wiener - but he joined no school, becauides or followers In aleometry - he thumbed his nose at the received wisdom, current fashi+ons, established methods He al, often whistling Bach Nash acquired his knowledge ofwhat othertheir truths for hier to astound, he was always on the lookout for the really big problems When he focused on some new puzzle, he saw dimensions that people who really knew the subject (he never did) initially disheaded Even as a student, his indifference to others' skepticism, doubt, and ridicule esome
Nash's faith in rationality and the power of pure thought was extre e of computers, space travel, and nuclear weapons Einstein once chided hi physics6 His heroes were solitary thinkers and supermen like Newton and Nietzsche His heroes were solitary thinkers and supermen like Newton and Nietzsche7 Computers and science fiction were his passions He considered ”thinking machines,” as he called thes Computers and science fiction were his passions He considered ”thinking machines,” as he called thes8 At one point, he becahten physical and intellectual performance At one point, he becahten physical and intellectual perforuiled by the idea of alien races of hyper-rational beings who had taught theard all es who had taught theard all emotion10 Compulsively rational, he wished to turn life's decisions - whether to take the first elevator or wait for the next one, where to bank his money, what job to accept, whether to orithms or mathematical rules divorced from emotion, convention, and tradition Even the s an automatic hello to Nash in a hallway could elicit a furious ”Why are you saying hello to me?” Compulsively rational, he wished to turn life's decisions - whether to take the first elevator or wait for the next one, where to bank his money, what job to accept, whether to orithms or mathematical rules divorced from emotion, convention, and tradition Even the s an automatic hello to Nash in a hallway could elicit a furious ”Why are you saying hello to me?”11 His contee They described hihty,” ”without affect,” ”detached,” ”spooky,” ”isolated,” and ”queer”12 Nash led rather than mixed with his peers Preoccupied with his own private reality, he seehtly cold, a bit superior, so ”mysterious and unnatural” His rearrulousness about outer space and geopolitical trends, childish pranks, and unpredictable eruptions of anger But these outbursts were, matic as his silences ”He is not one of us” was a constant refrain A mathematician at the Institute for Advanced Study re Nash for the first tiled rather than mixed with his peers Preoccupied with his own private reality, he seehtly cold, a bit superior, so ”mysterious and unnatural” His rearrulousness about outer space and geopolitical trends, childish pranks, and unpredictable eruptions of anger But these outbursts were, matic as his silences ”He is not one of us” was a constant refrain A mathematician at the Institute for Advanced Study re Nash for the first time at a crowded student party at Princeton: I noticed hi a lot of other people ere there He was sitting on the floor in a half-circle discussing so I had a feeling of a certain strangeness He was different in some way I was not aware of the extent of his talent I had no idea he would contribute as much as he really did13
But he did contribute, in a big way The marvelous paradox was that the ideas theled Nash out for his achieveeo hieneration of new ambidextrous mathematicians orked in both pure and applied a hieneration of new ambidextrous mathematicians orked in both pure and applied ht into the dynamics of human rivalry - his theory of rational conflict and cooperation - was to become one of thethe young science of econoenetic transmission, Darwin's model of natural selection, and Newton's celestial y and physics in their day Nash's insight into the dynamics of human rivalry - his theory of rational conflict and cooperation - was to become one of thethe young science of econoenetic transmission, Darwin's model of natural selection, and Newton's celestial y and physics in their day
It was the great Hungarian-born polynized that social behavior could be analyzed as gaaical and mathematical rules about rivalries15 Just as Blake saw the universe in a grain of sand, great scientists have often looked for clues to vast and complex problems in the small, fahts about the heavens by juggling wooden balls Einstein contearain of sand, great scientists have often looked for clues to vast and complex problems in the small, fahts about the heavens by juggling wooden balls Einstein contealy trivial and playful pursuit like poker, von Neuht hold the key to more serious human affairs for two reasons Both poker and econo, nae based on some internally consistent system of values (”more is better than less”) And in both, the outcome for any individual actor depends not only on his own actions, but on the independent actions of others ht hold the key to more serious human affairs for two reasons Both poker and econo, nae based on some internally consistent system of values (”more is better than less”) And in both, the outcome for any individual actor depends not only on his own actions, but on the independent actions of others
