John Nash

13 June 1928 – 23 May 2015

John Forbes Nash Jr. was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. His concept of the Nash equilibrium became central to economics, and he shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; his life and long struggle with schizophrenia were portrayed in the film A Beautiful Mind.

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Life events

Born in Bluefield, West Virginia
13 June 1928

John Forbes Nash Jr. was born in Bluefield, West Virginia.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology
1945 – 1948

Nash studied mathematics at what is now Carnegie Mellon University.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Doctorate from Princeton with thesis on non-cooperative games
1950

Nash's 22-page PhD thesis introduced the concept now known as the Nash equilibrium.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Proved the Nash embedding theorems
1956

Nash proved that every Riemannian manifold can be isometrically embedded in Euclidean space, a landmark in differential geometry.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Onset of mental illness
1959

Nash began experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia and was hospitalized, beginning decades of struggle with the illness.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
1994

Nash shared the prize for his pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Awarded the Abel Prize
2015

Nash shared the Abel Prize with Louis Nirenberg for work on nonlinear partial differential equations.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in a car accident in New Jersey
23 May 2015

Nash and his wife Alicia were killed in a taxi crash on the New Jersey Turnpike shortly after receiving the Abel Prize.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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