Now A Major Motion Picture

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
SYLVIA NASAR
The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash
THE AWARD-WINNING BESTSELLER
How could you. A mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials
were sending you messages""the visitor from Harvard asked the
West Virginian with the movie-star looks and 0fulympian manner.

Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the
same way my mathematical ideas did.- came the answer. "So I took
them seriously".

Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the
----------------------------------------------------------------7
mathematical genius who was a legend by age thirty when he
slipped into madness, and who --
thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty
of the mathematics community -- emerged after decades of
ghost-like existence to win a Nobel Prize and world acclaim. The
inspiration for a major motion picture, Sylvia Nasar's
award-winning biography is a drama about the mystery of the human
mind, triumph over incredible adversity, and the healing power of
love.
"Reads like a fine novel."
comTHE NEW YORK TIMES
"Deeply interesting and extraordinarily moving." comOLIVER SACKS
"Superbly written and eminently fascinating." THE BOSTON GLOBE
A former economics correspondent for
The Ncw York Timcs,
SYLVIA NASAR is
the Knight Professor of Journalism at Columbia University. She
lives in Tarrytown, New York.
WINNER, NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AwARD FOR BIOGRAPHY
FINALIST, PULITZER PRIZE IN
----------------------------------------------------------------8
BIOGP-kPHY
Praise for A
Beautiful Mind
"Two paragraphs and I was hooked!" comOliver Sacks
"A brilliant book." comDavid Herbert Donald
"Reads like a fine novel." -- David Goodstein,
The New York Times
"Powerfully affecting ... a three-handkerchief read."
comCharles C. Mann,
The Wall StreetJournal
"A triumph of intellectual biography." comRobert Boynton,
Newsday
"Might be compared to a Rembrandt portrait, filled with somber
shadows and radiant light effects ... simply a beautiful       A8
book." comMarcia Bartusiak,
The Boston Glohe
"A remarkable look into the arcane world of mathematics and the
tragedy of madness."
- Simon Singh,
----------------------------------------------------------------9
The New York Times Book Review "A narrative of compelling power."
-- John Men Paulos,
Los Angeles Times
"A wonderfully absorbing puzzle." comClaire Douglas,
Washington Post Book World
"A poetical love and coming-of-age story." comTed Anton,
Chicago Tribune
"The stuff of classic tragedy." -- Robert A. Burton,
San Jose Mercury News
"A powerful story brilliantly told." -- Will St. John,
Detroit Free Press
"A worthy subject and a fascinating book." comCraig Ryan,
Purtland Oregonian
"A page-turner." comClaiborne Smith, Austin Chronicle
"An arresting portrait." comJune Kinoshita, St. Petershurg Times
"The parabolic arc of an American genius ... superbly and
thrillingly limned."
---------------------------------------------------------------10
comW Blythe,
Mirahelia
"A staggering feat of writing and reporting." comMichael J.
Mandel, Business Week
"Profoundly sad yet redemptive."
- Worth Magazine
"Instead of facile theories, the reader enjoys wonder and
astonishment."
comRichard Dooling, Salon
"Extraordinarily moving." comJeremy Bernstein, Commentary
"Absolutely fascinating." -- Jim Holt, Slate
"An engrossing, ultimately uplifting book." comGregg Sapp,
Kirkus Reviews
"Will touch any reader who understands what it means to hope
comor to fear."
- Booklist
"Unique."
- The Economist
"A compelling book about a phenomenal figure." -- Roy Porter,
The Times
---------------------------------------------------------------11
"Unblinking yet empathic." comDaniel Kevles,
Times Literary Supplement
"A romantic human story." -- Steven McCaffery,
Irish News
"Genuinely compulsive." -- Jon Oberlander, Sunday Herald
"An astonishing achievement." -- Brian Rotman,
London Review ofBooks
"A masterpiece of oral history." comKarl Sigmund,
Nature                                                        A11
"Be prepared for the birth of a new culture hero." -- Peter
Wilhelm,
Business Day
"I defy anyone to read Sylvia Nasar's prologue without being
moved."
comChristopher Beauman,
Broadway Dam andHigh
"A magnificent biography."- Roy Weintraub,
journal of the History ofEeonomic Thought
"High drama." comWade Roush,
---------------------------------------------------------------12
MIT Technologv Review
"Deeply moving." comPaul Trachtman, Smithsonian Magazine
"Presented with grace and skill: comBrian Hayes,
The Sciences
"A must-read with something for everyone." comKeith Devlin,
New Scientist
"Fascinating, complicated, and studious." comMark H. Fleisher,
JAMA
"A deeply moving love story, an account of the centrality of
human relationships."
- Richard Wyatt and Kay Jamison,
The New Englandjournal of Medicine
"A gripping narrative."
- Kenneth Arrow, Nobel Laureate,
The Times Higher Education Supplement
A
eau I
comU
B t f I
SYLVIA NASAR
A Touchstone Book Published by Simon and Schuster
---------------------------------------------------------------13
NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY SINGAPORE
TOUCHSTONE Rockefeller Center
1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NYI0020
Copyright 0 1998 ly Sylvia
Nasea71`
All righ Is reserved,
including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any
form.
Cover Art (0 2001 hy Universal Studios Publishing Rights, a
Division of Universal Studios Licensing, Inc.
A Beautiful Mind is a trademark and copyright of Universal
Studios. All rights reserved.
This Touchstone Edition 2001 Tbummm- and colophon are
registered trademarks of Simon and Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases,
please contact Simon and Schuster Special Sales:
1-800-456-6798 or businessCandsimonandschustercom Designed hy
Edith Fowler


Manufactured in the United States ofArnerica                   14
10 9 8
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as
follows.- Nasar, Sylviq. A beautiful mind : a biography ofJohn
Forbes Nash, Jr., winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, 1994
Sylvia Nasar
people. cm.
Includes bibliographical referencesand index. 1. Nash, John F,
1928- . 2. MathematiciansUnited States comBiography I Title.
OA29DDATION25N37 1998
510'. 92
[B] -- DC21 98-2795
CIP
ISBN 0-68"] 9064
0-7432-2457-4 (Pbk)
The author andpublishergratefiillyqcknowledge permission to
reprint material from the following works: `The RAND Hymnea"words
andinusic b Malvina RCY1701DS, C copyright 1961 by Schroder Music
Co. (ASCAP). Used
---------------------------------------------------------------15
bypermission. All rights reserved. `7ohn F Nash Jr.
"(Autobiographical Essay) and "The Work ofJohn Nash in Game
Theory0ggNobel Seminar), in
Les Prix Nobel 1994
(Stockholm: Norstedts Tryckeri,
1995). Copyright C The Nobel foundation, 1994. Excerpts from
comWaking in the Blue"f Life Studies
by
Robert Lowell, Copyright 0 1959 by Robert Lowell. Copyright
renewed 0 1987by Harriet Lowell, Sheridan Lowell, and Caroline
Lowell. Reprinted bypeimission of Fdrreaqr, Straus and Giroux,
Inc.
Excerpts from the letters ofRobert Lowell. Reprinted with the
permission of the Estate ofRobeit Lowell.
Title page photo: Robert Mottogether
Fortune
V-
IIUR ALICIA ESTHER LARDE NASH Another race hath been, and other
palms are won. Thanks to the human heart by which we live, Thanks
---------------------------------------------------------------16
to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do
often lie too deep for tears.
com11MLLIAM WORDSWORTH,
"Intimations of Immortality"
Prologue
Part One: A Beautiful Mind
I Bluefield (1928-4,)
2 Carnegie Institute of Technology
(June 1945-june 1948)
3 The Center of the Universe
(Princeton, Fea711 1948)
4 School of Genius
(Princeton, Fea7111948)
5                                                             A16
Genius (Princeton, 1948-49)
6
Games (Princeton, Spring 1949)
7 John von Neumann
(Princeton, 1948-49)
8 The Theory of Games
9 The Bargaining Problem
(Princeton, Spring 1949)
10 Nash's Rival Idea
(Princeton, 1949-50)
---------------------------------------------------------------17
11
Lloyd (Princeton, 1950)
12 The War of Wits
(RAND, Summer 1950)
13 Game Theory at RAND
14 The Draft
(Princeton, 1950-51)
15 A Beautiful Theorem
(Princeton, 1950-51)
16 MIT
17 Bad Boys
18 Experiments
(RAND, Summer 1952)
19
Reds (Spring 1953)
20 Geometry
Part TW-O: Separate Lives
21 Singularity
22 A Special Friendship
(Santa Monica, Summer 1952)
23 Eleanor
25 The Arrest
(RAND, Summer 1954)
184
26 Alicia 190
---------------------------------------------------------------18
27 The Courtship 199
28
Seattle (Summer 1956)
203
29 Death and Marriage
(1956-57)
208
Part Three: A Slow Fire Burning
30 Olden Lane and Washington Square (1956-57)
215
31 The Bomb Factory 222
32 Secrets
(Summer 1958)
228
33 Schemes
(Fdd711 1958)
235                                                           A18
34 The Emperor of Antarctica 239
35 In the Eye of the Storm
(Spring 1959)
248
36 Day Breaks in Bowditch Hall
(McLean Hospital, April-May 1959) 253
---------------------------------------------------------------19
37 Mad Hatter's Tea
(May-June 1959)
262
Part Four: The Lost Years
38 Citoyen du Monde
(Paris and Geneva, 1959-60)
269
39 Absolute Zero
(Princeton, 1960)
283
40 Tower of Silence
(Trenton State Hospital, 1961)
288
41 An Interlude of Enforced Rationality
(July 1961-April 1963)
295
42 The "Blowing Up"Problem
(Princeton and Carrier Clinic, 1963-65) 305
43 Solitude
(Boston, 1965-67)
314
44 A Man All Alone in a Strange World (Roanoke, 1967-70)
323
---------------------------------------------------------------20
45 Phantom of Fine Hall (Princeton, 1970's)
332
46 A Quiet Life
(Princeton, 1970-90)
340
Part Five: The Most Worthy
47 Remission
48 The Prize
49 The Greatest Auction Ever
(Washington, D.C., December 1994)
50 Reawakening
(Princeton, 1995-97)
349
356
374
Epilogue Notes Select Bibliography Acknowledgments Index
Contents
9
389
391
437
441
"ere the statue stood                                         A20
---------------------------------------------------------------21
OfNewton with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a
mind for ever
Voyaging through strange seas of  Thought, alone.
- WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
JOHN FORBES NASH, JR. commathematical genius, inventor of a
theory of rational behavior, visionary of the thinking machine --
had been sitting with 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 slumped in an armchair in one corner
of the hospital lounge, carelessly dressed in a nylon shirt that
hung limply over his unbelted trousers. His powerful frame was
slack as a rag doll's, his finely molded features expressionless.
He had been staring
dully at a spot immediately  in front of the left
foot of Harvard professor George Mackey, hardly moving except to
brush his long dark hair away from his forehead in a fitful,
repetitive motion. His visitor sat upright, oppressed by the
silence, acutely conscious that the doors to the room were
locked. Mackey finally could contain himself no longer. His voice
was slightly querulous, but he strained to be gentle. "How could
you,"bbgan
---------------------------------------------------------------22
Mackey, "how could you, a mathematician, a man devoted to reason
and logical proof... how could you believe that extraterrestrials
are sending you messages? How could you believe that you are
being recruited by aliens from outer space to save the world? How
could you ... ?was
Nash looked up at last and fixed Mackey with an unblinking stare
as cool and dispassionate as that of any bird or snake.
"Becauseea"Nash said slowly in his soft, reasonable southern
drawl, as if talking to himself, "the ideas I had about
supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical
ideas did. So I took them seriouslydd"I
The young genius from Bluefield, West Virginia -- handsome,
arrogant, and highly eccentric comburst 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,` Nash proved himself, in the words of
the eminent
geometer Mikhail Gromov, "the most remarkable mathematician of
the second half of the century."` Games of strategy, economic
rivalry, computer architecture, the shape of the universe, the
geometry of imaginary spaces, the mystery of
---------------------------------------------------------------23
prime numbers-all engaged his wide-ranging imagination. 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 the mile in less than 4       A23
minutes; but there is nothing that most of us can do that
compares with the creation of the Great G-minor Fuguedd0bled
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 more retentive, or that his power of concentration was
greater. The flashes of intuition were nonrational. Like other
great mathematical intuitionists comGeorg Friedrich Bernhard
Riemann, Jules Henri Poincar6, Srinivasa Ramanujan comNash saw
the vision first, constructing the laborious proofs long
afterward. But even after he'd try to explain some astonishing
result, the actual route he had taken remained a mystery to
others who tried to follow his reasoning. Donald Newman, a
mathematician who knew
---------------------------------------------------------------24
Nash at MIT in the 1950's, used to say about him that "everyone
else would climb a peak by looking for a path somewhere on the
mountain. Nash would climb another mountain altogether and from
that distant peak would shine a searchlight back onto the first
peakdd"I No one was more obsessed with originality, more
disdainful of authority, or more jealous of his independence. As
a young man he was surrounded by the high priests of
twentieth-century science comAlbert Einstein, John von Neumann,
and Norbert Wiener comb he joined no school, became no one's
disciple, got along largely without guides or followers. In
almost everything he did comf game theory to geometry -- he
thumbed his nose at the received wisdom, current fashions,
established methods. He almost always worked alone, in his head,
usually walking, often whistling Bach. Nash acquired his
knowledge of mathematics not mainly from studying what other
mathematicians had discovered, but by rediscovering their truths
for himself. Eager 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 dismissed as naive or wrongheaded. Even as a
student, his indifference to others' skepticism,
---------------------------------------------------------------25
doubt, and ridicule was awesome.
Nash's faith in rationality and the power of pure thought was
extreme, even for a very young mathematician and even for the new
age of computers, space travel, and nuclear weapons. Einstein
once chided him for wishing to amend relativity theory without
studying physics
.6
His heroes were solitary thinkers and supermen like Newton and
Nietzschedd7 Computers and science fiction were his passions. He
considered "thinking machinesea"z he called them, superior in
some ways to human beings.` At one point, he became fascinated by
the possibility that drugs could heighten physical and
intellectual performancedd9 He was beguiled by
the idea of alien races of hyper-rational beings who had taught
themselves to disregard all emotion. 10 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,   A25
what job to accept, whether to marry cominffcalculations of
advantage and disadvantage, algorithms or mathematical rules
divorced from emotion, convention, and tradition. Even the small
act of saying an
---------------------------------------------------------------26
automatic hello to Nash in a hallway could elicit a furious "Why
are you saying hello to me""I I
His contemporaries, on the whole, found him immensely strange.
They described him as "aloof haughty,0"without
affect,0"detached,0"spooky,0"isolatedea"and "queer."" Nash
mingled rather than mixed with his peers. Preoccupied with his
own private reality, he seemed not to share their mundane
concerns. His manner-slightly cold, a bit superior, somewhat
secretive comsuggested something dismysterious and unnatural."
His remoteness was punctuated by flights of garrulousness about
outer space and geopolitical trends, childish pranks, and
unpredictable eruptions of anger. But these outbursts were, more
often than not, as enigmatic as his silences. "He is not one of
u"was a constant refrain. A mathematician at the Institute for
Advanced Study remembers meeting Nash for the first time at a
crowded student party at Princeton:
I noticed him very definitely among a lot of other people who
were there. He was sitting on the floor in a half-circle
discussing something. He made me feel uneasy. He gave me a
peculiar
---------------------------------------------------------------27
feeling. 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
did."