More than a century earlier, the French econoustin Cournot had pointed out that problereatly sients were present16 Alone on his island, Robinson Crusoe doesn't have to worry about others whose actions h, do Adam Smith's butchers and bakers They live in a world with so many actors that their actions, in effect, cancel each other out But when there is ent but not so ic behavior raises a seely insoluble problem: ”I think that he thinks that I think that he thinks,” and so forth Alone on his island, Robinson Crusoe doesn't have to worry about others whose actions h, do Adam Smith's butchers and bakers They live in a world with so many actors that their actions, in effect, cancel each other out But when there is ent but not so ic behavior raises a seely insoluble problem: ”I think that he thinks that I think that he thinks,” and so forth
Von Neu solution to this probleaaain is another's loss But zero-suames are the ones least applicable to econoame theory ”what the twelve-bar blues is to jazz; a polar case, and a point of historical departure”) For situations with ain - the standard economic scenario - von Neumann's superlative instincts failed him He was convinced that players would have to forher, centralized authority to enforce those agreeeneration's distrust, in the wake of the Depression and in the h von Neumann hardly shared the liberal views of Einstein, Bertrand Russell, and the British econo of their belief that actions that ht be reasonable from the point of view of the individual could produce social chaos Like them he embraced the then-popular solution to political conflict in the age of nuclear weapons: world governeneration's distrust, in the wake of the Depression and in the h von Neumann hardly shared the liberal views of Einstein, Bertrand Russell, and the British econo of their belief that actions that ht be reasonable from the point of view of the individual could produce social chaos Like them he embraced the then-popular solution to political conflict in the age of nuclear weapons: world govern Nash had wholly different instincts Where von Neuroup, Nash zeroed in on the individual, and by doing so, ame theory relevant to e doctoral thesis, written when he enty-one, Nash created a theory for ga a concept that let one cut through the endless chain of reasoning, ”I think that you think that I think ”19 His insight was that the game would be solved when every player independently chose his best response to the other players' best strategies His insight was that the game would be solved when every player independently chose his best response to the other players' best strategies
Thus, a young ly so out of touch with other people's emotions, not to mention his own, could see clearly that the most human of motives and behavior is as much of a mystery as mathematics itself, that world of ideal platonic forly by pure introspection (and yet sorossest and rown up in a boom town in the Appalachian foothills where fortunes were , raw businesses of rails, coal, scrap metal, and electric power Individual rationality and self-interest, not coood, seemed sufficient to create a tolerable order The leap was a short one, froical strategy necessary for the individual to es The Nash equilibriu the problem of economic competition in the way that he did, Nash showed that a decentralized decision- economics an updated, far reat rown up in a boom town in the Appalachian foothills where fortunes were , raw businesses of rails, coal, scrap metal, and electric power Individual rationality and self-interest, not coood, seemed sufficient to create a tolerable order The leap was a short one, froical strategy necessary for the individual to es The Nash equilibriu the problem of economic competition in the way that he did, Nash showed that a decentralized decision- economics an updated, far reat metaphor of the Invisible Hand
By his late twenties, Nash's insights and discoveries had won hinition, respect, and autonomy He had carved out a brilliant career at the apex of the ht, met the most famous enius also won hi physics student who adored hienius, this life A seereat scientists and philosophers, aenstein, Immanuel Kant, Thorstein Veblen, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein, have had sie and solitary personalities20 An e temperament can be especially conducive to scientific creativity, psychiatrists and biographers have long observed, just as fiery fluctuations in mood may sometimes be linked to artistic expression In An e temperament can be especially conducive to scientific creativity, psychiatrists and biographers have long observed, just as fiery fluctuations in mood may sometimes be linked to artistic expression In The Dynamics of Creation, The Dynamics of Creation, Anthony Storr, the British psychiatrist, contends that an individual who ”fears love almost as much as he fears hatred” may turn to creative activity not only out of an iht of exercising an active ainst anxiety sti demands for detachment and human contact Anthony Storr, the British psychiatrist, contends that an individual who ”fears love almost as much as he fears hatred” may turn to creative activity not only out of an iht of exercising an active ainst anxiety sti demands for detachment and human contact21 In the same vein, Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher and writer, called genius ”the brilliant invention of so the question of why people