Part 14 (1/2)

Phantom of Fine Hall Princeton, 1970s Princeton, 1970s

Much Madness is divinest Sense - To a discerning Eye

- EMILY D dickINSON, Number 435 Number 435

AN IMPERSONAL NEW GRANITE-CLAD TOWER, built with defense dollars at the height of the Vietna Jadwin Hall built with defense dollars at the height of the Vietna Jadwin Hall1 Math and physics round where the architects had situated the library - which had forhest floor of Old Fine - as well as the new computer center Within a few days or weeks, the embryo scientist or mathematician would discover ”a very peculiar, thin, silent ht and day,” ”with sunken eyes and a sad, immobile face” Math and physics round where the architects had situated the library - which had forhest floor of Old Fine - as well as the new computer center Within a few days or weeks, the embryo scientist or mathematician would discover ”a very peculiar, thin, silent ht and day,” ”with sunken eyes and a sad, ilimpse of the wraith - usually clad in khaki pants, plaid shi+rt, and bright red high-top Keds - printing painstakingly on one of the numerous blackboards that lined the subterranean corridors linking Jadwin and New Fine On rare occasions, they limpse of the wraith - usually clad in khaki pants, plaid shi+rt, and bright red high-top Keds - printing painstakingly on one of the numerous blackboards that lined the subterranean corridors linking Jadwin and New Fine3 More often, students would ee fro's Bar Mitzvah was 13 years, 13 months and 13 days after Brezhnev's circuree with Harvard: There is a brain flat” Or ”I agree with Harvard: There is a brain flat”5 Or a letter from Nikita Khrushchev to Moses with arcane , ten- to fifteen-digit nue primes Or a letter from Nikita Khrushchev to Moses with arcane , ten- to fifteen-digit nue primes6 ”nobody knehere they caraduated in 1977 ”nobody knehat they meant” ”nobody knehere they caraduated in 1977 ”nobody knehat they meant”7 Eventually, some sophomore or junior would clue in the newcoes, aka the Phanto a lecture; while trying to solve an i that so that his wife had fallen in love with a h places at the university, the older student would add Students were not to bother hih places at the university, the older student would add Students were not to bother hi the students, the Phantoure: Anybody as too races arned that he or she was ”going to wind up like the Phantoraces arned that he or she was ”going to wind up like the Phanto him around made him feel uncomfortable, he was immediately warned: ”He was a better mathematician than you'll ever be!” Yet if a new student co him around made him feel uncomfortable, he was immediately warned: ”He was a better matheed a ith the Phantoh soarette or asked for a light, for the Phantom was now a heavy smoker One new physics student once erased two or three of the es only to encounter the Phanto a few days later, ”sweating, tre” The student never erased another12 Students and young faculty es and soes created an aura around the Phantoenius Frank Wilczek, a physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study who lives in Einstein's old house on Mercer Street, was an assistant professor at the university at the tiued and ireat mind”13 Mark Schneider, a physics professor at Grinnell as a graduate student in 1979, recalled: ”We all found the reeexceptional, which is why Icollected a few dozen of the best of these” Mark Schneider, a physics professor at Grinnell as a graduate student in 1979, recalled: ”We all found the reeexceptional, which is why Icollected a few dozen of the best of these”14 Shortly after Hironaka won a Fields prize for his brilliant proof of the resolution of singularities, one of Nash's es read: N5 + I + I5 + X + X5 + O + Os + N + N5 = 0 = 0 Can Hironaka resolve this singularity?15 Soes seemed purely mathematical, at least until one looked at thee: Open Letter to Prof Heisuke Hironaka

The above algebraic variety of di a point singularity at the origin (0,0,0,0,0,0,0) of the coordinates

The question is: How singular comparatively, is the above 6-variety, that is, what is the coularities of such a sort as to provide standards of comparison?16

Others contained indirect references to past events: Indian Limbo B = (RX)7 + (MO) + (MO)6 + (OP) + (OP)5 + (QU) + (QU)4 + (ME) + (ME)3 + (OT) + (OT)2 + AAP + AAP

OT suggests ”Occupational Therapy” - as in Dr OT Beetle, MD

AAP = P R (2) - 1, as a number17 And still others were slyly humorous: True or False Question State from the disease of xanthochromatosis, the same disease which previously affected the careers of Nixon and Agnew, so that the disease has presuap of the apparently immune northern republicans Ford and Rockefeller and reinfected Air Force One via the person of Jimmy Carter