But he did contribute, in a big way. The marvelous paradox was
that the ideas themselves were not obscure. In 1958,
Fortune
singled Nash out for his achievements in game theory, algebraic
geometry, and nonlinear theory, calling him the most brilliant of
the younger generation of new ambidextrous mathematicians who
worked in both pure and applied mathematicsdd14 Nash's insight
into the dynamics of human rivalry -- his theory of rational
conflict and cooperation -- was to become one of the most
influential ideas of the twentieth century, transforming the
young science of economics the way that Mendel's ideas of genetic
transmission, Darwin's model of natural selection, and Newton's
celestial mechanics reshaped biology and physics in their day.
It was the great Hungarian-born polymath John von Neumann who
first recognized that social behavior could be analyzed as games.
Von Neumann's 1928 article on parlor games was
---------------------------------------------------------------28
the first successful attempt to derive logical and mathematical
rules about rivalries." 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, familiar phenomena of daily life.
Isaac Newton reached insights about the heavens by juggling
wooden balls. Einstein contemplated a boat paddling upriver. Von
Neumann pondered the game of poker.                           A28
A seemingly trivial and playful pursuit like poker, von Neumann
argued,
might hold the key to more serious human affairs for two reasons.
Both poker and economic competition require a certain type of
reasoning, namely the rational calculation of advantage and
disadvantage 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 economist
Antoine-Augustin Cournot had pointed out that problems of
economic choice were greatly simplified when either none or a
large number of
---------------------------------------------------------------29
other agents were present." Alone on his island, Robinson Crusoe
doesn't have to worry about others whose actions might affect
him. Neither, though, 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 more than one
agent but not so many that their influence may be safely ignored,
strategic behavior raises a seemingly insoluble problem:
"I
think that he thinks that I think that he thinksea"and so forth.
Von Neumann was able to give a convincing solution to this
problem of circular reasoning for games that are two-person,
zero-sum games, games in which one player's gain is another's
loss. But zero-sum games are the ones least applicable to
economics (as one writer put it, the zero-sum game is to game
theory "what the twelve-bar blues is to jazz; a polar case, and a
point of historical departure"). For situations with many actors
and the possibility of mutual gain comthe standard economic
scenario comvon Neumann's superlative instincts failed him. He
was convinced that players would have to form coalitions, make
explicit agreements, and
---------------------------------------------------------------30
submit to some higher, centralized authority to enforce those
agreementsdd"Q possibly his conviction reflected his generation's
distrust, in the wake of the Depression and in the midst of a
world war, of unfettered individualism. Though von Neumann hardly
shared the liberal views of Einstein, Bertrand Russell, and the
British economist John Maynard Keynes, he shared something of
their belief that actions that might 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 government."
The young Nash had wholly different instincts. Where von
Neumann's focus was the group, Nash zeroed in on the individual,
and by doing so, made game theory relevant to modern economics.
In his slender twenty-seven-page doctoral thesis, written when he
was twenty-one, Nash created a theory for games in which there
was a possibility of mutual gain, inventing a concept that let
one cut through the endless chain of reasoning, "I think that you
think that I think. . . .was 19 His insight was that the game
would be solved when every player independently chose his     A30
best response to the other players` best
---------------------------------------------------------------31
strategies.
Thus, a young man seemingly 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 forms invented
by the human species seemingly by pure introspection (and yet
somehow linked to the grossest and most mundane aspects of
nature). But Nash
had grown up in a boom town in the Appalachian foothills where
fortunes were made from the roaring, raw businesses of rails,
coal, scrap metal, and electric power. Individual rationality and
self-interest, not common agreement on some collective good,
seemed sufficient to create a tolerable order. The leap was a
short one, from his observations of his hometown to his focus on
the logical strategy necessary for the individual to maximize his
own advantage and minimize his disadvantages. The Nash
equilibrium, once it is explained, sounds obvious, but by
formulating the problem of economic competition in the way that
he did, Nash showed that a decentralized decision-making process
could, in fact, be coherent giving economics an updated, far more
---------------------------------------------------------------32
sophisticated version of Adam Smith's great metaphor of the
Invisible Hand.
By his late twenties, Nash's insights and discoveries had won him
recognition, respect, and autonomy. He had carved out a brilliant
career at the apex of the mathematics profession, traveled,
lectured, taught, met the most famous mathematicians of his day,
and become famous hirnself. His genius also won him love. He had
married a beautiful young physics student who adored him, and
fathered a child. It was a brilliant strategy, this genius, this
life. A seemingly perfect adaptation.
Many great scientists and philosophers, among them Ren6
Descartes, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Immanuel Kant, Thorstein Veblen,
Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein, have had similarly strange and
solitary personalities. 10 An emotionally detached,
inward-looking 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,
Anthony Storr, the British psychiatrist,
---------------------------------------------------------------33
contends that an individual who "fears love almost as much as he
fears hatred" may ti-im to creative activity not only out of an
impulse to experience aesthetic pleasure, or the delight of
exercising an active mind, but also to defend himself against
anxiety stimulated by conflicting demands for detachment and
human contact." In the same vein, Jean-Paul Sartre, the French
philosopher and writer, called genius "the brilliant invention of
someone who is looking for a way out." Posing the question of why
people often are willing to endure frustration and misery in
order to create something, even in the absence of large       A33
rewards, Storr speculates:
Some creative people ... of predominately schizoid or depressive
temperaments ... use 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 state
... is characterized by a sense of meaninglessness and futility.
For most people, interaction with others provides most of what
they require to find meaning and significance in life. For the
schizoid person, however, this is not the case, Creative activity
is a particularly apt way to express himself ... the activity is
solitary
---------------------------------------------------------------34
... [but] the ability to create and the productions which result
from such ability are generally regarded as possessing value by
our society.,, Of course, very few people who exhibit "a lifelong
pattern of social isolation"and "indifference to the attitudes
and feelings of others"-the hallmarks of a so-called schizoid
personality- possess great scientific or other creative
talentdd"Andthe vast majority of people with such strange and
solitary temperaments never succumb to severe mental illnessdd14
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-human
subjects ... [and] are likely to appear increasingly comfortable
over a period of time by forming a stable but distant network of
relationships with people around work tasks."" Men of scientific
genius, however eccentric, rarely become truly insane-the
strongest evidence for the potentially protective nature of
creativitydd16
Nash proved a tragic exception. Underneath the brilliant surface
of his life, all was chaos and contradiction: his involvements
with other men; a secret mistress and a neglected illegitimate
---------------------------------------------------------------35
son; a deep ambivalence toward the wife who adored him, the
university that nurtured him, even his country; and,
increasingly, a haunting 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 some of Nash's younger colleagues at that institution
thought that he was indulging a private joke at their expense. He
walked into the common room one winter morning in 1959 carrying
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
message from inhabitants of another galaxy that only he could
decipher." Even months later, after he had stopped teaching, had
angrily resigned his professorship, 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 who witnessed the          36
uncanny metamorphosis, Norbert Wiener among them, grasped its
true significance."
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 from severe delusions, hallucinations,
disordered thought and feeling, and a broken will. In the grip of
this "cancer of the mind," as the universally dreaded condition
is sometimes called, Nash abandoned mathematics, embraced
numerology and religious prophecy, and believed himself to be a
"messianic figure of great 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 campus where he had once been a brilliant
graduate student, oddly dressed, muttering to himself, writing
mysterious messages on
---------------------------------------------------------------37
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, more likely, group of illnesses comexisted long
before then but had escaped definition or, on the other hand,
appeared as an AIDS-like scourge at the start of the industrial
agedd19 Roughly
1 percent of the population in all countries succumbs to xdd10
Why it strikes one individual and not another is not known,
although the suspicion is that it results from a tangle of
inherited vulnerability and life stresses." No element of
environment -- war, imprisonment, drugs, or upbringing -- has
ever been proved to cause, by itself, a single instance of the
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
illness."
Eugen Bleuler, who coined the term
schizophrenia
in 1908, describes a "specific type of alteration of thinking,
feeling and relation to the external world."
---------------------------------------------------------------38
14
The term refers to a splitting of psychic functions, "a peculiar
destruction of the inner cohesiveness of the psychic
personality.0"Ffthe person experiencing early symptoms, there is
a dislocation of every faculty, of time, space, and body." None
of its symptoms comhearing voices, bizarre delusions, extreme
apathy or agitation, coldness toward others comis, taken singly,
unique to the illnessdd"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
disabilityfar more severe, on average, for men -- varies wildly.
The symptoms can be "slightly, moderately, severely, or       A38
absolutely disablingea"ac to Irving Gottesman, a leading
contemporary researcher." Though Nash succumbed at age thirty,
the illness can appear at any time from adolescence to advanced
middle agedd19 The first episode can last a few weeks or months
or several yearsdd41 The life history of someone with the disease
can include only one or two episodes
.41
Isaac Newton, always an eccentric and solitary
---------------------------------------------------------------39
soul, apparently suffered a psychotic breakdown with paranoid
delusions at age fifty-one
.41
The episode, which may have been precipitated by an unhappy
attachment to a younger 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 many,
progressively more severe episodes that occur at ever shorter
intervals. Recovery, almost never complete, runs the gamut 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 lifedd41
More than any symptom, the defining 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"f individuals who seem "totally
strange, puzzling,
inconceivable, uncanny and incapable of empathy,
---------------------------------------------------------------40
even to the point of being sinister and frightening." 44
For Nash, the onset of the illness dramatically intensified a
pre-existing feeling, on the part of many who knew him, that he
was essentially disconnected from them and deeply unknowable. As
Storr writes: However melancholy a depressive may be, the
observer generally 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 mind less humanly comprehensible, since his
feelings 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
unpredictableea41
Schizophrenia contradicts popular but incorrect views of madness
as consisting solely of wild gyrations 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 Alzheimer's might bedd46 He may have,
indeed usually does have, a firm


grip on certain aspects of present reality. While he was       41
ill, Nash traveled all over Europe and America, got legal help,
and learned to write sophisticated computer programs.
Schizophrenia is also distinct from manic depressive illness
(currently known as bipolar disorder), the illness with which it
has most often been confounded in the past.
If anything, schizophrenia can be a ratiocinating illness,
particularly in its early phases
.41
From the turn of the century, the great students of schizophrenia
noted that its sufferers included people with fine minds and that
the delusions which often, though not always, come with the
disorder involve subtle, sophisticated, complex flights of
thought. 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
"predominant damage to the emotional life and the
Wdd041
Louis A. Sass, a psychologist at Rutgers University, calls it
"not an escape from reason but an exacerbation of that
thoroughgoing illness Dostoevsky imagined ... at least in some of
its
---------------------------------------------------------------42
forms ... a heightening rather than a dimming of conscious
awareness, and an alienation not from reason but from emotion,
instincts and the willdd049
Nash's mood in the early days of his illness can be described,
not as manic or melancholic, but rather as one of heightened
awareness, insomniac wakefulness and watchfulness. He began to
believe that a great many things that he saw coma telephone
number, a red necktie, a dog trotting along the sidewalk, a
Hebrew letter, a birthplace, a sentence in
The New York Times-had
a hidden significance, apparent only to him. He found such signs
increasingly compelling, so much so that they drove from his
consciousness his usual concerns and preoccupations. At the same
time, he believed he was on the brink of cosmic insights. He
claimed he had found a solution to the greatest unsolved problem
in pure mathe-
matics, the so-called Riemann Hypothesis. Later he said he was
engaged in an effort to "rewrite the foundations of quantum
physics." Still later, he claimed, in a torrent of letters to
former colleagues, to have discovered vast conspiracies and the
secret meaning of numbers and biblical texts. In a letter to the
algebraist Emil Artin, whom he
---------------------------------------------------------------43
addressed as "a great necromancer and numerologistea"Nash wrote:
I have been considering Algerbiac [sic] questions and have
noticed some interesting things that might also interest you ...
1, a while ago, was seized with the concept that numerological
calculations dependent on the decimal system might not be
sufficiently intrinsic also that language and alphabet structure
might contain ancient cultural stereotypes interfering with clear
understands [sic] or unbiased thinking.... I quickly wrote down a
new sequence of symbols.... These were associated with (in    A43
fact natural, but perhaps not computationally ideal but suited
for mystical rituals, incantations and such) system for
representing the integers via symbols, based on the products of
successive primes."
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-illuminating visions became increasingly obscure,
self-contradictory, and full of purely private meanings,
accessible only to himself His longstanding conviction that the
universe was rational
---------------------------------------------------------------44
evolved into a caricature of itself, turning into an unshakable
belief that everything had meaning, everything had a reason,
nothing was random or coincidental. For much of the time, his
grandiose 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 be
attributed to shock treatmentsdd"He sometimes told others that
his enforced idleness made him feel ashamed of himself,
worthless." More often, he expressed his suffering wordlessly. On
one occasion, sometime during the 1970's, he was sitting 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 Neumann, and Robert Oppenheimer- alone as
usual. That morning, an institute staff member recalled, Nash got
up, walked over to a wall, and stood there for many minutes,
banging his head against the wall, slowly, over and over, eyes
tightly shut, fists clenched, his face contorted with anguish."
While Nash the man remained frozen in a dreamlike state, a
phantom who haunted Princeton in the 1970's and 1980's scribbling
---------------------------------------------------------------45
on blackboards and studying religious texts, his name began to
surface everywhere-in economics textbooks, articles on
evolutionary biology, political science treatises, mathematics
journals. It appeared less often in explicit citations of the
papers he had written in the 1950's 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 equilibrium,0"Nash bargaining solution Nash program,0"De
Giorgi-Nash result,0"Nash embedding Nash-Moser theorem;` "Nash
blowing-up."
14
When a massive new encyclopedia of economics,
The New Palgrave,
appeared in 1987, its editors noted that the game theory
revolution that had swept through economics "was effected with
apparently no new fundamental mathematical theorems beyond those
of von Neumann and Nash.""
Even as Nash's ideas became more influential comin fields so
disparate that almost no one connected the

Nash of game theory with Nash the geometer or Nash the         46
analyst comthe man himself remained shrouded in obscurity. Most
of the young mathematicians and economists who made use of his
ideas simply assumed, given 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 romantic but essentially
frivolous gesture comand rejecteddd16 No biographical sketch of
Nash appeared in
The New Palgrave
alongside sketches of half a dozen other pioneers of game
theorydd17
At around that time, as part of his daily rounds in Princeton,
Nash used to turn up at the institute almost every day at
breakfast. Sometimes he would cadge cigarettes or spare change,
but mostly he kept very much to himself, a silent, furtive
figure, gaunt and gray, who sat alone off in a corner, drinking
coffee, smoking, spreading out a ragged pile of papers that he
carried
---------------------------------------------------------------47
with him alwaysdd18
Freeman Dyson, one of the giants of twentieth-century theoretical
physics, one-time mathematical prodigy, 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 every day at the institutedd19 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 someone of his
profession, and one of those who would greet Nash without
expecting any response, but merely as a token of respect.
On one of those gray mornings, sometime in the late 1980's, he
said his usual good morning to Nash. "I see your daughter is in
the news again 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 was aware
of her existence. It was beautiful. I remember the astonishment I
felt. What I found most wonderful was this slow awakening.
Slowly, he just somehow woke up. Nobody else has ever awakened
the way he did."