often are willing to endure frustration and , even in the absence of large rewards, Storr speculates: In the same vein, Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher and writer, called genius ”the brilliant invention of so the question of why people often are willing to endure frustration and , even in the absence of large rewards, Storr speculates: Some creative peopleof predominately schizoid or depressive temperamentsuse their creative capacities in a defensive way If creative work protects a man from mental illness, it is small wonder that he pursues it with avidity The schizoid stateis characterized by a sense of lessness and futility For most people, interaction with others provides nificance in life For the schizoid person, however, this is not the case Creative activity is a particularly apt way to express himselfthe activity is solitary[but] the ability to create and the productions which result fro value by our society productions which result fro value by our society22
Of course, very few people who exhibit ”a lifelong pattern of social isolation” and ”indifference to the attitudes and feelings of others” - the hallreat scientific or other creative talent23 And the vast e and solitary temperaments never succumb to severe mental illness And the vast e and solitary temperaments never succu to John G Gunderson, a psychiatrist at Harvard, they tend ”to engage in solitary activities which often involve mechanical, scientific, futuristic and other non-huly co a stable but distant network of relationshi+ps with people around work tasks” Instead, according to John G Gunderson, a psychiatrist at Harvard, they tend ”to engage in solitary activities which often involve mechanical, scientific, futuristic and other non-huly co a stable but distant network of relationshi+ps with people around work tasks”25 Men of scientific genius, however eccentric, rarely becoest evidence for the potentially protective nature of creativity Men of scientific genius, however eccentric, rarely becoest evidence for the potentially protective nature of creativity26 Nash proved a tragic exception Underneath the brilliant surface of his life, all was chaos and contradiction: his involveitimate son; a deep ambivalence toward the ho adored him, the university that nurtured hi fear of failure And the chaos eventually welled up, spilled over, and swept away the fragile edifice of his carefully constructed life
The first visible signs of Nash's slide from eccentricity into madness appeared when he was thirty and was about to be made a full professor at MIT The episodes were so cryptic and fleeting that soht that he was indulging a private joke at their expense He walked into the co The New York Times The New York Times and remarked, to no one in particular, that the story in the upper left-hand corner of the front page contained an encrypted alaxy that only he could decipher and remarked, to no one in particular, that the story in the upper left-hand corner of the front page contained an encrypted alaxy that only he could decipher27 Even ned his professorshi+p, and was incarcerated at a private psychiatric hospital in suburban Boston, one of the nation's leading forensic psychiatrists, an expert who testified in the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, insisted that Nash was perfectly sane Only a few of those itnessed the uncanny nificance Even ned his professorshi+p, and was incarcerated at a private psychiatric hospital in suburban Boston, one of the nation's leading forensic psychiatrists, an expert who testified in the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, insisted that Nash was perfectly sane Only a few of those itnessed the uncanny nificance28 At thirty years of age, Nash suffered the first shattering episode of paranoid schizophrenia, the most catastrophic, protean, and mysterious of mental illnesses For the next three decades, Nash suffered froht and feeling, and a broken will In the grip of this ”cancer of the mind,” as the universally dreaded condition is soy and religious prophecy, and believed hireat but secret importance” He fled to Europe several times, was hospitalized involuntarily half a dozen times for periods up to a year and a half, was subjected to all sorts of drug and shock treatments, experienced brief remissions and episodes of hope that lasted only a few months, and finally became a sad phantom who haunted the Princeton University caraduate student, oddly dressed, es on blackboards, year after year brief remissions and episodes of hope that lasted only a few months, and finally became a sad phantom who haunted the Princeton University caraduate student, oddly dressed, es on blackboards, year after year
