Part 5 (2/2)

When Nash arrived at MIT in 1951, Wiener e interest in the subject of fluid dynamics - an interest that eventually led Nash to his most important work For exa hiive on ”turbulence via statistical , ”I've found the sests that Nash talked about his research with Wiener, so he did with alenius as at once adulated and isolated, as a kindred spirit and fellow exile His postscript, saying, ”I've found the sests that Nash talked about his research with Wiener, so he did with alenius as at once adulated and isolated, as a kindred spirit and fellow exile34 He copied soe to the older man He copied soe to the older man35

But Nash was to become far closer to Norman Levinson, a first-rate mathematician and a man of extraordinary character, ould play a role in Nash's career similar to those of Steenrod and Tucker at Princeton - a co board and father substitute Levinson, then in his early forties, was matic than Martin but far ht, with craggy features, Levinson was a fine teacher who rarely displayed the slightest facial expression and never referred to his own accomplishs, long manic periods of intense creative activity followed byinterested him A for the McCarthy years when he endured not only notoriety and threats to his career as a hter's slide into y features, Levinson was a fine teacher who rarely displayed the slightest facial expression and never referred to his own accomplishs, long manic periods of intense creative activity followed byinterested him A for the McCarthy years when he endured not only notoriety and threats to his career as a hter's slide into mental illness37 Despite these burdens, Levinson was, and would long remain, by far the htful, decisive, and attuned to the personal as well as intellectual needs of those around him, Levinson was father confessor and wise elder, the one whose judght, on everything from research to appoint remain, by far the htful, decisive, and attuned to the personal as well as intellectual needs of those around him, Levinson was father confessor and wise elder, the one whose judght, on everything from research to appointments

His personal history was one of individual trius Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, just before World War I, Levinson was the son of a shoe factory worker who earned eight dollars a week and whose education consisted of attending a yeshi+va for a few years His mother was illiterate Despite a childhood of desperate poverty and an education that consisted of attending rundown vocational schools, Levinson's brilliance was undeniable He ed, with the help of Wiener, who spotted his talent, to attend MIT and, later, Cae of G H Hardy and embarked on a series of brilliant papers on ordinary differential equations ”He was very uncouth, very provincial,” his wife, Zipporah, who land, recalled in 1995 ”He was highly opinionated and too ignorant to know that he didn't know everything But he'd plunge in and ood paper, despite the fact that he didn't know the literature Wiener ignored his rough edges”

Like eneration, Levinson had difficulty getting an academic post when he returned to the States, and it was Hardy hile visiting Harvard in 1937, was ultimately responsible for Levinson's appointment that year at MIT The university's provost, Vannevar Bush, had turned down Wiener's recommendation that Levinson be offered an assistant professorshi+p when Hardy, who at that time was both an outspoken opponent of nazi anti-Semitism and the most prominent member of the German mathematical society, ith Wiener to the provost's office to protest ”Tellschool or a theological seave a puzzled frown, Hardy went on: ”If it isn't, why not hire Levinson?”

Nash was attracted by Levinson's strong personality and by a quality that he both shared and adness to tackle new and difficult problems Levinson was an early pioneer in the theory of partial differential equations, recognized by a Bocher Prize, and the author of an i of particles Most remarkably, when he was in his early sixties and already suffering from the brain tumor that would eventually kill him, Levinson achieved the most important result of his career, the solution to a part of the fanized by a Bocher Prize, and the author of an i of particles Most remarkably, when he was in his early sixties and already suffering from the brain tumor that would eventually kill him, Levinson achieved the most important result of his career, the solution to a part of the famous Riemann Hypothesis38 In many ways, Levinson was a role model for Nash In many ways, Levinson was a role model for Nash

CHAPTER 17

Bad Boys

People considered hireat one

- D DONALD J N J NEWMAN, 1995

The Great Manis colder, harder, less hesitating, and without fear of ”opinion”; he lacks the virtues that acco that is the ”virtue of the herd” If he cannot lead, he goes aloneHe knows he is incommunicable: he finds it tasteless to be fa to himself, he wears a mask There is a solitude within him that is inaccessible to praise or blame

- F FRIEDRICH N NIETZSCHE, The Will to Power The Will to Power

NASH WAS just twenty-three years old when he becaest raduate students: His boyish looks and adolescent behavior won him nicknames like Li'l Abner and the Kid Professor just twenty-three years old when he becaest raduate students: His boyish looks and adolescent behavior won him nicknames like Li'l Abner and the Kid Professor1 By MIT standards of that tiht But Nash found the that interfered with his research or smacked of routine Later, he would be one of the few active researchers on the faculty who avoided giving courses in his own research area Partly, it was a matter of temperament, partly a matter of calculation He shrewdly realized that his advancement did not depend on hoell or poorly he performed in front of students He'd advise other instructors, ”If you're at MIT, forget about teaching Just do research”2 Perhaps for this reason, Nash was raduates In the seven years of his teaching career at MIT, he seeraduate courses, all introductory, one in logic in his second year, one in probability, and a third, in the fall of 1958, in gaht different sections of undergraduate calculus Mostly, it seeraduate calculus

His lectures were closer to free association than exposition Once, he described how he planned to teach complex numbers to freshmen: ”Let's seeI'd tell them i i equals square root of minus one But I'd also tell them that it could be minus the square root of minus one Then so hoould you decide which one ” He started to wander Just what freshusted tones, in 1995 ”He didn't care whether the students learned or not, made equals square root of minus one But I'd also tell them that it could be minus the square root of minus one Then so hoould you decide which one ” He started to wander Just what freshusted tones, in 1995 ”He didn't care whether the students learned or not, eous demands, and talked about subjects that were either irrelevant or far too advanced” outrageous demands, and talked about subjects that were either irrelevant or far too advanced”4 He was a tough grader too He was a tough grader too

At times his ideas about the classrooy Robert Auame theoretician and was then a freshman at MIT, described Nash's escapades in the classroom as ”flamboyant” and ”mischievous”5 Joseph Kohn, later the chairman of the Princeton amester” Joseph Kohn, later the chairman of the Princeton a the 1952 Stevenson-Eisenhower race, Nash was convinced, quite rightly as it turned out, that Eisenhoould win Most of the students supported Stevenson He made elaborate bets with the students that were constructed so that he would win regardless of on the election The very brightest students were ahtened away and soon the better-infor the 1952 Stevenson-Eisenhower race, Nash was convinced, quite rightly as it turned out, that Eisenhoould win Most of the students supported Stevenson He made elaborate bets with the students that were constructed so that he would win regardless of on the election The very brightest students were ahtened away and soon the better-inforether

In his first year at MIT, Nash taught an analysis course for ad