---------------------------------------------------------------48
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's mathematics facultydd60 Bombieri,
a dashing and erudite Italian, is a winner of the Fields Medal,
mathematics` equivalent of the Nobel. He also paints oils,
collects wild mushrooms, and polishes gemstones. Bombieri is a
number theorist who has been working for a long time on the
Riemann Hypothesis. The exchange 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, Bombleri said:
He was staying very much by himself But at some point he started
talking to people. Then we talked quite a lot about number    A48
theory. Sometimes we talked in my office. Sometimes over coffee
in the dining hall. Then we began corresponding by e-mail. It's a
sharp mind ... all the suggestions have that toughness ...
there's nothing commonplace about those.... Usually when one
starts in a field, people remark the obvious, only what is known.
In this case, not. He looks
---------------------------------------------------------------49
at things from a slightly different angle. A spontaneous recovery
from schizophrenia comst widely regarded as a dementing and
degenerative disease comis 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
diagnosisdd61 But people like Dyson and Bombieri, who had watched
Nash around Princeton for years before witnessing the
transformation, had no doubt that by the early 1990's he was "a
walking miracle."
It is highly 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 mathematics seminar was just breaking up. Nash, who now
regularly 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
doordd61
Kuhn had telephoned Nash at home earlier that
---------------------------------------------------------------50
day and suggested that the two of them might go for lunch after
the talk. The day was so mild, the outdoors so inviting, the
Institute woods so brilliant, that the two men wound up sitting
on a
bench opposite the mathematics building, at the edge 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 1940's,
shared the same professors, known the same people, traveled in
the same elite mathematical circles. They 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 became
more accessible, managed to establish fairly regular contact with
him. Kuhn is a shrewd, vigorous, sophisticated man who is not
burdened with "the mathematical personalitydd"ation 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. They were an odd couple, connected not by temperament
or experience but by a large fund of
---------------------------------------------------------------51
common memories and associations.
Kuhn, who had carefully rehearsed what he was going to say, got
to the point quickly. "I have something to tell you, Johnea"he
began. Nash, as usual, refused to look Kuhn in the face at first,
staring instead into the middle distance. Kuhn went           A51
22
Prologue
on. Nash was to expect an important telephone call at home the
following morning, probably around six o'clock. The call would
come from Stockholm. It would be made by the Secretary General of
the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Kuhn's voice suddenly became
hoarse with emotion. Nash now turned his head, concentrating on
every word. "He's going to tell you, Johnea"Kuhn concluded, "that
you have won a Nobel Prize."
This is the story of John Forbes Nash, Jr. It is a story about
the mystery of the human mind, in three acts: genius, madness,
reawakening.
PART ONE
A
Beautiful Mind
I
Bluefield
---------------------------------------------------------------52
1928-45
I was taught to feel, perhaps too much The self-sufficingpower
ofsolitude.
- WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
AMONG
JOHN NASHS EARLIEST MEMORIES
is one in which, as a child of about two or three, he is
listening to his maternal grandmother play the piano in the front
parlor of the old Tazewell Street house, high on a breezy hill
overlooking the city of Bluefield, West Virginia.`
It was in this parlor that his parents were married on September
6, 1924, a Saturday, at eight in the morning to the chords of a
Protestant hymn, amid basketfuls of blue hydrangeas, goldenrod,
black-eyed susans, and white and gold marguerites.` The
thirty-two-year-old groom was tall and gravely handsome. The
bride, four years his junior, was a willowy, dark-eyed beauty.
Her narrow, brown cut-velvet dress emphasized her slender waist
and long, graceful back. She had perhaps chosen its deep shade
out of deference to her father's recent death. She carried a
bouquet of the same old-fashioned flowers that filled the room,
and she wore more of these blooms woven through
---------------------------------------------------------------53
her thick chestnut hair. The effect was brilliant rather than
subdued. The vibrant browns and golds, which would have made a
woman with a lighter, more typically southern complexion look
wan, embellished her rich coloring and lent her a striking and
sophisticated air.
The ceremony, conducted by ministers from Christ Episcopal Church
and Bland Street Methodist Church, was simple and brief,
witnessed by fewer than a dozen family members and old friends.
By eleven o'clock, the newlyweds were standing at the ornate,
wrought-iron gate in front of the rambling, white 1890's house
waving their goodbyes. Then, according to an account that
appeared some weeks later in the Appalachian Power Companys
company newsletter, they embarked in the groom's shiny new Dodge
for an "extensive tour"through several northern states.`      A53
The romantic style of the wedding, and the venturesome honeymoon,
hinted
at certain qualities in the couple, no longer in the first bloom
of youth, that set them somewhat apart from the rest of society
in this small American town, John Forbes Nash, Sr., was "proper,
painstaking, and very serious, a very conservative man in
---------------------------------------------------------------54
every respect", according to his daughter Martha Nash Leggddbled
What saved him from dullness was a sharp, inquiring mind. A Texas
native, he came from the rural gentry, teachers and farmers,
pious, frugal Puritans and Scottish Baptists who migrated west
from New England and the Deep South.` He was born in 1892 on his
maternal grandparents' plantation on the banks of the Red River
in northern Texas, the oldest of three children of Martha Smith
and Alexander Quincy Nash. The first few years of his life were
spent in Sherman, Texas, where his paternal grandparents, both
teachers, had founded the Sherman Institute (later the Mary Nash
College for Women), a modest but progressive establishment, where
the daughters of Texas's middle class learned deportment, the
value of regular physical exercise, and a bit of poetry and
botany. His mother had been a student and then a teacher at the
college before she married the son of its founders. After his
grandparents died, John Srdd`s parents operated the college until
a smallpox epidemic forced them to close its doors for good.
His childhood, spent within the precincts of Baptist institutions
of higher learning, was
---------------------------------------------------------------55
unhappy. The unhappiness stemmed largely from his parents`
marriage. Martha Nash's obituary refers to "many heavy burdens,
responsibilities and disappointments, that made a severe demand
on her nervous system and physical forcedd06 Her chief burden was
Alexander, a strange and unstable individual, a ne'er-do-well and
a philanderer who either abandoned his wife and three children
soon after the college's demise or, more likely, was thrown out.
When precisely Alexander left the family for good or what
happened to him after he departed is unclear, but he was in the
picture long enough to earn his children's undying enmity and to
instill in his youngest son a deep and ever-present hunger for
respectability. "He was very concerned with appearances `"his
daughter Martha later said of her father; "he wanted everything
to be very proper."`
John Srdd`s mother was a highly intelligent, resourceful woman.
After she and her husband separated, Martha Nash supported
herself and her two young sons and daughter on her own, working
for many years as an administrator at Baylor College, another
Baptist institution for girls, in Belton, in central Texas.
Obituaries refer to her "fine executive ability"and
---------------------------------------------------------------56
"remarkable managerial skill." According to the Baptist Standard,
"She was an unusually capable woman.... She had the capacity of
managing large enterprises ... a true daughter of the true
Southern gentrydd"Devout and diligent, Martha was also described
as an "efficient and devoted"mother, but her constant struggle
against poverty, bad health, and low spirits, along with      A56
the shame of growing up in a fatherless household, left its scars
on John Sr. and contributed to the emotional reserve he later
displayed toward his own children.
Surrounded by unhappiness at home, John Sr. early on found solace
and certainty in the realm of science and technology. He studied
electrical engineering at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical,
graduating around 1912. He enlisted in the
army shortly after the United States entered World War I and
spent most of his wartime duty as a lieutenant in the 144th
Infantry Supply Division in France. When he returned to Texas, he
did not go back to his previous job at General Electric, but
instead tried his hand at teaching engineering students at Texas
AandM.
---------------------------------------------------------------57
Given his background and interests, he may well have hoped to
pursue an academic career. If so, however, those hopes came to
nothing. At the end of the academic year, he agreed to take a
position in Bluefield with the Appalachian Power Company (now
American Electric Power), the utility that would employ him for
the next thirty-eight years. By June, he was living in rented
rooms in Bluefield.
Photographs of Margaret Virginia Martin --
known as Virginia -- at the time of her engagement to John Sr.
show a smiling, animated woman, stylish and whippetthin. One
account called her "one of the most charming and cultured young
ladies of the community."` Outgoing and energetic, Virginia was a
freer, less rigid spirit than her quiet, reserved husband and a
far more active presence in her son's life. Her vitality and
forcefulness were such that, years later, her son John, by then
in his thirties and seriously ill, would dismiss a report from
home that she had been hospitalized for a "nervous breakdown" as
simply unbelievable. He would greet the news of her death in 1969
with similar incredulitydd9
Like her husband, Virginia grew up in a family
---------------------------------------------------------------58
that valued church and higher education. But there the similarity
ended. She was one of four surviving daughters of a popular
physician, James Everett Martin, and his wife, Emma, who had
moved to Bluefield from North Carolina during the early 1890's.
The Martins were a well-to-do, prominent local family, Over time,
they acquired a good deal of property in the town, and Dr. Martin
eventually gave up his medical practice to manage his real-estate
investments and to devote himself to civic affairs. Some accounts
refer to him as a one-time postmaster, others as the town's
mayor. The Martins' affluence did not protect them from terrible
blows comtheir first child, a boy, died in infancy; Virginia, the
second, was left entirely deaf in one car at age twelve after a
bout of scarlet fever; a younger brother was killed in a train
wreck; and one of her sisters died in a typhoid epidemic -- but
on the whole Virginia grew up in a happier atmosphere than her
husband. The Martins were also well-educated, and they saw to it
that all of their daughters received university educations. Emma
Martin was herself unusual in having graduated from a women's
college in Tennessee. Virginia studied English, French,       A58
German, and
---------------------------------------------------------------59
Latin first at Martha Washington College and later at West
Virginia University. By the time she met her husband-to-be, she
had been teaching for six years. She was a born teacher, a talent
that she would later lavish on her gifted son. Like her husband,
she had seen something beyond the small towns of her home state.
Before her marriage, she and another Bluefield teacher, Elizabeth
Shelton, spent several summers traveling and attending courses at
various universities, including the University of California at
Berkeley, Columbia University in New York, and the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville.
When the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon, the couple
lived at the Tazewell Street house with Virginia's mother and
sisters. John Sr. went back to his
job at the Appalachian, which in those years consisted largely of
driving all over the state inspecting remote power lines.
Virginia did not return to teaching. Like most school districts
around the country during the 1920's, the Mercer County school
system had a marriage bar. Female teachers lost their jobs as
soon as they married." But, quite apart from
---------------------------------------------------------------60
her forced resignation, her new husband had a strong feeling that
he ought to providefloThis wife and protect her from what he
regarded as the sbame of having to work, another legacy of his
own upbringing. Bluefield, named for the fields of "azure
chicory"in surrounding valleys that grows along every street and
alleyway even today, owes its existence to the rolling hills full
of coal com"the wildest, most rugged and romantic country to be
found in the mountains of Virginia or West Virginia"-that
surround the remote little citydd"Norfolk and Western, in a
spirit of "mean force and ignoranceea"built a line in the
1890's that stretched from Roanoke to Bluefield, which lies in
the Appalachians on the easternmost edge of the great Pocahontas
coal seam. For a long time, Bluefield was a rough and ready
outpost where Jewish merchants, African-American construction
workers, and Tazewell County farmers struggled to make a living
and where millionaire coal operators, most of whom lived ten
miles away in Bramwell, battled Italian, Hungarian, and Polish
immigrant laborers, and John L. Lewis and the UMW sat down with
the coal operators to negotiate contracts,
---------------------------------------------------------------61
negotiations that often led to the bloody strikes and lockouts
documented in John Sayles's film
Ma te wa not.
By the 1920's, when the Nashes married, however, Bluefield's
character was already changing. Directly on the line between
Chicago and Norfolk, the town was becoming an important rail hub
and had attracted a prosperous white-collar class of middle
managers, lawyers, small businessmen, ministers, and teachers." A
real downtown of granite office buildings and stores had sprung
up. Handsome churches bad also gone up all over town. Snug frame
houses with pretty little gardens edged by Rose of Sharon dotted
the hills. The town had acquired a daily newspaper, a         A61
hospital, and a home for the elderly. Educational institutions,
from private kindergartens and dancing schools to two small
colleges, one black, one white, were thriving. The radio,
telegraph, and telephone, as well as the railroads and,
increasingly, the automobile, eased the sense of isolation,
Bluefield was not "a community of scholarsea"z John Nash later
said with more than a hint of ironydd"Xs bustling commercialism,
Protestant
---------------------------------------------------------------62
respectability, and small-town snobbery couldn't have been
further removed from the atmosphere of the intellectual hothouses
of Budapest and Cambridge which produced John von Neumann and
Norbert Wiener. Yet while John Nash was growing up, the town had
a sizable group of men with scientific interests and engineering
talent, men like John Sr. who were attracted by the railroad, the
utility, and the mining companiesdd14 Some of those who came to
work for the companies wound up as science teachers in the high
school or one of the two local colleges. In his autobiographical
essay, Nash described "having to learn from the world's knowl-
edge rather than the knowledge of the immediate community"z "a
challengedd"I I But, in fact, Bluefield offered a good deal of
stimulation comadmittedly, of a downto-earth variety comfor an
inquiring mind; John Nash's subsequent career as a multifaceted
mathematician, not to mention a certain pragmatism of character,
would seem to owe something to his Bluefield years.
More than anything, the newly married Nashes were strivers. Solid
members of America's new, upwardly mobile professional middle
class, they formed a tight alliance and devoted themselves
---------------------------------------------------------------63
to achieving financial security and a respectable place for
themselves in the town's social pyramiddd16 They became
Episcopalians, like many of Bluefield's more prosperous citizens,
rather than continuing in the fundamentalist churches of their
youth. Unlike most of Virginia's family, they also became staunch
Republicans, though (so as to be able to vote for a Democratic
cousin in the primaries) not registered party members. They
socialized a good deal. They joined Bluefield's new country club,
which was displacing the Protestant churches as the center of
Bluefield's social life. Virginia belonged to various women's
book, bridge, and gardening clubs. John Sr. was a member of the
Rotary and a number of engineering societies. Later on, the only
middle-class practice that they deliberately avoided was sending
their son to prep school. Virginia, as her daughter explained,
was "a public-school thinker."
John Srdd`s job with the Appalachian remained secure right
through the Depression of the 1930's. The young family fared
considerably better in this period than many of their neighbors
and fellow churchgoers, especially the small businessmen. John
Sr4's
---------------------------------------------------------------64
paycheck, while hardly munificent, was steady, and frugality did
the rest. All decisions involving the expenditure of money, no
matter how modest, were carefully considered; very often the
decision was to avoid, put off, or reduce. There were no      A64
mortgages to be had in those days, no pensions either, even for a
rising young middle manager in one of the nation's largest
utilities. Virginia Nash used to accuse her husband, when they'd
had an argument-which they rarely did within earshot of the
children comof being quite likely, in the event that she died
before him, to marry a younger woman and let her squander all the
money she, Virginia, had scraped so hard to save. (Their savings,
it turned out, were considerable, however. Even though John Sr.
died some thirteen years before Virginia, and even with the high
cost of hospitalizations for John Jr., Virginia barely dipped
into her capital and was able to pass along a trust fund to her
children.)