The origins of schizophrenia are mysterious The condition was first described in 1806, but no one is certain whether the illness - or,before then but had escaped definition or, on the other hand, appeared as an AIDS-like scourge at the start of the industrial age29 Roughly 1 percent of the population in all countries succuhly 1 percent of the population in all countries succumbs to it30 Why it strikes one individual and not another is not known, although the suspicion is that it results frole of inherited vulnerability and life stresses Why it strikes one individual and not another is not known, although the suspicion is that it results frole of inherited vulnerability and life stresses31 No ele - has ever been proved to cause, by itself, a single instance of the illness No ele - has ever been proved to cause, by itself, a single instance of the illness32 There is now a consensus that schizophrenia has a tendency to run in families, but heredity alone apparently cannot explain why a specific individual develops the full-blown illness There is now a consensus that schizophrenia has a tendency to run in families, but heredity alone apparently cannot explain why a specific individual develops the full-blown illness33 Eugen Bleuler, who coined the term schizophrenia schizophrenia in 1908, describes a ”specific type of alteration of thinking, feeling and relation to the external world” in 1908, describes a ”specific type of alteration of thinking, feeling and relation to the external world”34 The ter of psychic functions, ”a peculiar destruction of the inner cohesiveness of the psychic personality” The ter of psychic functions, ”a peculiar destruction of the inner cohesiveness of the psychic personality”35 To the person experiencing early symptoms, there is a dislocation of every faculty, of ti early symptoms, there is a dislocation of every faculty, of ti voices, bizarre delusions, extreitation, coldness toward others - is, taken singly, unique to the illness None of its sy voices, bizarre delusions, extreitation, coldness toward others - is, taken singly, unique to the illness37 And symptoms vary so much between individuals and over time for the same individual that the notion of a ”typical case” is virtually nonexistent Even the degree of disability - far e, for htly,to Irving Gottes contemporary researcher And symptoms vary so much between individuals and over time for the same individual that the notion of a ”typical case” is virtually nonexistent Even the degree of disability - far e, for htly,to Irving Gottesh Nash succue thirty, the illness can appear at any tih Nash succue thirty, the illness can appear at any tie39 The first episode can last a feeeks or months or several years The first episode can last a feeeks or months or several years40 The life history of someone with the disease can include only one or two episodes The life history of someone with the disease can include only one or two episodes41 Isaac Newton, always an eccentric and solitary soul, apparently suffered a psychotic breakdoith paranoid delusions at age fifty-one Isaac Newton, always an eccentric and solitary soul, apparently suffered a psychotic breakdoith paranoid delusions at age fifty-one42 The episode, which er man and the failure of his alchemy experiments, marked the end of Newton's academic career But, after a year or so, Newton recovered and went on to hold a series of high public positions and to receive many honors More often, as happened in Nash's case, people with the disease suffer ressively more severe episodes that occur at ever shorter intervals Recovery, alamut from a level tolerable to society to one that may not require permanent hospitalization but in fact does not allow even the semblance of a normal life The episode, which er man and the failure of his alchemy experiments, marked the end of Newton's academic career But, after a year or so, Newton recovered and went on to hold a series of high public positions and to receive many honors More often, as happened in Nash's case, people with the disease suffer ressively more severe episodes that occur at ever shorter intervals Recovery, alamut from a level tolerable to society to one that may not require permanent hospitalization but in fact does not allow even the semblance of a nor characteristic of the illness is the profound feeling of incomprehensibility and inaccessibility that sufferers provoke in other people Psychiatrists describe the person's sense of being separated by a ”gulf which defies description” fro, inconceivable, uncanny and incapable of e” inconceivable, uncanny and incapable of e”44 For Nash, the onset of the illness dra, on the part of many who knew him, that he was essentially disconnected from them and deeply unknowable As Storr writes: For Nash, the onset of the illness dra, on the part of many who knew him, that he was essentially disconnected from them and deeply unknowable As Storr writes: However enerally feels there is some possibility of emotional contact The schizoid person, on the other hand, appears withdrawn and inaccessible His remoteness from human contact makes his state'of s are not communicated If such a person becomes psychotic (schizophrenic) this lack of connection with people and the external world becomes more obvious; with the result that the sufferer's behavior and utterances appear inconsequential and unpredictable45
