John Nash was a mathematical genius born in Bluefield, West Virginia in 1928. He struggled with schizophrenia, which was depicted in the movie A Beautiful Mind. Nash was a curious child who read encyclopedias and conducted experiments. He studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he became interested in game theory and eventually won a Nobel Prize in Economics. Nash taught at Princeton and MIT, but his schizophrenia caused him to resign or be fired. He spent time in and out of mental hospitals before returning to Princeton in the 1970s and winning the Nobel Prize in 1994.
John Forbes Nash, Jr., the son of a World War I veteran who was an electrical engineer and teacher, was born in Bluefield, West Virginia in the United States in 1928. John Nash is revered as a mathematical genius who made significant contributions in the field of mathematics and economics. He’s also had a personal struggle with schizophrenia, which was featured in the award-winning Hollywood film A Beautiful Mind.
As a child, John Nash was eager for knowledge. To appease his curiosity, he read encyclopedias and other educational books. He has also carried out his electrical and chemical experiments in his room. Nash liked being alone to do his own experiments and, in return, was rejected by his classmates. He dismissed their ridicule as mental inferiority and continued to learn independently.
After high school, John Nash attended college at Carnegie Institute of Technology which is now Carnegie Mellon University majoring in chemical engineering which eventually developed into mathematics. While studying at Carnegie, Nash took a course in International Economics which led to his interest in game theory and would eventually bring him the Nobel Prize in Economics. Because of his progression in mathematics as an undergraduate at Carnegie, John Nash received a Master of Science degree in addition to his undergraduate degree.
After graduating from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1950, Nash taught at Princeton for a year and then chose to accept a more lucrative position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Nash received a tenure at MIT and chose to marry on a gap year in the mid-1950s. When his wife Alicia became pregnant in early 1959, Nash’s schizophrenia manifested itself.
According to Nash, he resigned from his position at MIT during this time. However, all other reports suggest he was fired. During the period following his resignation through the early 1970s, John Nash spent time in and out of mental hospitals. After one particular incident at McLean Hospital, Nash traveled to Europe to apply for refugee status.
In the early 1970s Nash’s disease began to fade and he returned to Princeton to continue research at age 66. He has single-handedly contributed more to applied mathematics and economics than any other person in US history. His most significant contribution was the study of game theory which is mainly used in the fields of economics and international relations. Still a senior research mathematician at Princeton, John Nash won a Nobel Prize in 1994 for his 27-page thesis on game theory, “Non-Cooperative Games.”
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