Though they began life as parents in a rental house owned by Emma
Martin, the Nashes were soon able to move to their own modest but
comfortable threebedroom home in one of the best parts of town,
Country Club Hill. Built partly of cinder blocks that John Sr,
was able to buy for a song from a nearby
---------------------------------------------------------------65
Appalachian coal-processing plant, the house bore little
resemblance to the imposing homes of the coal families scattered
around the hill. But it was within a few hundred yards of the
crest where the club was located, was built to order by a local
architect, and contained all the comforts and conveniences that a
small-town, middle-class family
at that time could aspire to: a living room where Virginia's
bridge club could be entertained in style, with a fireplace,
built-in bookshelves, and graceful wooden trim at the tops of all
the doorways, a neat little kitchen with a breakfast nook, a
dining room where Sunday dinners of chicken and waffles were
served, a real basement that might one day be fitted out with a
maid's room, should live-in help be one day possible, and a
separate bedroom for each of the two children.
However much they were forced to economize, the Nashes were able
to keep up appearances. Virginia had nice clothes, most of which
she sewed herself, and allowed herself the weekly luxury of going
to a beauty parlor. By the time they moved to their own house,
she had a cleaning woman who came once a week. Virginia always
had a car to drive, typically a Dodge, which was hardly the norm
even among
---------------------------------------------------------------66
middle-class families at the time. John Sr., of course, had a
company car, usually a Buick. The Nashes were a loyal couple,
like-minded.
John Forbes Nash, Jr., was born almost exactly four years after
his parents` marriage, on June 13, 1928. He first saw the light
of day not at home, but in the Bluefield Sanitarium, a small
hospital on Ramsey Street that has long since been converted to
other uses, Other than that single fact, again suggestive of the
Nashes' comfortAle circumstances, nothing is now known of his
coming into the world. Did Virginia catch influenza during her
winter pregnancy? Were there any other complications? Were
forceps needed during the delivery? While viral exposure in utero
or a subtle birth injury might have played a role in his later
mental illness, there is no available record or memory to     A66
suggest any such trauma. No anesthesia was required during the
delivery, Virginia later told her daughter. The seven-pound baby
boy was, as far as anyone still living remembers, apparently
healthy, and was soon baptized in the Episcopal Church directly
opposite the Martin house on Tazewell
---------------------------------------------------------------67
Street and given his father's full name. Everyone, however,
called him Johnny.
He was a singular little boy, solitary and introverteddd17 The
once-dominant view of the origins of the schizoid temperament was
that abuse, neglect, or abandonment caused the child to give up
the possibility of gratification from human relationships at a
very early age." Johnny Nash certainly did not fit this
nowdiscredited paradigm. His parents, especially his mother, were
actively loving. In general, one can imagine, on evidence from
biographies of many brilliant men who were peculiar and isolated
as children, that an inward-looking child might react to
intrusive adults by withdrawing further into his own private
world or that efforts to make him conform might be met by firm
resolve to do things his own way comor perhaps that unsympathetic
taunting peers might have a similar effect. But the facts of
Nash's childhood, in many ways so typical of the educated classes
in small American towns of that era, suggest that his temperament
may well have been one that he was born with.
As the vivid memory of his grandmother's piano-playing suggests,
Johnny Nash's infancy was spent a good deal in the company not
only
---------------------------------------------------------------68
of his adoring mother, but also of his grandmother, aunts, and
young cousinsdd19 The Highland Bluefield
31
Street house to which the Nashes had moved shortly after his
birth was within walking distance of Tazewell Street and Virginia
continued to spend a great deal of time there, even after the
birth of Johnny's younger sister Martha in 1930. But by the time
Johnny was seven or eight, his aunts had come to consider him
bookish and slightly odd. While Martha and her cousins rode stick
horses, cut paper dolls out of old pattern books, and played
house and hide-and-seek in the "almost scary but nice"attic,
Johnny could always be found in the parlor with his nose buried
in a book or magazine. At home, despite his mother's urgings, he
ignored the neighborhood children, preferring to stay indoors
alone. His sister spent most of her free time at the pool or
playing football and kick ball or taking part in crabapple
battles with long, flimsy sticks. But Johnny played by himself
with toy airplanes and cars.
Although he was no prodigy, Johnny was a bright and curious
child. His mother, with whom he was always closest,
---------------------------------------------------------------69
responded by making his education a principal focus of her
considerable energy. "Mother was a natural teacher;` Martha
observes. "She liked to read, she liked to teach. She wasn't just
a housewifedd"Virginia, who became actively involved in the PTA,
taught Johnny to read by age four, sent him to a private      A69
kindergarten, saw to it that he skipped half a grade early in
elementary school, tutored him at home and, later on, in high
school, had him eriroll at Bluefield College to take courses in
English, science, and math. John Sr4's hand in his son's
education was less visible. More distant than Virginia, he
nonetheless shared his interests with his children -- taking
Johnny and Martha on Sunday drives to inspect power lines, for
example -- and, more important, supplied answers to his son's
incessant questions about electricity, geology, weather,
astronomy, and other technological subjects and the natural
world. A neighbor remembers that John Sr. always spoke to his
children as if they were adults: "He never gave Johnny a coloring
book. He gave him science books.""
At school, Johnny's immaturity and social
---------------------------------------------------------------70
awkwardness were initially more apparent than any special
intellectual gifts. His teachers labeled him an underachiever. He
daydreamed or talked incessantly and had trouble following
directions, a source of some conflict between him and his mother.
His fourth-grade report card, in which music and mathematics were
his lowest marks, contained a note to the effect that Johnny
needed "improvement in effort, study habits and respect for the
rules." He gripped his pencil like a stick, his handwriting was
atrocious, and he was somewhat inclined to use his left hand.
John Sr. insisted he write only with his right hand. Virginia
eventually made him enroll in a penmanship course at a local
secretarial college, where he learned a certain style of printing
and also how to type. A newspaper clipping from Virginia's
scrapbook shows him sitting in a classroom with rows and rows of
teenage girls, his eyes rolled up in his head, looking
stupefyingly bored. Complaints about his writing, his talking out
of turn or even "monopolizing the class discussion," and his
sloppiness dogged him right through the end of high school."
His best friends were books, and he was always happiest learning
on his own. Nash alludes to his preference
---------------------------------------------------------------71
obliquely in his autobiographical essay:
My parents provided an encyclopedia, Compton's Pictured
Encyclopedia,
that I learned a lot from by reading it as a child. And also
there were other books available from either our house or the
house of the grandparents that were of educational valuedd22 And
the best time of day was after dinner every evening when John Sr.
would sit at his desk in the small family room off the living
room, the size of a sleeping porch, and John Jr. could sprawl in
front of the radio, listening to classical music or news reports,
or reading either the encyclopedia or the family's stacks of
well-worn
Life and Time
magazines, and ask his father questions.
His great passion was experimenting. By the time he was twelve or
so, he had turned his room into a laboratory. He tinkered with
radios, fooled around with electrical gadgets, and did chemistry
experimentsdd"A neighbor recalls Johnny rigging the Nash      A71
telephone to ring with the receiver
offdd14
Though he had no close companions, he enjoyed performing in front
of other children. At one point, he
---------------------------------------------------------------72
would hold on to a big magnet that was wired with electricity to
show how much current he could endure without flinchingdd"Another
time, he'd read about an old Indian method for making oneself
immune to poison ivy. He wrapped poison ivy leaves in some other
leaves and swallowed them whole in front of a couple of other
boys."
One afternoon, he went to a carnival that had come to
Bluefielddd17 The crowd of children he was with clustered around
a sideshow. There was a man sitting in an electric chair holding
swords in each of his hands. Sparks flashed and danced between
the two tips. He challenged anyone in the crowd to do the same.
Johnny Nash, then about twelve, stepped forward and grabbed the
swords and repeated the man's trick. "There's nothing to itea"he
said as he rejoined the others. How did you do that? asked one of
the children. "Static electricityea"answered Nash before
launching into a more detailed explanation.
Johnny's lack of interest in childish pursuits and lack of
friends were major sources of worry for his parents. An ongoing
effort to make him more "well rounded"bbcame a family
obsessiondd18 Whether his apparent resolve to march to his own
drummer was a question of his temperament or of his parents`
concerted
---------------------------------------------------------------73
efforts to change his nature, the result was his withdrawal into
his own private world. Martha, with whom Johnny constantly
bickered, recalls: Johnny was always different. [My parents] knew
he was different. And they knew he was bright. He always wanted
to do things his way. Mother insisted I
do things for him, that I include him in my friendships. She
wanted me to get him dates. She was right. But I wasn't too keen
on showing off my somewhat odd brother.
The Nashes pushed Johnny as hard socially as they did
academically. At first, it was Boy Scout camp and Sunday Bible
classes; later on, lessons at the Floyd Ward dancing school and
membership in the John Aldens Society, a youth organization
devoted to improving the manners of its members. By high school,
the outgoing Martha was always being enlisted to include her
older brother when she socialized with friends. And in the summer
holidays, the Nashes insisted that Johnny get jobs, including one
at the
Blueandld Daily Telegraph.
In order to get him to the paper, "they got up at the wee hours
of the nightea"Martha said. "They thought it was very important
in helping make him well rounded.
---------------------------------------------------------------74
With a brain like John's, it seemed even more important. My
mother and father didn't want him to be inside all the time with
his hobbies and inventions .1129
Johnny did not openly rebel -- he dutifully trotted off to    A74
camp, dancing school, Bible classes, and, later on, blind dates
arranged by his sister at Virginia's urging but he did these
things mainly to please his parents, especially his mother, and
acquired neither friends nor social graces as a result. He
continued to treat sports, going to church, the dances at the
country club, visits with his cousins comall the things that so
many of his peers found fascinating and enjoyable-z tedious
distractions from his books and experiments. Always last to be
chosen in softball, Johnny would stand in the right outfield,
staring at the clouds above, eating bits of grass. Martha
describes one occasion on which Virginia insisted he accompany
the family to an Appalachian Power Company dinner. Johnny went,
but spent the evening riding up and down in the elevator, which
mesmerized him, until it broke commuch to his parents'
embarrassment. And on his summer jobs he found ways to entertain
himself. One of Nash's classmates recalled that Nash, after
---------------------------------------------------------------75
disappearing for hours from his post at Bluefield Supply, was
discovered rigging an elaborate system of mousetrapsdd10 At a
dance, he pushed a stack of chairs onto the dance floor and
danced with them rather than with a girl." Virginia kept
scrapbooks chronicling her children's lives and accomplishments.
In one of them is a faded and yellowed essay by one Angelo Patri,
clipped from a newspaper, covered with her pen marks,
underlinings, and circles compoignant hints of her hopes and
fears:
Queer little twists and quirks go into the making of an
individual. To suppress them all and follow clock and calendar
and creed until the individual is lost in the neutral gray of the
host is to be less than true to our inheritance.... Life, that
gorgeous quality of life, is not accomplished by following
another man's rules. It is true we have the same hungers and same
thirsts, but they are for different things and in different ways
and in different seasons.... Lay down your own day, follow it to
its noon, your own noon, or you will sit in an outer
hall listening to the chimes but never reaching high enough to
strike your own.
---------------------------------------------------------------76
32
The earliest hint of Johnny's mathematical talent, ironically,
was a B-minus in fourth-grade arithmetic. The teacher told
Virginia that Johnny couldn't do the work, but it was obvious to
his mother that he had merely found his own ways of solving
problems. "He was always looking for different ways to do
thingsea"his sister commenteddd31 More experiences like this
followed, especially in high school, when he often succeeded in
showing, after a teacher had struggled to produce a laborious,
lengthy proof, that the proof could be accomplished in two or
three elegant steps.
There is no sign of a mathematical pedigree in Nash's ancestry or
any indication that mathematics was much in the air at the Nash
household. Virginia Nash was literary. And for all his interest
in contemporary developments in science and technology, John Sr.
was not well-versed in abstract mathematics. Nash does not    A76
recall ever discussing his later research with his fatherdd14
Martha's recollections of dinner-table discussions were that they
revolved around the meaning of words, books the children were
reading, and current events.
The first bite of the mathematical apple probably
---------------------------------------------------------------77
occurred when Nash at around age thirteen or fourteen read E. T
Bell's extraordinary book,
Men of Mathemddqtics-an
experience he alludes to in his autobiographical essaydd"Bell's
book, which was published in 1937, would have given Nash the
first glimpse of real mathematics, a heady realm of symbols and
mysteries entirely unconnected to the seemingly arbitrary and
dull rules of arithmetic and geometry taught in school or even to
the entertaining but ultimately trivial calculations that Nash
carried out in the course of chemistry and electrical
experiments.
Men of Mathematics
consists of lively comand, as it turns out, not entirely accurate
combiographical sketchesdd16 Its flamboyant author, a professor
of mathematics at the California Institute of Technology,
declared himself disgusted with "the ludicrous untruth of the
traditional portrait of the mathematician"z a "slovenly dreamer
totally devoid of common sensedd"He assured his readers that the
great mathematicians of history were an exceptionally virile and
even adventuresome breed.
---------------------------------------------------------------78
He sought to prove his point with vivid accounts of infant
precocity, monstrously insensitive educational authorities,
crushing poverty, jealous rivals, love affairs, royal patronage,
and many varieties of early death, including some resulting from
duels. He even went so far, in defending mathematicians, as to
answer the question "How many of the great mathematicians have
been perverts""None, was his answer. "Some lived celibate lives,
usually on account of economic disabilities, but the majority
were happily married.... The only mathematician discussed here
whose life might offer something of interest to a Freudian is
Pascaldd"I' The book became a bestseller as soon as it appeared.
What makes Bell's account not merely charming, but intellectually
seductive, are his lively descriptions of mathematical problems
that inspired his subjects when they were young, and his breezy
assurance that there were still deep and beautiful problems that
could be solved by amateurs, boys of fourteen, to be specific. It
was
Bell's essay on Fermat, one of the greatest mathematicians of all
time but a perfectly conventional seventeenth-century French
magistrate
---------------------------------------------------------------79
whose life was "quiet, laborious and uneventfulea"t caught Nash's
eyedd31 The main interest of Fermat, who shares the credit for
inventing calculus with Newton and analytic geometry with
Descartes, was number theory com"the higher arithmeticdd"Number
theory "investigates the mutual relationships of those common
whole numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... which we utter almost as     A79
soon as we learn to talk."
For Nash, proving a theorem known as Fermat's Theorem about prime
numbers, those mysterious integers that have no divisor besides
themselves and one, produced an epiphany of sorts. Other
mathematical geniuses, Einstein and Bertrand Russell among them,
recount similarly revelatory experiences in early adolescence.
Einstein recalled the "wonder"of his first encounter with Euclid
at age twelve:
Here were assertions, as for example the intersection of three
altitudes of a triangle at one point which -- though by no means
evident -- could nevertheless be proved with such certainty that
any doubt appeared to be out of the question. This lucidity and
certainty made an indescribable impression on medd19
Nash does not describe his feelings when he
---------------------------------------------------------------80
succeeded in devising a proof for Fermat's assertion that if
n
is any whole number and p any prime, then n multiplied by itself
p times minus n is divisible by pdd41 But he notes the fact in
his autobiographical essay, and his emphasis on this concrete
result of his initial encounter with Fermat suggests that the
thrill of discovering and exercising his own intellectual powers
-- as much as any sense of wonder inspired by hitherto
unsuspected patterns and meanings -- was what made this moment
such a memorable one. That thrill has been decisive for many a
future mathematician. Bell describes how success in solving a
problem posed by Fermat led Carl Friedrich Gauss, the renowned
German mathematician, to choose between two careers for which he
was similarly talented. "It was this discovery ... which induced
the young man to choose mathematics instead of philology as his
life work
dis041
However heady it may have been to prove a theorem of Fermat's,
the experience was hardly enough to plant the notion in Nash's
mind that he might himself become a
---------------------------------------------------------------81
mathematician. Although as a high-school student Nash took
mathematics at Bluefield College, as late as his senior year,
when he already had gone much further into number theory, he
still had firmly in mind following in his father's footsteps and
becoming an electrical engineer. It was only after he had entered
Carnegie Tech, with enough math to skip most entry-level courses,
that his professors would convince him mathematics, for a chosen
few, was a realistic choice as a profession.
The Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii, on
December 7, 1941, came halfway through Johnny's first year in
high school. A few days later,
Johnny and Mop, as he called his younger sister, got a lesson
from their father in how to shoot a .22 caliber rifledd42 He
drove them up to a ridge where the power lines cut a wide swath
through the scrubby, snow-dusted pine wood. Pointing toward the
town below, huddling under a sooty gray cloud, he told them, in
the soft, formal way he had of addressing his children, that the
Japanese wouldn't rest until they had reached their West      A81
Virginia hometown, remote and surrounded by mountains as it
---------------------------------------------------------------82
was, because blowing up the coal trains was the only way they
could cripple the mighty American war machine.
A .22, he said, was only a squirrel gun. You couldn't even kill a
deer or a bear with one. But it was easier than a heavier gun for
women and children to handle. They had no choice, really. The
Japanese wouldn't be satisfied with destroying trains. They'd
raze the city, round up all the men, murder all the civilians,
even schoolchildren like them. If you could shoot this thing, you
might be able to stop someone who was coming after you long
enough to run away and hide someplace until the army rescued you.
Years later, when Johnny Nash saw secret signs of invaders
everywhere and believed that he, and only he, could keep the
universe safe, he would be sick with anxiety, shaking and
sweating and sleepless for hours and days at a time. But on that
bright December afternoon, he was excited and happy as he
fingered the rifle. The war came thundering through Bluefield,
West Virginia, in the roaring, raffling shapes of freight car
after car heaped high with coal from the great Pocahontas
coalfield in the mountains to the west -- 40 percent of all the
coal fueling the war machine comand troop trains crowded with
sailors and
---------------------------------------------------------------83
soldiers, round-faced farm boys from Iowa and Indiana and edgy
factory hands from Pittsburgh and Chicagodd41 The war shook and
rattled the city out of its Depression slumber, filling its
warehouses and streets, making overnight fortunes for scrap
speculators and wheeler-dealers of all kinds. Workers were
suddenly in short supply and there were jobs for everybody who
wanted them. Bluefield teenagers hung around the train station
watching it all, attended war bond rallies (Greer Garson showed
up at one), and in school took part in tin can drives and bought
war bonds with books of ten-cent stamps they bought in school.
The war made a lot of Bluefield boys want to hurry and grow up
lest the war be over before they were eligible to join. But
Johnny didn't feel that way, his sister recalled. He did become
obsessed with inventing secret codes consisting, as one former
schoolmate recalled, of weird little animal and people
hieroglyphics, sometimes adorned with biblical phrases:
Though the Wealthyand GreatlRollin splendor and State lIenvy them
not, lIdeclare it.
Adolescence wasn't easy for an intellectually precocious boy with
few social skills or
---------------------------------------------------------------84
athletic interests to help him blend in with his small-town
peers. The boys and girls on Country Club Hill let him tag along
when they went hiking in the woods, explored caves, and hunted
batsdd44 But they found him-his speech, his behavior, the
knapsack he insisted on carrying --
weirddd41 "He was teased more than average comsimply because he
was so far out `was Donald V. Reynolds, who lived across the
street from the Nashes, said. "What he thought of as
experimenting, we thought of as crazy. We called him Big      A84
Brainsdd046 Once some boys in the neighborhood
tricked him into a boxing match and he took a beatingdd47 But
because he was tall, strong, and physically courageous, the
teasing only rarely degenerated into outright bullying. He rarely
passed up a chance to prove that he was smarter, stronger,
braver.
Boredom and simmering adolescent aggression led him to play
pranks, occasionally ones with a nasty edge. He caricatured
classmates he disliked with weird little cartoons. He later told
a fellow mathematician at MIT that, as a youngster, he had
sometimes "enjoyed torturing
---------------------------------------------------------------85
animalSdd048
He once constructed a Tinkertoy rocking chair, wired it
electrically, and tried to get Martha to sit in xddbled` He
played a similar prank on a neighboring child. Nelson Walker,
head of Bluefield's Chamber of Commerce, told a newspaper
reporter the following story:
I was a couple of years younger than Johnny. One day I was
walking by his house on Country Club Hill and he was sitting on
the front steps. He called for me to come over and touch his
hands. I walked over to him, and when I touched his hands, I got
the biggest shock I'd ever gotten in my life. He had somehow
rigged up batteries and wires behind him, so that he wouldn't get
shocked but when I touched his hands, I got the living fire
shocked out of me. After that he just smiled and I went on my
way." Occasionally the pranks got him into hot water. One
incident involving a small explosion in the high school chemistry
lab landed him in the principal's office." Another time, he and
some other boys were picked up by the police for a curfew
violation." When he was fifteen, Nash and a couple of boys from
across the street, Donald Reynolds and Herman Kirchner, began
fooling around with homemade
---------------------------------------------------------------86
explosiveSdd51 They gathered in Kirchner's basement, which they
called their "laboratory," where they made pipe bombs and
manufactured their own gunpowder. They constructed cannons out of
pipe and shot stuff through them. Once they managed to shoot a
candle through a thick wooden board. One day Nash showed up at
the lab holding a beaker. "I've just made some nitroglycerinea"he
announced excitedly. Donald didn't believe him. He told him "to
go down to Crystal Rock and throw it over the cliff to see what
would happendd"Nash did just that. "Luckily," said Reynolds, "it
didn't work. He would have blown off the whole side of the
mountaindd"The bombmaking came to a horrifying end one afternoon
in January 1944. Herman Kirchner, who was alone at the time, was
building yet another pipe bomb when it exploded in his lap,
severing an artery. He bled to death in the ambulance that came
for him. Donald Reynolds's parents packed him off to boarding
school the following fall. For Nash, whose parents may or may not
have known the extent of his involvement in the bombmaking, it
was a sobering experience that brought home the dangers of his
experiments.
He had grown up, essentially, without ever making a           A86
---------------------------------------------------------------87
close friend. Just as he learned to deflect his parents'
criticism of his behavior with his intellectual achievements,
he learned to armor himself against rejection by adopting a hard
shell of indifference and using his superior intelligence to
strike back. Julia Robinson, the first woman to become president
of the American Mathematical Society, said in her autobiography
that she believed that many mathematicians felt themselves to be
ugly ducklings as children, unlovable and out of kilter with
their more conventional, conforming peersdd14 Johnny's apparent
sense of superiority, his standoffishness, and his occasioilal
cruelty were ways of coping with uncertainty and loneliness. What
he lost by his lack of genuine interaction with children his own
age was a "lively sense, in reality, of his actual position in
the human hierarchy"t prevents other children with more social
contact from feeling either unrealistically weak or
unrealistically powerfuldd"If he could not believe he was
lovable, then feeling powerful was a good substitute. As long as
he could be successful, his self-esteem could remain intact.
Johnny chose the time-honored escape route from the confines of
small-town life: He performed well in
---------------------------------------------------------------88
school. With Virginia's encouragement, he took courses at
Bluefield College. He read voraciously, mostly futuristic fantasy
books, popular science magazines, and real science textsdd16 "He
was just an outstanding problem solverea"his high school
chemistry teacher later told the
Blueandld Daily Telegraph.
"When I put a chemistry problem up on the blackboard, all the
students would get out a pencil and a piece of paper. John
wouldn't move. He would stare at the formula on the board, then
stand up politely and tell us the answer. He could do it all in
his head. He never even took out a pencil or a piece of paper.""
This youthful Gedanken experimentation actually helped shape the
way he approached mathematical problems later on. His peers
became more respectful. At a time when the war was making heroes
out of scientists, Johnny's classmates assumed he was slated to
become onedd58
In high school, Nash became friendly -- though not close friends
-- with a couple of fellow students, John Williams and John
Louthan, both sons of Bluefield College professors. The
---------------------------------------------------------------89
three rode a public bus to school together and Johnny helped
Williams with Latin translations. Williams recalled, "We were
attracted to him. He was an interesting guy. That was sort of it.
I don't think we ever went over to John's house. It was pretty
much of a school thingdd059 The three also constantly maneuvered
to get out of their classes as much as possible. Before the
widespread use of the SAT's, college recruiters routinely came to
the high school and would invite students to take their
admissions tests. "We spent many mornings taking those
testsea"Williams said.
At the beginning of the year, at Johnny's instigation, they
made a                                                        A89
bet -- no one remembers for how much -- that they could make the
honor roll without ever cracking a book. All three thought they
were pretty smart but at the same time were contemptuous of
grinds and teachers' pets. "We kind of got drug into it by
Nashea"Williams said. Nash, who was already taking a full load of
courses at
Bluefield
39
---------------------------------------------------------------90
Bluefield College, never made the honor society, missing it by a
few tenths of a percent, The other two did, though by a hair.
John Sr. suggested that Johnny apply to West Point, a suggestion
that, once again, may have reflected the father's anxiety that
his son was not growing up wellrounded as much as it did the
prospect of free college tuition. But as Martha said, "Even I
could see that wouldn't have workeddd060 Whatever fantasies he
may have had about becoming a scientist, when asked to describe
his career aspirations in an essay, Johnny wrote that he hoped to
become an engineer like his fatherdd61 He and John Sr. wrote an
article together describing an improved method for calculating
the proper tensions for electric cables and wires coma project
that entailed weeks of field measurements comand published the
results jointly in an engineering journal
.61
Johnny entered the George Westinghouse competition and won a full
scholarship, one of ten that were awarded nationallydd61 The fact
that Lloyd Shapley, a son of the famous Harvard astronomer Harlow
Shapley, also won a Westinghouse that year made the
---------------------------------------------------------------91
achievement all the sweeter in the eyes of the Nash family.
Johnny was accepted at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Because of the war all colleges were on accelerated schedules and
operated year-round so that students could graduate in three
years. Johnny left Bluefield for Pittsburgh, taking a train from
nearby Hinton, in mid-June, a few weeks before the VE Day parade
celebrating Hitler's defeat.
2 Carnegie Institute of Technology
June 1945-June 1948
In
those days very few people became mathematicians. It was like
becoming a conceitpiamust, -- R4ouL B67T, 1995
I 1ASH WENT TOP-ITTSBURGH
to become a chemical engineer, but his growing interest was in
mathematics. It was not long before he abandoned the laboratory
and slide rule for Mbbius knots and
Diophantine equations.`

With
its smelters, power plants, polluted rivers, and ubiquitous slag
heaps, Pittsburgh was a city of violent strikes and frequent
floods.` So


dense was the sulfurous haze that engulfed its downtown that   92
travelers arriving by rail often mistook morning for midnight.
The Carnegie Institute of Technology, perched halfway up Squirrel
Hill, hardly escaped the inferno. The ivory-colored brick of its
buildings --
designed, or so students said, to serve as factories should
Andrew Carnegie's school fail comwere glazed yellow black. Its
walkways were gritty with soot particles the size of pebbles. Its
students were forced, before a lecture was half over, to brush
the cinders from their lecture notes. Even at high noon in
midsummer, one could stare directly at the sun without blinking.
In that era, Carnegie was shunned by the local ruling elite,
which sent its children east to Harvard and Princeton. Richard
Cyert, who joined the Carnegie faculty after the war and would
later become its president, recalled, "When I
came
this place was really very backward."` The engineering school,
with its two thousand or so students, still resembled the trade
school for sons and daughters of electricians and bricklayers
that it had been at the turn of the century.
---------------------------------------------------------------93
But like so many other colleges right after the war, Carnegie was
changing. Robert Doherty, its president, had seized the
opportunities created by wartime research to turn the engineering
school into a real university. He parlayed defense contracts and
the prospect of ballooning enrollments into a big push to recruit
brilliant young researchers in math, physics, and economics. "The
theoretical Carnegie Institute of Technology
41
sciences were being pushed very hardea"recalled Richard Duffin, a
mathematician. "Doherty was trying to take CT into the big
tiMedd0bled
Corporate giants like Westinghouse, whose headquarters were in
Pittsburgh, supplied generous scholarships to lure talented young
people to Carnegie. Among the scholarship recipients who entered
Carnegie in 1945 were talented youngsters like Andy Warhol, the
artist, as well as a group of young men who would eventually,
like Nash, shun engineering for science and mathematics.`
Nash arrived by train in June 1945; gasoline rationing made car
travel impracticaldd6 Carnegie Tech was still operating in
wartime mode: classes went year-round, most campus
---------------------------------------------------------------94
activities remained canceled, and most of the fraternity houses
were still shut. Within a year the campus would be inundated with
veterans and classes would be jammed with these older students.
But that June, two months before the war finally ended, it was
mostly freshmen and sophomores who were on campus. The
scholarship students were housed together in Welch Hall and took
most of their classes together -- small ones taught by
hand-picked instructors, some of whom were first-rate. Nash took
his first physics course from Immanuel Estermann, for example, a
top-flight physicist who had done much of the experimental work
that had netted Otto Stern, a German 6migr6, the 1943 Nobel Prize
for physicsdd7
Nash's engineering aspirations did not survive his first      A94
semester, killed off by an unhappy experience in mechanical
drawing: "I reacted negatively to the regimentationea"he later
wrote.` But chemistry, his newly chosen major, proved no better
suited to his temperament or interests. He worked briefly as a
lab assistant for one of his teachers but got into trouble for
breaking equipmentdd9 He was so bored at his summer job at the
Westinghouse Lab that he spent most of his two
---------------------------------------------------------------95
months there making and polishing a brass egg in the lab's
machine shopdd10 The final blow was a C in physical chemistry,
which he got after a running dispute with the professor over the
lack of rigor of the mathematics in the course. David Lide
recalled, "He refused to do the problems the way the professor
expected.0"Of chemistry in general Nash would complain: "It was
not a matter of how well one could think ... but of how well one
could handle a pipette and perform titration in the laboratory.""
Even as he struggled in the laboratory, Nash was already
discovering a brilliant group of newcomers to Carnegie. By his
sophomore year, Doherty's program of upgrading the theoretical
sciences had brought to Carnegie John Synge, nephew of the Irish
playwright John Millington Synge, who became head of the
mathematics department. Despite his startling appearance comSynge
wore a black patch over one eye and a filter that protruded from
one of his nostrils comhe was a man of great charm who attracted
younger scholars like Richard Duffin, Raoul Bott, and Alexander
Weinstein, a European 6migr6 whom Einstein had once invited to
become a
---------------------------------------------------------------96
collaborator." When Albert Tucker, a Princeton topologist who did
pathbreaking work in operations research, came to Carnegie to
lecture that year, he was so impressed with the depth of
mathematical talent at Carnegie that he confessed that he felt as
if he were "bringing coals to Newcastle."
14
From the start, Nash dazzled his mathematics professors; one of
them called him "a young Gaussdd015 He took courses in tensor
calculus comthe mathematical too] used by Einstein to formulate
the general theory of relativity comand relativity from Synge.