Schizophrenia contradicts popular but incorrect views of yrations of mood, or fevered delirium Someone with schizophrenia is not permanently disoriented or confused, for example, the way that an individual with a brain injury or Alzheiht be46 He rip on certain aspects of present reality While he was ill, Nash traveled all over Europe and Aal help, and learned to write sophisticated corams Schizophrenia is also distinct from manic depressive illness (currently known as bipolar disorder), the illness hich it has most often been confounded in the past He rip on certain aspects of present reality While he was ill, Nash traveled all over Europe and Aal help, and learned to write sophisticated corams Schizophrenia is also distinct from manic depressive illness (currently known as bipolar disorder), the illness hich it has , schizophrenia can be a ratiocinating illness, particularly in its early phases47 Froreat students of schizophrenia noted that its sufferers included people with fine h not always, come with the disorder involve subtle, sophisticated, coht Emil Kraepelin, who defined the disorder for the first time in 1896, described ”dementia praecox,” as he called the illness, not as the shattering of reason but as causing ”predoe to the emotional life and the will” Froreat students of schizophrenia noted that its sufferers included people with fine h not always, come with the disorder involve subtle, sophisticated, coht Emil Kraepelin, who defined the disorder for the first time in 1896, described ”dementia praecox,” as he called the illness, not as the shattering of reason but as causing ”predoe to the eist at Rutgers University, calls it ”not an escape fro illness Dostoevsky i rather than a di of conscious awareness, and an alienation not from reason but from eist at Rutgers University, calls it ”not an escape fro illness Dostoevsky i rather than a di of conscious awareness, and an alienation not from reason but from emotion, instincts and the will”49 Nash's mood in the early days of his illness can be described, not as htened awareness, insoan to believe that a great s that he saw - a telephone nu the sidewalk, a Hebrew letter, a birthplace, a sentence in The New York Tinificance, apparent only to hi, so much so that they drove from his consciousness his usual concerns and preoccupations At the sahts He claireatest unsolved problenificance, apparent only to hi, so much so that they drove from his consciousness his usual concerns and preoccupations At the sahts He claireatest unsolved problem in pure mathematics, the so-called Rieed in an effort to ”rewrite the foundations of quantum physics” Still later, he claiues, to have discovered vast conspiracies and the secret ebraist Ereat necroist,” Nash wrote: the so-called Rieed in an effort to ”rewrite the foundations of quantum physics” Still later, he claiues, to have discovered vast conspiracies and the secret ebraist Ereat necro Algerbiac [sic] questions and have noticed soht also interest youI, a while ago, was seized with the concept that nuht not be sufficiently intrinsic also that language and alphabet structurewith clear understands [sic] or unbiased thinkingI quickly wrote down a new sequence of symbolsThese were associated with (in fact natural, but perhaps not computationally ideal but suited for mystical rituals, incantations and such) systeers via symbols, based on the products of successive primes50
A predisposition to schizophrenia was probably integral to Nash's exotic style of thought as a mathematician, but the full-blown disease devastated his ability to do creative work His once-illuly obscure, self-contradictory, and full of purely privateconviction that the universe was rational evolved into a caricature of itself, turning into an unshakable belief that everything hadwas randorandiose delusions insulated him from the painful reality of all that he had lost But then would come terrible flashes of awareness He complained bitterly from time to time of his inability to concentrate and to remember mathematics, which he attributed to shock treatments51 He sometimes told others that his enforced idleness made him feel ashamed of himself, worthless He sometimes told others that his enforced idleness made him feel ashamed of hi wordlessly On one occasion, so at a table in the dining hall at the Institute for Advanced Study - the scholarly haven where he had once discussed his ideas with the likes of Einstein, von Neu, an institute staff ot up, walked over to a wall, and stood there for ainst the wall, slowly, over and over, eyes tightly shut, fists clenched, his face contorted with anguish More often, he expressed his suffering wordlessly On one occasion, so at a table in the dining hall at the Institute for Advanced Study - the scholarly haven where he had once discussed his ideas with the likes of Einstein, von Neu, an institute staff ot up, walked over to a wall, and stood there for ainst the wall, slowly, over and over, eyes tightly shut, fists clenched, his face contorted with anguish53 While Nash the man remained frozen in a dreamlike state, a phanto on blackboards and studying religious texts, his naan to surface everywhere - in econoy, political science treatises, mathematics journals It appeared less often in explicit citations of the papers he had written in the 1950s than as an adjective for concepts too universally accepted, too familiar a part of the foundation of many subjects to require a particular reference: ”Nash equilibriui-Nash result,” ”Nash e-up” foundation of many subjects to require a particular reference: ”Nash equilibriui-Nash result,” ”Nash e-up”54 When a massive new encyclopedia of economics, When a rave, The New Palgrave, appeared in 1987, its editors noted that the gah economics ”was effected with apparently no new fundamental