The above state one period, all the es featured a commentator named Ya Ya Fontana who made mysterious pronouncements about current events, principally in the Middle East19 In another period, Alexandre Grothendieck's name appeared frequently In another period, Alexandre Grothendieck's name appeared frequently20 In still another, Diophantine equations - equations like In still another, Diophantine equations - equations like x xn + y + yn = z = zn- dooras' Trousers, Pythagoras' Trousers, a history of mathematics, has pointed out that ”people look to the order of numbers when the world falls apart” a history of mathematics, has pointed out that ”people look to the order of numbers when the world falls apart”22 Nash's ro apart, suggesting once again that delusions - like ”ious efflorescence” - aren't , and often desperate attey blossoain that delusions - like ”ious efflorescence” - aren't , and often desperate atte up numbers out of names and was often extreitated when he thought that the nu serious,” recalled Peter Cziffra, the head librarian at Fine Hall Hale Trotter, a mathematician on the Princeton faculty, recalled, ”I'd say hello and he'd initiate a conversation I remember one in which he was very concerned about the similarity of the telephone number of the United States Senate and the telephone nu the arith for it was crazy”23 Nash did a lot of telephoning in those years Early on, Peter Cziffra reures as well as people at the university: ”It was a little oddHe wanted to talk about so that had been in the paper A crisis in Russia that he wanted to talk about with somebody”24 William Browder, as now chairreatest nuist the world has ever seen He would do these incredible manipulations with numbers One day he called me and started with the date of Khrushchev's birth and worked right through to the Dow Jones average He keptin new numbers What he came out with at the end was my Social Security number He didn't say it was my Social Security nuive hi to convince anyone of anything He was doing things fro he talked about always had a very scientific flavor He was trying to gain an understanding of soy, not applied25

One has a distinct sense that Nash's condition had stabilized To go to the blackboard took courage To share ideas that Nash felt were iht seeness to e To stay in one place and not to run away, to labor at articulating his delusions in a way that attracted an audience that valued theression back to consensual forms of reality and behavior And, at the same time, to have his delusions seen not just as bizarre and unintelligible, but as having an intrinsic value, was surely one aspect of these ”lost years” that paved the way for an eventual remission

As James Glass, the author of Private Terror/Public Places Private Terror/Public Places and and Delusion, Delusion, put it upon hearing about Nash's years in Princeton: ”It see place for hisabout Nash's years in Princeton: ”It see place for his madness”26 It is obvious that, for Nash, Princeton functioned as a therapeutic community It was quiet and safe; its lecture halls, libraries, and dining halls were open to him; its members were for the most part respectful; human contact was available, but not intrusive Here he found what he so desperately wanted in Roanoke: safety, freedo freer to express hi that someone would shut him up or fill him up with medication, must have helped pull hiuistic isolation” It is obvious that, for Nash, Princeton functioned as a therapeutic community It was quiet and safe; its lecture halls, libraries, and dining halls were open to him; its members were for the most part respectful; human contact was available, but not intrusive Here he found what he so desperately wanted in Roanoke: safety, freedo freer to express hi that someone would shut him up or fill him up with medication, must have helped pull hiuistic isolation”27 Roger Lewin, a psychiatrist at Shepherd Pratt in Baltimore, said, ”It seems that Nash's schizophrenia diminished in the way it appeared to others and that his madness became confined to intellectual and delusional projections rather than to wrapping him completely in behavioral expressions”28 These are descriptions siiven of these years in Princeton: ”I thought I was a Messianic Godlike figure with secret ideas I beca but of relatively moderate behavior and thus tended to avoid hospitalization and the direct attention of psychiatrists” These are descriptions siiven of these years in Princeton: ”I thought I was a Messianic Godlike figure with secret ideas I beca but of relatively moderate behavior and thus tended to avoid hospitalization and the direct attention of psychiatrists”

The i - of producing theNash's es had their own history and evolved over ti in the rams and epistles based on calculations in base 2629 Base 26, of course, uses twenty-six sylish alphabet, just as the base 10 of everyday arithh nine Thus, if a calculation caht,” it produced actual words Base 26, of course, uses twenty-six sylish alphabet, just as the base 10 of everyday arithh nine Thus, if a calculation caht,” it produced actual words