16
Synge was impressed with Nash's originality and his appetite for
difficult problemsdd"He and others began urging Nash to major in
mathematics and to consider an academic career. Nash's doubts
that one could make a living as a mathematician took some time to
overcome. But by the middle of his second year he was
concentrating almost exclusively on mathematics. The Westinghouse
scholarship administrators were unhappy with Nash's switch to
mathematics, but by the time they learned of it, it was a
---------------------------------------------------------------97
fait accomplidd11
College is a time when many ugly ducklings discover that they are
swans, not just intellectually but socially. Most of the boys in
Welch Hall comprecocious but immature comfound common interests,
kindred spirits, and a measure of acceptance painfully lacking in
high school. Hans Weinberger recalled, "We were all nerds     A97
back in our high schools and here we were able to talk to one
anotherdd019 Nash was not so lucky. While his professors singled
him out as a potential star, his new peers found him weird and
socially inept. "He was a country boy, unsophisticated even by
our standards," recalled Robert Siegel, a physics major, who
remembered that Nash had never attended a symphony performance
beforedd"He behaved oddly, playing a single chord on the piano
over and over," leaving an ice cream cone melting on top of his
castoff clothing in the loungeea"walking on his roommate's
sleeping body to turn off a lightea"pouting when he lost a game
of bridge .14
Nash was rarely invited to go to concerts or restaurants with the
group. Paul Zweifel, an avid bridge player, taught Nash how to
play
---------------------------------------------------------------98
bridge, but Nash's pouting and inattention to the details of the
game made him a poor partner. "He wanted to talk about the
theoretical aspects.0"Nash roomed with Weinberger for a term, but
the two clashed constantly -- Nash once pushed Weinberger around
to end an argument
16
comand Nash moved into a private room at the end of the hall. "He
was extremely lonelyea"recalled Siegel
.17
Later in life, as his accomplishments multiplied, his peers would
be more apt to be forgiving. But at Carnegie, where he was thrust
together with other adolescents around the clock, he became a
target. He was not so much bullied comthe other boys were afraid
of his strength and temper-z ostracized and relentlessly teased.
That he was envied for his size and his brains only fueled the
teasing. "He was the butt of people's jokes because he was
differentea"recalled George Hinman, a physics studentdd28 "Here
was a guy who was socially underdeveloped and acting much
younger. You do what you can to make his life miserable` "Zweifel
admitted. "We tormented poor John. We were very unkind. We were
obnoxious.
---------------------------------------------------------------99
We sensed he had a mental problem."
29
Carnegie Institute of Technology
43
That first summer, Nash, Paul Zweifel, and a third boy spent an
afternoon exploring the subterranean maze of steam tunnels under
Carnegie. In the dark, Nash suddenly turned to the others and
blurted out, "Gee, if we got trapped down here we'd have to turn
homodd"Zweifel, who was fifteen, found the remark pretty odd. But
during Thanksgiving break, in the deserted dormitory, Nash
climbed into Zweifel's bed when the latter was sleeping and made
a pass at hmdd10
Away from home, living in close proximity with other adolescents,
Nash discovered that he was attracted to other boys. He spoke and
acted in ways that seemed natural to him only to find himself
exposed to his peers' contempt. Zweifel and other boys in the
dormitory started calling Nash "Homo"and "Nash-Mo."""Once     A99
the statement was made"George Siegel said, "it stuck. John took a
lot."" No doubt, he found the label hurtful and humiliating, but
his anger is all that anyone witnessed.
--------------------------------------------------------------100
The boys made him the butt of various pranks. One time,
Weinberger and a couple of others used a footlocker as a
battering ram to break down Nash's doordd"Another time, Zweifel
and a few others, knowing of Nash's extreme aversion to cigarette
smoke, rigged up a contraption that smoked an entire pack of
cigarettes and collected the smoke. "A bunch of us crowded around
John's door and blew the smoke under itea"Zweifel recalled.
"Almost instantaneously, his room filled up with cigarette
smokedd014 Nash exploded in rage. "He came roaring out of his
room, picked up Jack [Wachtman], and threw him down on the bed
`"said Zweifel. "He ripped off Wachtman's shirt and bit him in
the back. Then he ran out of the room."
At other times, Nash defended himself the only way he knew how.
He wasn't practiced in invective, sarcasm, or ridicule, so he
went for childish displays of contempt. "'You stupid fool; he'd
sayea"Siegel recalled. "He was openly contemptuous of people who
he didn't think were up to his level intellectually. He showed
that contempt for all of us: 'You're an ignoramus! was After a
year or so, after he had acquired a
--------------------------------------------------------------101
reputation for being a genius, he began to hold court in Skibo
Hall, the student centerdd31 Like the fairground magician with
his swords, he would sit in a chair and challenge other students
to throw problems at him to solve. A lot of students came to him
with their homework. He was a star comb an outcast too.
Nash stared glumly at the announcement tacked to the bulletin
board outside the math department office in Administration Hall,
which looked, even on the sunniest of days, like the inside of
the Lincoln Tunnel. He stood in front of the board for a long
time. He hadn't made it into the top five
.16
Nash's fantasy of instant glory crumbled. The William Lowell
Putnam Mathematical Competition was a prestigious national
tournament for undergraduates, sponsored by an old-money Boston
family known mostly for its Harvard presidents and deansdd17Today
the contest attracts upward of two thousand participants. In
March 1947, it was a decade old and drew about 120. But even
then, it was the first chance to establish one's rank in the
world of mathematics as well as to seize the limelight.
--------------------------------------------------------------102
Then, as now, contestants were given a dozen problems and half an
hour each to solve them. The problems were famously difficult. In
any given year, the median score out of 120 possible points was
zero. That meant that at least half the contestants weren't able
to obtain so much as partial credit for even a single problem,
and this in spite of the fact that most contestants had been
chosen by their departments to compete. To have a prayer of
winning-placing in the top five coma young mathematician had to
be super-fast or especially ingenious. The prizes involved a
nominal amount of money, twenty to forty dollars for each    A102
of the top ten contestants, and two hundred to four hundred
dollars for each of the top five school teams, but winners became
instant mini-celebrities in the mathematics world and were
virtually assured a spot in a top graduate program. Different
graduate programs pay more or less attention to the Putnam, but
at Harvard it is, and always has been, a very, very big deal.
That year Harvard pledged a fifteenhundred-dollar scholarship to
one of the winners.
Nash had competed as a freshman and a sophomore. On his second
try, he'd managed to get into the top ten, but not the top five.
He'd been cocky
--------------------------------------------------------------103
this time, too. In 1946 a mathematician named Moskovitz tutored
the Carnegie Tech team using problems from past exams. Nash was
able to solve problems that Moskovitz and the others could not
solve. It was a tremendous blow to Nash that George Hinman ranked
in the top ten in the 1946 competition and Nash didn't."
Another nineteen-year-old might have shrugged off the
disappointment, especially a boy who had been plucked out of a
chemical engineering program, welcomed with open arms by the
school's mathematicians, and told that he had a brilliant future
in mathematics. But for a teenager who had endured a lifetime of
rejection by peers, the warm praise of such professors as Richard
Duffin and J. L. Synge was too little, too late. Nash craved a
more universal form of recognition, recognition based on what he
regarded as an objective standard, uncolored by emotion or
personal ties. "He always wanted to know where he stoodea"said
Harold Kuhn recently. "It was always important to be in the
clubdd019 Decades later, after he had acquired a worldwide
reputation in pure mathematics and had won a Nobel Prize in
economics, Nash hinted in his Nobel
--------------------------------------------------------------104
autobiography that the Putnam still rankled and implied that the
failure played a pivotal role in his graduate careerdd40 Today,
Nash still tends to identify mathematicians by saying, "Oh, So
and So, he won the Putnam three times."
In the fall of 1947, Richard Duffin stood at the board silent and
frowningdd41 He was intimately familiar with Hilbert spaces, but
he had prepared his lecture too hastily, had wandered down a cul
de sac in the course of his proof, and was hopelessly stuck. It
happened all the time.
The five students in the advanced graduate class were getting
restive. Wein-
Camegic Institute of Technology
45
berger, who was Austrian by birth, was often able to explain the
fine points of von Neumann's book
Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik, which
Duffin was using as a text. But Weinberger was frowning too.
After a few moments, everybody turned toward the gawky
undergraduate who was squirming in his seat. "Okay, John, you go
to the

boardea"said Duffin. "See if you can get me out of            105
troubledd"Nash leaped up and strode to the boarddd41
"He was infinitely more sophisticated than the rest of usea"said
Bott. "He understood the difficult points naturally. When Duffin
got stuck, Nash could back him up. The rest of us didn't
understand the techniques you needed in this new mediumdd041 "He
always had good examples and counterexamplesea"another student
recalled.-
Afterward, Nash hung around. 'I could talk to Nashea"Duffin
recalled shortly before his death in 1995. "After class one day
he started talking about Brouwer's fixed point theorem. He proved
it indirectly using the principle of contradiction. That's when
you show that if something's not there, something dreadful will
happen. Don't know if Nash had ever heard of Brouwerdd041
Nash took Duffin's course in his third and final year at
Carnegie. At nineteen, Nash already had the style of a mature
mathematician. Duffin recalled, "He tried to reduce things to
something tangible. He tried to relate things to what he knew
about. He tried to get a feel for things before he actually tried
them. He tried to do little problems
--------------------------------------------------------------106
with some numbers in them. That's how Ramanujan, who claimed he
got his results from spirits, figured things out, Poincar6 said
he thought of a great theorem getting off a
busdd046
Nash liked very general problems. He wasn't all that good at
solving cute little puzzles. "He was a much more dreamy
person`"said Bott. "He'd think a long time. Sometimes you could
see him thinking. Others would be sitting there with their nose
in a bookdd041 Weinberger recalled that "Nash knew a lot more
than anybody else there. He was working on things we couldn't
understand. He had a tremendous body of knowledge. He knew number
theory like
maddd041
"Diophantine equations were his loveea"recalled Siegel. "None of
us knew anything about them, but he was working on them thendd049
It is obvious from these anecdotes that many of Nash's lifelong
interests as a mathematician-
number theory, Diophantine equations, quantum mechanics,
relativity- already fascinated him in his late teens. Memories
differ on whether Nash learned about the theory of games at
Carnegie. 10 Nash himself does not recall. He did, however,
--------------------------------------------------------------107
take a course in international trade, his one and only formal
course in economics, before graduatingdd"X was in this course
that Nash first began to mull over one of the basic insights that
eventually led to his Nobel Prize."
By the spring of 1948- in what would have been his junior year at
Carnegie Nash had been accepted by Harvard, Princeton, Chicago,
and Michiganea"the
four top graduate mathematics programs in the country. Getting
into one of these was virtually a prerequisite for eventually
landing a good academic appointment. Harvard was his first
choicedd14 Nash told everyone that he believed that Har-
vard had the best mathematics faculty. Harvard's cachet      A107
and social status appealed to him. As a university, Harvard had a
national reputation, while Chicago and Princeton, with its
largely European faculty, did not. Harvard was, to his mind,
simply number one, and the prospect of becoming a Harvard man
seemed terribly attractive.
The trouble was that Harvard was offering slightly less money
than Princeton. Certain that Harvard's comparative stinginess was
the consequence of his
--------------------------------------------------------------108
less-thanstellar performance in the Putnam competition, Nash
decided that Harvard didn't really want him. He responded to the
rebuff by refusing to go there. Fifty years later, in his Nobel
autobiography Harvard's lukewarm attitude toward him seems still
to have stung: "I had been offered fellowships to enter as a
graduate student at either Harvard or Princeton. But the
Princeton fellowship was somewhat more generous since I had not.
actually won the Putnam competition."" Princeton was eager. From
the 1930's onward, Princeton had a far stronger department and
was snaring the lion's share of the best graduate studentsdd16
Princeton was, as a matter of fact, more selective than Harvard
at that point, admitting ten handpicked candidates each year, as
opposed to Harvard's twenty-five or so. The Princeton faculty
didn't care a hoot about the Putnam, or about tests of any kind,
or grades. They paid attention exclusively to the opinions of
mathematicians whose views they respected. And once Princeton
decided it wanted someone, it pursued him with vigor.
Duffin and Synge were pushing Princeton hard. Princeton was full
of purists comtopologists,
--------------------------------------------------------------109
algebraists, number theorists-and Duffin especially regarded Nash
as someone obviously suited, by interest and temperament, for a
career in the most abstract mathematics. "I thought he would be a
completely pure mathematicianea"Duffin recalled. "Princeton was
first in topology. That's why I wanted to send him to Princeton."
17 The only thing Nash really knew about Princeton was that
Albert Einstein and John von Neumann were there, along with a
bunch of other European 6migr6's. But the polyglot Princeton
mathematical milieu comforeign, Jewish, left-leaning comst seemed
to him a distinctly inferior alternative.
Sensing Nash's hesitation, Solomon Lefschetz, the chairman of the
Princeton department, had already written to him urging him to
choose Princeton." He finally dangled a John S. Kennedy
Fellowshipdd19 The one-year fellowship was the most prestigious
the department had to offer, requiring little or no teaching and
guaranteeing a room in Princeton's residential college for
graduate students. It was a sign of how much Princeton was
panting for Nash. The $1,150 fellowship covered the $450 tuition
and was more than
--------------------------------------------------------------110
ample for the $200 room rent for a year and $14 a week in dining
fees, as well as living expensesdd60
For Nash, that clinched the decisiondd61 The difference in the
awards could not
Carnegie Institute of Technology                             A110
47
have been huge in any practical sense. But, then, as so many
times later in Nash's life, a relatively trivial amount of money
loomed in his decision. It seems clear that Nash calculated
Princeton's more generous fellowship as a measure of how
Princeton valued him. A personal appeal from Lefschetz, with a
flattering reference to his relative youth, also proved decisive.
Lefschetz's phrase "We like to catch promising men when they are
young and open-minded"struck a chorddd61
Something else weighed on Nash's mind that last spring at
Carnegie. As graduation drew closer, he became more and more
worried about being drafteddd61 He thought that the United States
might go to war again and was afraid that he might wind up in the
infantry. That the army was still shrinking three years
after the end of World War 11
--------------------------------------------------------------111
and that the draft had, for all intents and purposes, ground to a
standstill, did not make Nash feel safe. The newspapers -- of
which he was a regular reader were full of signs, in particular
the Russian blockade of Berlin and the subsequent
American-British airlift that spring, that the Cold War was
heating up. He hated any thought that his personal future might
be hostage to forces outside his control and he was obsessed with
ways to defend himself against any possible threats to his own
autonomy or plans.
So Nash was palpably relieved when Lefschetz offered to help him
obtain a summer job with a Navy research project. The project in
White Oak, Maryland, was being run by Clifford Ambrose Truesdell,
a former student of Lefschetzdd64Nash wrote to Lefschetz at the
beginning of April:
Should there come a war involving the US I think I should be more
useful, and better off, working on some research project than
going, say into the infantry. Working on government sponsored
research this summer would pave the way toward the more desirable
eventualitydd61
Though Nash did not display outward signs of
--------------------------------------------------------------112
distress, the disappointments and anxieties of the spring cast a
shadow over the summer between his graduation from Carnegie and
his arrival at Princeton.