mathematical theorems beyond those of von Neuah economics ”was effected with apparently no new fundamental mathematical theorems beyond those of von Neumann and Nash”55 Even as Nash's ideas became more influential - in fields so disparate that aleometer or Nash the analyst - themathematicians and econoiven the dates of his published articles, that he was dead Members of the profession who knew otherwise, but were aware of his tragic illness, sometimes treated him as if he were A 1989 proposal to place Nash on the ballot of the Econometric Society as a potential fellow of the society was treated by society officials as a highly roesture - and rejected56 No biographical sketch of Nash appeared in No biographical sketch of Nash appeared in The New Palgrave The New Palgrave alongside sketches of half a dozen other pioneers of gaside sketches of half a dozen other pioneers of game theory57 At around that time, as part of his daily rounds in Princeton, Nash used to turn up at the institute alarettes or spare change, but ure, gaunt and gray, who sat alone off in a corner, drinking coffee, sed pile of papers that he carried with hiiants of twentieth-century theoretical physics, one-tiy, and author of a dozen metaphorically rich popular books on science, then in his sixties, about five years older than Nash, was one of those who saw Nash even' day at the institute59 Dyson is a small, lively sprite of a man, father of six children, not at all remote, with an acute interest in people unusual for soreet Nash without expecting any response, bur merely as a token of respect Dyson is a small, lively sprite of a man, father of six children, not at all remote, with an acute interest in people unusual for soreet Nash without expecting any response, bur ray ood ain today,” Nash said to Dyson, whose daughter Esther is a frequently quoted authority on computers Dyson, who had never heard Nash speak, said later: ”I had no idea he are of her existence It was beautiful I remember the astonishment I felt What I foundSlowly, he just somehooke up nobody else has ever awakened the way he did”
More signs of recovery followed Around 1990, Nash began to correspond, via electronic mail, with Enrico Bombieri, for many years a star of the Institute'sand erudite Italian, is a winner of the Fields Medal, mathematics' equivalent of the nobel He also paints oils, collects wild e for a long tie focused on various conjectures and calculations Nash had begun related to the so-called Bo and erudite Italian, is a winner of the Fields Medal, mathematics' equivalent of the nobel He also paints oils, collects wild e for a long tie focused on various conjectures and calculations Nash had begun related to the so-called ABC conjecture The letters showed that Nash was once again doing real mathematical research, Bombieri said: ABC conjecture The letters showed that Nash was once again doing realveryto people Then we talked quite a lot about number theory Sometimes we talked inhall Then we began corresponding by e-hnessthere's nothing commonplace about thoseUsually when one starts in a field, people remark the obvious, only what is known In this case, not He looks at things frole
A spontaneous recovery froenerative disease - is so rare, particularly after so long and severe a course as Nash experienced, that, when it occurs, psychiatrists routinely question the validity of the original diagnosis61 But people like Dyson and Bombieri, who had watched Nash around Princeton for years before witnessing the transfor miracle” But people like Dyson and Bombieri, who had watched Nash around Princeton for years before witnessing the transfor hly unlikely, however, that many people outside this intellectual Olympus would have become privy to these developments, dramatic as they appeared to Princeton insiders, if not for another scene, which also took place on these grounds at the end of the first week of October 1994
A ularly attended such gatherings and sometimes even asked a question or offered some conjecture, was about to duck out Harold Kuhn, a mathematics professor at the university and Nash's closest friend, caught up with him at the door62 Kuhn had telephoned Nash at hoo for lunch after the talk The day was so , the Institute woods so brilliant, that the twoon a bench opposite the e of a vast expanse of lawn, in front of a graceful little japanese fountain Kuhn had telephoned Nash at hoo for lunch after the talk The day was so , the Institute woods so brilliant, that the twoon a bench opposite the e of a vast expanse of lawn, in front of a graceful little japanese fountain
Kuhn and Nash had known each other for nearly fifty years They had both been graduate students at Princeton in the late 1940s, shared the same professors, known the same people, traveled in the same elite mathematical circles Thev had not been friends as students, but Kuhn, who spent most of his career in Princeton, had never entirely lost touch with Nash and had, as Nash becaular contact with hiorous, sophisticated man who is not burdened with ”the mathematical personality” Not a typical academic, passionate about the arts and liberal political causes, Kuhn is as interested in other people's lives as Nash is remote from them Thev were an odd couple, connected not by tee fund of common memories and associations