Here was Nash, who as a boy had delighted in inventing secret codes, with his great mathematical ability and mystical preoccupations, and with plenty of ti them into nu the resulting nu the pries Daniel Feenberg, a graduate student of economics who ran into Nash at the computer center around 1975, recalled: ”Nash had an obsessive concern with Nelson Rockefeller He would take the letters, assign nue nu It had the say to astronomy”30 This, of course, is not only ti but reful words or combination of words minute

Nash worked on one of those old-fashi+oned Friden-Marchant calculators with a tiny2 glowing, green CRT glowing, green CRT31 Hebase 26 arith these calculations would have been tre down inter, since these calculators had very little storage capacity and weren't progra the equations that constituted the core of his blackboard es was not just fancy arithmetic, however As one of the former physics students remarked, ”It would have taken deep abstraction of the sort that real orith these calculations would have been tre down inter, since these calculators had very little storage capacity and weren't progra the equations that constituted the core of his blackboard es was not just fancy arithmetic, however As one of the former physics students remarked, ”It would have taken deep abstraction of the sort that realwrote a co was so with coit number, which he felt was a coainst the first seventy thousand primes on a desk calculator He had done it twice He'd found no mistake, but he hadn't found a factor I said we could do it It took only about five ram and test it The answer came back: His number was a composite nuinning to develop an interest in learning how to use the co center one had to sit at those ancient desk calculators by the hour, shuffling decks of co half-time in the computer center in those days, described it: ”It was the old days We fed cards into the co counter, a card reader, table, and chairs and another room with a calculator There was always lots of paper around” desk calculators by the hour, shuffling decks of co half-time in the computer center in those days, described it: ”It was the old days We fed cards into the co counter, a card reader, table, and chairs and another room with a calculator There was always lots of paper around”34 At the time, Trotter recalled, he kept track of people's computer time but nobody was billed At soe individual research accounts Students and faculty alike had to open accounts and get passwords Trotter initially told Nash that Nash could use his account nu the situation with Nash ca on with Trotter's naested, said Trotter, ”Why not give hiive him a free account ”He never, never ly diffident So a conversation with Nash, it was hard to break away”

For most of the 1970s, Nash conducted his elaborate researches in the reference rooenerations of students as ”the library crazy enius of Firestone”35 In the late 1970s, he was often the last to leave the library at s in the reference rooolf hat on the broad wooden table with a neat pile of books He could spend two or three hours standing at the card catalog In the late 1970s, he was often the last to leave the library at s in the reference rooolf hat on the broad wooden table with a neat pile of books He could spend two or three hours standing at the card catalog

Charles Gillespie, a historian of science and editor of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, had an office on the third floor of Firestone Library Every day Nash would arrive at Firestone, ht ahead and briefcase in hand He almost always headed for the third floor stacks, in a section of the library devoted to religion and philosophy Gillespie always said goodNash was always silent had an office on the third floor of Firestone Library Every day Nash would arrive at Firestone, ht ahead and briefcase in hand He almost always headed for the third floor stacks, in a section of the library devoted to religion and philosophy Gillespie always said goodNash was always silent36 Nash did, however, occasionally strike up acquaintanceshi+ps, as when he got to knoo Iranian students during the su bear of a man, now on the mathematics faculty at the University of Wisconsin, recalled: My brother spent the suenerals He used to wait for me in the common room I'd seen Nash around and heard about hi intensely and I joined him After that, I always said hello and we talked occasionally He was extreentle and very shy He see the few people who talked to him But he spoke freely to ner

Usually the conversations were quite short, but soo on and on It seemed scholarly to us He didn't act bizarre He used to read the on and on It seemed scholarly to us He didn't act bizarre He used to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica He had enorion Zarathustra was an ancient Iranian prophet He wasn't mad He wasn't soion he founded was based on three principles: good deeds, good thoughts, good expressions Fire was holy Light and darkness were always locked in struggle Fires always burn in Zoroastrian temples They are monotheists Nash would ask us to verify this and that Occasionally ent and really read soe Nash was interested in Zoroastrian religion Zarathustra was an ancient Iranian prophet He wasn't mad He wasn't soion he founded was based on three principles: good deeds, good thoughts, good expressions Fire was holy Light and darkness were always locked in struggle Fires always burn in Zoroastrian temples They are monotheists Nash would ask us to verify this and that Occasionally ent and really read soret for a person being lonely is very great We felt sorry37