White Oak is a suburb of Washington, D.C. In the summer of 1948,
it was a swampy, humid woodland full of raccoons, opossums, and
snakes. The mathematicians at White Oak were a hodgepodge of
Americans, some of whom had been working for the Navy since the
middle of the war, and others, German prisoners of war. Nash
found himself a room in downtown Washington, which he rented from
a Washington, D.C., police officer. He rode to White Oak in a car
pool every day with two of the Germans
.66
Nash had been looking forward to the summer. Lefschetz had
promised that the work would be pure mathematics." Truesdell,
quite a good mathematician, was a tolerant supervisor who
encouraged the mathematicians in his group to pursue their own
research. He essentially gave Nash carte blanche, issuing    A112
no instructions and merely saying that he hoped Nash would write
something before
48
--------------------------------------------------------------113
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
he left at the end of the summer. But Nash seemed to have trouble
working. He made no apparent progress on any of the problems he
had mentioned vaguely to Truesdell at the start of the summer,
and he never handed in a paper. At the end of the summer, he was
forced to apologize to Truesdell for having wasted his timedd68
Nash spent most of his days, evidently, simply walking around
rather aimlessly, lost in thought. Charlotte Truesdell,
Truesdell's wife and the project's girl Friday, recalls that Nash
seemed terribly young, "like a sixteen-year-old'"and almost never
spoke to anyone. Once when she asked him what he was thinking,
Nash asked whether she, Charlotte, didn't think it would be a
good joke if he put live snakes in the chairs of some of the
mathematicians. "He didn't do itea"she said, "but he thought
about it a lotdd069
Princeton, Fall 1948
. . .
a quaint ceremonious village.
comALBERT Eiationsmm
...
the mathematical center of the universe. comHARALD
--------------------------------------------------------------114
BoHR
J_ IASH ARRIVED
in Princeton, New Jersey, on Labor Day 1948, the opening day of
Truman's re-election campaign.` He was twenty years old. He came
by train, directly from Bluefield, via Washington, D.C., and
Philadelphia, wearing a new suit and carrying unwieldy suitcases
stuffed with bedding and clothes, letters and notes, and a few
books. Impatient and eager now, he got off at Princeton Junction,
a nondescript little middle-class enclave a few miles from
Princeton proper, and hurried onto the Dinky, the small
single-track train that shuffles back and forth to the
university.
What he saw was a genteel, prerevolutionary village surrounded by
gently rolling woodlands, lazy streams, and a patchwork of
cornfields.` Settled by Quakers toward the end of the seventeenth
century, Princeton was the site of a famous Washington victory
over the British and, for a brief six-month interlude in 1783,
the de facto capital of the new republic. With its college-Gothic
buildings nestled among lordly trees, stone churches, and
dignified old houses,
--------------------------------------------------------------115
the town looked every inch the wealthy, manicured exurb of New
York and Philadelphia that, in fact, it was. Nassau Street, the
town's sleepy main drag, featured a row of "better"men's clothing
shops, a couple of taverns, a drugstore, and a bank. It had been
paved before the war, but bicycles and pedestrians still
accounted for most of the traffic. In
This Side of Paradise,                                       A115
F. Scott Fitzgerald had described Princeton circa World War I as
"the pleasantest country club in America."` Einstein called it "a
quaint, ceremonious village"in the
1930Sddbled
Depression and wars had scarcely changed the place, May Veblen,
the wife of a wealthy Princeton mathematician, Oswald Veblen,
could still identify by name every single family, white and
black, well-to-do and of modest means, in every single house in
town.` Newcomers invariably felt intimidated by its gentility.
One mathematician from the West recalled, "I always felt like my
fly was opendd06
Even the university's mathematics building conjured
--------------------------------------------------------------116
up images of exclusivity and wealth. "Fine Hall is, I believe,
the most luxurious building ever devoted to mathematics", one
European 6migr6 wrote envioUS-LYDD7
It was a gabled, NeoGothic red brick and slate fortress, built in
a style reminiscent of the College de France in Paris and Oxford
University. Its cornerstone contains a lead box with copies of
works by Princeton mathematicians and the tools of the tradetwo
pencils, one piece of chalk, and, of course, an eraser. Designed
by Oswald Veblen, a nephew of the great sociologist Thorstein
Veblen, it was meant to be a sanctuary that mathematicians would
be "loath to leave.", The dim stone corridors that circled the
structure were perfect for both solitary pacing and mathematical
socializing. The nine "studies"-not offices!-for senior
professors had carved paneling, hidden file cabinets, blackboards
that opened like altars, oriental carpets, and massive,
overstuffed furniture. In a gesture to the urgency of the rapidly
advancing mathematical enterprise each office was equipped with a
telephone and each lavatory with a reading light. Its
well-stocked
--------------------------------------------------------------117
third-floor library, the richest collection of mathematical
journals and books in the world, was open twenty-four hours a
day. Mathematicians with a fondness for tennis (the courts were
nearby) didn't have to go home before returning to their offices
comthere was a locker room with showers. When its doors opened in
1921, an undergraduate poet called it "a country club for math,
where you could take a bath."
Princeton in 1948 was to mathematicians what Paris once was to
painters and novelists, Vienna to psychoanalysts and architects,
and ancient Athens to philosophers and playwrights. Harald Bohr,
brother of Niels Bohr, the physicist, had declared it "the
mathematical center of the universe"in 1936.9 When the deans of
mathematics held their first worldwide meeting after World War
11, it was in Princetondd"Fine Hall housed the world's most
competitive, up-to-the-minute mathematics department. Next door
-- connected, in fact --
was the nation's leading physics department, whose members,
including Eugene Wigner, had driven off to Illinois, California,
and New Mexico during the war, lugging bits of laboratory
equipment, to help build the atomic bombdd"A
mile or so away, on what had been Olden Farm, was the         118
Institute for Advanced Study, the modern equivalent of Plato's
Academy, where Einstein, G6del, Oppenheimer, and von Neumann
scribbled on their blackboards and held their learned
discourses." Visitors and students from the four corners of the
world streamed to this polyglot mathematical oasis, fifty miles
south of New York. What was proposed in a Princeton seminar one
week was sure to be debated in Paris and Berkeley the week after,
and in Moscow and Tokyo the week after that.
"It is difficult to learn anything about America in
Princeton'"wrote Einstein's assistant Leopold Infeld in his
memoirs, "much more so than to learn about England in Cambridge.
In Fine Hall English is spoken with so many different accents
that the resultant mixture is termed Fine Hall English.... The
air is full of mathematical ideas and formulae. You have only to
stretch out your hand, close it quickly and you feel that you
have caught mathematical air and that a few
51
formulae are stuck to your palm. If one wants
--------------------------------------------------------------119
to see a famous mathematician one does not need to go to him; it
is enough to sit quietly in Princeton, and sooner or later he
must come to Fine Hall.""
Princeton's unique position in the world of mathematics had been
achieved practically overnight, barely a dozen years earlier. 14
The university predated the Republic by a good twenty years. It
started out as the College of New Jersey in 1746, founded by
Presbyterians. It didn't become Princeton until 1896 and wasn't
headed by a layman until 1903 when Woodrow Wilson became its
president. Even then, however, Princeton was a university in name
only -- "a poor place0"an overgrown prep school;` particularly
when it came to the sciences." In this regard, Princeton merely
resembled the rest of the nation, which "admired Yankee ingenuity
but saw little use for pure mathematics` "as one historian put
it. Whereas Europe had three dozen chaired professors who did
little except create new mathematics, America had none. Young
Americans had to travel to Europe to get training beyond the B.A.
The typical American mathematician taught fifteen to twenty hours
a
--------------------------------------------------------------120
week of what amounted to high school mathematics to
undergraduates, struggling along on a negligible salary and with
very little incentive or opportunity to do research. Forced to
drill conic sections into the heads of bored undergraduates, the
Princeton professor of mathematics was perhaps not as well off as
his forebears of the seventeenth century who practiced law
(Fermat), ministered to royalty (Descartes), or occupied
professorships with negligible teaching duties (Newton). When
Solomon Lefschetz arrived at Princeton in 1924, "There were only
seven men there engaged in mathematical researchea"Lefschetz
recalled. "In the beginning we had no quarters. Everyone worked
at homedd011 Princeton's physicists were in the same boat, still
living in the age of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell,
preoccupied with measuring electricity and supervising endless
freshman lab sections." Henry Norris Russell, a              A120
distinguished astronomer by the 1920's, fell afoul of the
Princeton administration for spending too much time on his own
research at the expense of undergraduate teaching. In its disdain
for scientific research, Princeton was not very different from
Yale or
--------------------------------------------------------------121
Harvard. Yale refused for seven years to pay a salary to the
physicist Willard Gibbs, already famous in Europe, on the grounds
that his studies were "irrelevantdd011
While mathematics and physics at Princeton and other American
universities were languishing, a revolution in mathematics and
physics was taking place three thousand miles away in such
intellectual centers as G6menttingen, Berlin, Budapest, Vienna,
Paris, and Rome.
John D. Davies, a historian of science, writes of a dramatic
revolution in the understanding of the very nature of matter:
The absolute world of classical Newtonian physics was breaking
down and intellectual ferment was everywhere. Then in 1905 an
unknown theoretician in the Berne patent office, Albert Einstein,
published four epoch-making
papers comparable to Newton's instant leap into fame. The most
significant was the so-called Special Theory of Relativity, which
proposed that mass was simply congealed energy, energy liberated
matter: space and time, previously thought to be absolute, were
dependent on relative motion. Ten years later he formulated the
General Theory of
--------------------------------------------------------------122
Relativity, proposing that gravity was a function of matter
itself and affected light exactly as it affected material
particles. Light, in other words, did not go "straight"; Newton's
laws were not the real universe but one seen through the unreal
`spectacles of gravity. Furthermore, he set forth a set of
mathematical laws with which the universe could be described,
structural laws and laws of motiondd19
At around the same time, at the University of Gatingen, a German
mathematical genius, David Hilbert, had unleashed a revolution in
mathematics. Hilbert set out a famous program in 1900 of which
the goal was nothing less than the 11axiomatization of all of
mathematics so that it could be mechanized and solved in a
routine mannerdd"G6menttingen became the center of a drive to put
existing mathematics on a more secure foundation: "The Hilbert
program emerged at the turn of the century as a response to a
perceived crisis in mathematics` "writes historian Robert
Leonard. "The effect was to drive mathematicians to `clean up`
Cantorian set theory, to establish it on a firm axiomatic basis,
on the foundation of a limited number of
--------------------------------------------------------------123
postulates.... This marked an important shift in emphasis towards
abstraction in mathematicsdd010 Mathematics moved further and
further away from "intuitive content -- in this case, our daily
world of surfaces and straight lines-towards a situation in which
mathematical terms were leached of their direct empirical content
and simply defined axiomatically within the context of the
theory. The era of formalism had arrived."                   A123
The work of Hilbert and his disciples comamong them such future
Princeton stars of the 1930's and 1940's as Hermann Weyl and John
von Neumann-also triggered a powerful impulse to apply
mathematics to problems hitherto considered unamenable to highly
formal treatment. Hilbert and others were quite successful in
extending the axiomatic approach to a range of topics, the most
obvious being physics, in particular the "new physics"of "quantum
mechanicsea"b also to logic and the new theory of games.
But for the first twenty-five years of the century, as Davies
writes, Princeton, and indeed the whole American academic
community, "stood outside this dramatically swift
development.0"The catalyst for Princeton's transformation into a
world capital of
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mathematics and theoretical physics was an accident coman
accident of friendship. Woodrow Wilson, like most other educated
Americans of his time, despised mathematics, complaining that
"the natural man inevitably rebels against mathematics, a mild
form of torture that could only be learned by painful processes
of drill."" And mathematics played no role whatever in his vision
of Princeton as a real university with a graduate college and a
system of instruction that emphasized seminars and discussions
instead of drills and rote learning. But Wilson's best friend,
Henry Burchard Fine, happened to be a mathematician. When Wilson
set
about hiring literature and history scholars as preceptors, Fine
asked him, "Why not a few scientists""Z a gesture of friendship
more than anything else, Wilson said yes. After Wilson left the
presidency of Princeton for the White House in
1912, Fine became dean of science and proceeded to recruit some
top-notch scientists, among them mathematicians G. D. Birkhoff,
Oswald Veblen, and Luthor Eisenhart, to teach graduate students.
They were known around Princeton as
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"Fine's research mendd"The undergraduates, not a single one of
whom majored in physics or math, complained bitterly of
"brilliant but unintelligible lecturers with foreign accents"and
"the European, or demi-God, theory of instruction."
Fine's nucleus of researchers might well have scattered after the
dean's premature death in 1928 in a cycling accident on Nassau
Street had it not been for several dramatic instances of private
philanthropy that turned Princeton into a magnet for the world's
biggest mathematical stars. Most people think that America's rise
to scientific prominence was a by-product of World War IL But in
fact the fortunes accumulated between the gilded eighties and the
roaring twenties paved the way.
The Rockefellers made their millions in coal, oil, steel,
railroads, and banking
- in other words, from the great sweep of industrialization that
transformed towns like Bluefield and Pittsburgh in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. When the family and its
representatives started to give away some of the money, they were
animated by dissatisfaction with the state of higher education in
America and a firm belief that                               A125
--------------------------------------------------------------126
"nations that do not cultivate the sciences cannot hold their
own."" Aware of the scientific revolution sweeping Europe, the
Rockefeller Foundation and its offshoots started by sending
American graduate students, including Robert Oppenheimer, abroad.
By the mid-1920's, the Rockefeller Foundation decided that
"instead of sending Mahomet to the Mountain, it would fetch the
Mountain heredd"T is, it decided to import Europeans. To finance
the effort, the foundation committed not just its income but $19
million of its capital (close to $150 million in today's
dollars). While Wickliffe Rose, a philosopher on Rockefeller's
board, scoured such European scientific capitals as Berlin and
Budapest to hear about new ideas and meet their authors, the
foundation selected three American universities, among them
Princeton, to receive the bulk of its largesse. The grants
enabled Princeton to establish five European-style research
professorships with extravagant salaries, plus a research fund to
support graduate and postgraduate students.
Among the first European stars to arrive in Princeton in 1930
were two young geniuses of
--------------------------------------------------------------127
Hungarian origin, John von Neumann, a brilliant student of
Hilbert and Hermann Weyl, and Eugene Wigner, the physicist who
went on to win a Nobel Prize in physics in 1963, not for his
vital work on the atom bomb but for research on the structure of
the atom and its nucleus. The two shared one of the
professorships endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, spending
half a year in Princeton and the other half in their home
universities of Berlin and Budapest. According to Wigner's
autobiography, the men were unhappy at first, homesick for
Europe's passionate theoretical discussion and its coffeehouses
comthe congenial
floating seminars of professors and students where the latest
research was discussed. Wigncr wondered if they were part of the
window dressing, like the faux-Gothic buildings. But von Neumann,
an enthusiastic admirer of all things American, adapted more
quicklydd14 With shrinking opportunities for research in Europe
during the Depression, and mounting restrictions on Jews in
German universities, they stayed.
A second act of philanthropy, more serendipitous than the
Rockefeller enterprise,
--------------------------------------------------------------128
resulted in the creation of the independent Institute for
Advanced Study in Princeton." The Bambergers were department
store merchants who opened their first store in Newark and who
had gone on to make a huge fortune in the dry-goods business. The
owners, a brother and sister, sold out six weeks before the stock
market crash of 1929. With a fortune of $25 million between them,
they decided to show their gratitude to the state of New Jersey.