Nash's daily rounds in those years followed a predictable pattern He would get up, not too early, and ride the dinky into town, buy a copy of The New York Times, The New York Times, walk over to Olden Lane, eat breakfast or lunch at the Institute, and wander back to the university, where he could be found either in Fine or in Firestone For soular at Fine Hall teas The year Joseph Kohn became chairman of the hts” over Nash Some of the math depart that Nash's behavior worried them walk over to Olden Lane, eat breakfast or lunch at the Institute, and wander back to the university, where he could be found either in Fine or in Firestone For soular at Fine Hall teas The year Joseph Kohn became chairman of the hts” over Nash Some of the math depart that Nash's behavior worried them38 Kohn couldn't reuessed that it involved staring In any case, he brushed the wo to worry about, but privately he wasn't so sure Kohn couldn't reuessed that it involved staring In any case, he brushed the wo to worry about, but privately he wasn't so sure

With a few exceptions, such as Trotter, the faculty tended to avoid him Claudia Goldin, as on the econo iant and all of us were standing on his shoulders But what kind of shoulders were they? For academics, there's always this fear All you have is your brain The idea that anything could go wrong with it is so threatening It's threatening for everybody, of course, but for academics that's all of it39

Mostly it was students who knew a bit of his legend, who generally found hi, for exareatexperience It was sad also Here was this presence, this very famous person in our ht was dead”40 In 1978, largely thanks to the kindness of his old classraduate school and RAND, Lloyd Shapley, Nash was finally awarded a mathematical prize He arded the John von Neumann Theory Prize by the Operations Research Society and the Institute for Management Science jointly with Carl Lemke, a mathematician, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute mathematician, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute41 Nash won for his invention of noncooperative equilibriu Nash equilibria Nash won for his invention of noncooperative equilibriu Nash equilibria42 Lloyd Shapley was on the prize coia,” he recalled43 Shapley, having received the honor hiht: ”Here's a chance to do so for Nash” He wasNash would somehow help Alicia and Johnny ”My senti up Here's this kid growing up and his dad isn't there Thisto increase his self-estee recognized” Shapley, having received the honor hiht: ”Here's a chance to do so for Nash” He wasNash would somehow help Alicia and Johnny ”My senti up Here's this kid growing up and his dad isn't there Thisto increase his self-estee recognized”44 Nash was not, however, invited to the prize cereton45 Instead, Alan Hoffman, a mathematician at IBM and the second member of the prize committee, went down to Princeton to present Nash with the award Instead, Alan Hoffman, a mathematician at IBM and the second member of the prize committee, went down to Princeton to present Nash with the award46 He said: ”We gathered in Al Tucker's office Al and Harold Kuhn were there, so we chatted a while Nash was sitting in the corner Let enius and now functioning at subadolescent level really was tragic There's a difference between knowing and seeing” He said: ”We gathered in Al Tucker's office Al and Harold Kuhn were there, so we chatted a while Nash was sitting in the corner Let enius and now functioning at subadolescent level really was tragic There's a difference between knowing and seeing”47

CHAPTER 46

A Quiet Life Princeton, 197090 Princeton, 197090

I have been sheltered here and dins avoided homelessness

-JOHN N NASH, 1992 1992

WHEN ALICIA OFFERED to let Nash live with her in 1970, she was moved by pity, loyalty, and the realization that no one else on earth would take him in His mother was dead, his sister unable to accept the burden Alicia was, divorced or no, his wife Whatever her reservations about living with her : She was simply not prepared to turn her back on him to let Nash live with her in 1970, she was moved by pity, loyalty, and the realization that no one else on earth would take him in His mother was dead, his sister unable to accept the burden Alicia was, divorced or no, his wife Whatever her reservations about living with her : She was simply not prepared to turn her back on him

Alicia also wasmore to offer Nash than physical shelter She believed, perhaps so his own kind, without the threat of further hospitalization, would help hiet well She took Nash's own assessment of his needs - for safety, freedom, and friendshi+p - literally In a letter to Martha written at Nash's request in late 1968, when he was convinced that his ain, Alicia had argued that hospitalization was unnecessary and harmful: ”Much of his past hospitalization I now feel was a mistake and had no beneficial permanent effects, rather the opposite If he is toadjustment, I think this has to be done under nore of heart not just to the fact that Nash had relapsed despite aggressive treatment but, more iave her new insights into Nash's plight She wrote to Martha, ”I feel that I now understand his difficultiesexperienced some of his type of problems personally”2 Like many of those who tried to help Nash, Alicia was moved by a very personal and direct identification with his suffering Like many of those who tried to help Nash, Alicia was moved by a very personal and direct identification with his suffering