They had in mind perhaps founding a dental school. An expert on
medical education, Abraham Flexner, soon convinced them to drop
the idea of a medical school and instead to found a first-rate
research institution with no teachers, no students, no classes,
but only researchers protected from the vicissitudes and     A128
pressures of the outside world. Flexner toyed with the idea of
making a school of economics the core of the institute but was
soon persuaded that mathematics was a sounder choice since it was
more "fundamental." Furthermore, there was infinitely greater
consensus among mathematicians on who the best people were. Its
location was still up in the air. Newark, with its paint
factories and slaughterhouses, offered no attractions for the
international band of academic superstars Flexner
--------------------------------------------------------------129
hoped to recruit. Princeton was more like it. Legend has it that
it was Oswald Veblen who convinced the Bambergers that Princeton
really could be thought of ("in a topological senseea"z he put
it) as a suburb of Newark,
With zeal and deep pockets matching those of any impresario,
Flexner began a worldwide search for stars, dangling unheard-of
salaries, lavish perks, and the promise of complete independence.
His undertaking coincided with Hitler's takeover of the German
government, the mass expulsion of Jews from German universities,
and growing fears of another world war. After three years of
delicate negotiation, Einstein, the biggest star of them all,
agreed to become the second member of the Institute's School of
Mathematics, causing one of his friends in Germany to quip, "The
pope of physics has moved and the United States will now become
the center for the natural sciences." Kurt Gbdel, the Viennese
wunderkind of logic, came in 1933 as well, and Hermann Weyl, the
reigning star of German mathematics, followed Einstein a year
later. Weyl insisted, as a condition of his acceptance, that the
Institute appoint a bright light from the next generation. Von
Neumann,
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who had just turned thirty, was lured away from the university to
become the Institute's youngest professor. Practically overnight,
Princeton had become the new GiRtingen.
The Institute professors initially shared the deluxe quarters at
Fine Hall with their university colleagues. They moved out in
1939 when the Institute's Fuld Hall, a Neo-Georgian brick
building perched in the middle of sweeping English lawns
surrounded by woods and a pond just a mile or two from Fine, was
built. By the time Einstein and the others moved, the Institute
and Princeton professors had become family and the clans
continued to mingle like country cousins. They collaborated on
research, edited journals jointly, and attended one another's
lectures, seminars, and teas. The Institute's proximity made it
easier to attract the most brilliant students and faculty to the
university, while the university's active mathematics department
was a magnet for those visiting or working permanently at the
Institute.
By contrast, Harvard, once the jewel of American mathematics, was
in "a state of eclipse"0the late 1940'sdd16 Its legendary
chairman G. D.
--------------------------------------------------------------131
Birkhoff was dead. Some of its brightest young stars, including
Marshall Stone, Marston Morse, and Hassler Whitney, had recently
departed, two of them for the Institute for Advanced         A131
Study. Einstein had used to complain around the Institute that
"Birkhoff is one of the world's great academic
anti-Semitesdd"Whether or not this was true, Birkhoff's bias had
prevented him from taking advantage of the emigration of the
brilliant Jewish mathematicians from Nazi Germanydd"Indeed,
Harvard also had ignored Norbert Wiener, the most brilliant
American-born mathematician of his generation, the father of
cybernetics and inventor of the rigorous mathematics of Brownian
motion. Wiener happened to be a Jew and, like Paul Samuelson, the
future Nobel Laureate in economics, he sought refuge at the far
end of Cambridge at MIT, then little more than an engineering
school on a par with the Carnegie Institute of Technology."
William James, the preeminent American philosopher and older
brother of the novelist Henry James, once wrote of a critical
mass of geniuses causing a whole civilization to "vibrate and
shakedd019 But the man in the street didn't feel the tremors
emanating from
--------------------------------------------------------------132
Princeton until World War 11 was practically over and these odd
men with their funny accents, peculiar dress, and passion for
obscure scientific theories became national heroes.
From the start, the European brain drain had an immediate and
electrifying effect on American mathematics and theoretical
physics. The emigration gathered together a group of geniuses who
brought not only broad and deep mathematical know-how, but a set
of refreshing new attitudesdd10 In particular, the geographical
origin of these mathematicians and physicists positioned them to
appreciate the implications of the massive amount of new work
that had been done in Europe since the turn of the century and
gave them a great affinity for applications of mathematics to
physics and engineering. Many of the newcomers were young and at
the height of their research careers.
Some historians have called World War Il the scientists' war. But
because the science required sophisticated mathematics, it was
also very much a mathematicians' war, and the war effort tapped
the eclectic talents of the Princeton mathematical
communitydd"Princeton mathematicians became involved in ciphers
and code breaking. A
--------------------------------------------------------------133
cryptanalytic breakthrough enabled the United States to win a
major
battle at Midway Island, the turning point in the naval war
between the United States and Japandd"In Britain, Alan Turing, a
Princeton Ph.D., and his group at Bletchley Park broke the Nazi
code without the Germans' knowledge, thus turning the tide in the
submarine baffle for control of the Atlanticdd33
Oswald Veblen and several of his associates essentially rewrote
the science of ballistics at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Marston
Morse, who had recently moved from Harvard to the Institute,
headed a related effort in the Office of the Chief of
Ordnancedd14 Another mathematician, the Princeton statistician
Sam Wilks, made best daily estimates of the position of the
German submarine fleet on the basis of the prior day's sighting."
The most dramatic contributions were in the areas of         A133
weaponry: radar, infrared detection devices, bomber aircraft,
long-range rockets, and torpedoes with depth chargesdd16 The new
weapons were extremely costly, and the military needed
mathematicians to devise new methods for
--------------------------------------------------------------134
assessing their effectiveness and the most efficient way to use
them. Operations research was a systematic way of coming up with
the numbers the military wanted. How many tons of explosive force
must a bomb release to do a certain amount of damage? Should
airplanes be heavily armored or stripped of defenses to fly
faster? Should the Ruhr be bombed, and how many bombs should be
used? All these questions required mathematical talent.
The ultimate contribution was, of course, the A-bombdd"Wigner at
Princeton and Leo Szilard at Columbia composed a letter, which
they brought to Einstein to sign, warning President Roosevelt
that a German physicist, Otto Hahn, at the Kaiser Friedrich
Institute in Berlin had succeeded in splitting the uranium atom.
Lise Meitner, an Austrian Jew who was smuggled into Denmark,
performed the mathematical calculations on how an atomic bomb
could be constructed from these findings. Niels Bohr, the Danish
physicist, visited Princeton in 1939 and transmitted the news.
"It was they rather than their American born colleagues who
sensed the military implications of the new knowledge," wrote
Davies. Roosevelt responded by appointing an
--------------------------------------------------------------135
advisory committee on uranium in October 1939, two months into
the war, which eventually became the Manhattan Project.
The war enriched and invigorated American mathematics, vindicated
those who had championed the 6migr6's, and gave the mathematical
community a claim on the fruits of the postwar prosperity that
was to follow. The war demonstrated not only the power of the new
theories but the superiority of sophisticated mathematical
analysis over educated guesses. The bomb gave enormous prestige
to Einstein's relativity theory, which before then had been seen
as a small correction of the still-valuable Newtonian mechanics.
Princeton rode high on the newfound status of mathematics in
American society. It found itself on the leading edge not just of
topology, algebra, and number theory, but also of computer
theory, operations research, and the new theory of games." In
1948, everyone was back and the anxieties and frustrations of the
1930's had been swept away by a feeling of expansiveness and
optimism. Science and mathematics were seen as the key to a
better postwar world. Suddenly the government, particularly the
military, wanted to spend money on pure
--------------------------------------------------------------136
research. journals
The Center of the Universe
57
started up. Plans were made for another world mathematical
congress, the first since the dark days before the war.
A new generation was crowding in, eager to drink up the wisdom of
the older generation, yet full of ideas and attitudes of its own.
There were no women yet, of course comwiththe exception of
Oxford's Mary Cartwright, who was in Princeton that year     A136
comb Princeton was opening up. Suddenly, being a few or a
foreigner, having a working-class accent, or graduating from a
college that wasn't on the East Coast were no longer automatic
bars to a bright young mathematician. The biggest divide on
campus was suddenly between "the kids"andthe war veterans, who,
in their mid-to-late twenties, were starting graduate school
alongside twenty-year-olds like Nash. Mathematics was no longer a
gentlemen's profession, but a wonderfully dynamic enterprise.
"The notion was that the human mind could accomplish anything
with mathematical ideas," a Princeton student of that era later
recalled. He added: "The postwar years had their threats comthe
--------------------------------------------------------------137
Korean War, the Cold War, China going to the commies- but in
fact, in terms of science, there was this tremendous optimism.
The sense at Princeton wasn't just that you were close to a great
intellectual revolution, but that you were part of it.""
Princeton, Fall 1948
Con versgtlon enriches the understanding, but solitude is the
school ofgenius.
comED-WARD QUITE;-OATION
0
NASH's SECOND AFTERNOON
in Princeton, Solomon Lefschetz rounded up the first-year
graduate students in the West Common Room.` He was there to tell
them the facts of life, he said, in his French accent, fixing
them with his fierce gaze. And for an hour Lefschetz glared,
shouted, and pounded the table with his gloved, wooden hands,
delivering something between a biblical sermon and a drill
sergeant's diatribe.
They were the best, the very best. Each of them had been
carefully handpicked, like a diamond from a heap of coal. But
this was Princeton, where real mathematicians did real
mathematics. Compared to these men, the newcomers were babies,
ignorant, pathetic babies, and Princeton was going to make
--------------------------------------------------------------138
them grow up, damn it!
Entrepreneurial and energetic, Lefschetz was the supercharged
human locomotive that had pulled the Princeton department out of
genteel mediocrity right to the top.` He recruited mathematicians
with only one criterion in mind: research. His high-handed and
idiosyncratic editorial policies made the
Annals ofMathematics,
Princeton's once-tired quarterly, into the most revered
mathematical journal in the world.` He was sometimes accused of
caving in to anti-Semitism for refusing to admit many Jewish
students (his rationale being that nobody would hire them when
they completed their degreesggeabled but no one denies that he
had brilliant snap judgment. He exhorted, bossed, and bullied,
but with the aim of making the department great and turning his
students into real mathematicians, tough like himself.
When he came to Princeton in the 1920's, he often said, he was
"an invisible man."` He was one of the first Jews on the faculty,
loud, rude, and badly dressed to boot. People pretended not to
see him in the hallways and gave him wide berth at faculty   A138
parties. But Lefschetz had overcome
--------------------------------------------------------------139
far more formidable obstacles in his life than a bunch of prissy
Wasp snobs. He had
been born in Moscow and been educated in France.` In love with
mathematics, but effectively barred from an academic career in
France because he was not a citizen, he studied engineering and
emigrated to the United States. At age twenty-three, a terrible
accident altered the course of his life. Lefschetz was working
for Westinghouse in Pittsburgh when a transformer explosion
burned off his hands. His recovery took years, during which he
suffered from deep depression, but the accident ultimately became
the impetus to pursue his true love, mathematics.
7
He enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Clark University, the
university famous for Freud's 1912 lectures on psychoanalysis,
soon fell in love with and married another mathematics student,
and spent nearly a decade in obscure teaching posts in Nebraska
and Kansas. After days of backbreaking teaching, he wrote a
series of brilliant, original, and highly influential papers that
eventually resulted in a "call"f Princeton. "My years in the west
with total
--------------------------------------------------------------140
hermetic isolation played in my development the role of 'a job in
a lighthouse` which Einstein would have every young scientist
assume so that he may develop his own ideas in his own way."`
Lefschetz valued independent thinking and originality above
everything. He was, in fact, contemptuous of elegant or rigorous
proofs of what he considered obvious points. He once dismissed a
clever new proof of one of his theorems by saying, "Don't come to
me with your pretty proofs. We don't bother with that baby stuff
around heredd09 Legend had it that he never wrote a correct proof
or stated an incorrect theoremdd10 His first comprehensive
treatise on topology, a highly influential book in which he
coined the term "algebraic topology,0"hardly contains one
completely correct proof. It was rumored that it had been written
during one of Lefschetz` sabbaticals ... when his students did
not have the opportunity to revise itdd"I I
He knew most areas of mathematics, but his lectures were usually
incoherent. Gian-Carlo Rota, one of his students, describes the
start of one lecture on geometry: "Well a Riemann surface is a
certain kind of
--------------------------------------------------------------141
Hausdorff space. You know what a Hausdorff space is, don't you?
It's also compact, ok. I guess it is also a manifold. Surely you
know what a manifold is. Now let me tell you one non-trivial
theorem, the Riemann-Roch theorem.""
On this particular afternoon in mid-September 1948, with the new
graduate students, Lefschetz was just warming up. "It's important
to dress well. Get rid of that thing;` he said, pointing to a pen
holder. "You look like a workman, not a mathematicianea"he told
one student.0"Let a Princeton barber cut your hairea"he said to
another. 14 They could go to class or not go to class. He didn't
give a damn. Grades meant nothing. They were only recorded   A141
to please the "goddamn deansdd"Only the "generals"counted. I I
There was only one requirement: come to tea.
16
They were absolutely required to come to tea every afternoon.
Where else would they meet the finest mathematics faculty in the
world? Oh, and if they felt like it, they were free to visit that
disembalming parlor," as he liked to call the Institute of
Advanced Study,
--------------------------------------------------------------142
to see if they could catch a glimpse of Einstein, Gbdel, or von
Neumann.""Remember,"
he kept repeating, "we're not here to baby youdd"FfNash,
Lefschetz's opening spiel must have sounded as rousing as a Sousa
march.
Lefschetz's, hence Princeton's, philosophy of graduate
mathematics education had its roots in the great German and
French research universitiesdd18 The main idea was to plunge
students, as quickly as possible, into their own research, and to
produce an acceptable dissertation quickly. The fact that
Princeton's small faculty was, to a man, actively engaged in
research itself, was by and large on speaking terms, and was
available to supervise students` research, made this a practical
approachdd19 Lefschetz wasn't aiming for perfectly polished
diamonds and indeed regarded too much polish in a mathematician's
youth as antithetical to later creativity. The goal was not
erudition, much as erudition might be admired, but turning out
men who could make original and important discoveries.
Princeton subjected its students to a maximum of pressure but a
wonderful minimum of
--------------------------------------------------------------143
bureaucracy. Lefichetz was not exaggerating when he said that the
department had no course requirements. The department offered
courses, true, but enrollment was a fiction, as were grades. Some
professors put down all
As,
others all Cs, on their grade reports, but both were completely
arbitrarydd10 You didn't have to show up a single time to earn
them and students' transcripts were, more often than not, works
of fiction "to satisfy the Philistines." There were no course
examinations. In the language examinations, given by members of
the mathematics department, a student was asked to translate a
passage of French or German mathematical text. But they were a
jokedd"If you could make neither heads nor tails of the passage
comunlikely, since the passages typically contained many
mathematical symbols and precious few words-you could get a
passing grade merely by promising to learn the passage later. The
only test that counted was the general examination, a qualifying
examination on five topics, three determined by the department,
two by the candidate, at the end of the first, or at latest,
second year. However, even the generals were sometimes tailored
to the


strengths and weaknesses of a student." If, for example, it   144
was known that a student really knew one article well, but only
one, the examiners, if they were so moved, might restrict
themselves to that paper. The only other hurdle, before beginning
the all-important thesis, was to find a senior member of the
faculty to sponsor it.
If the faculty, which got to know every student well, decided
that so-and-so wasn't going to make it, Lefschetz wasn't shy
about not renewing the student's support or simply telling him to
leave. You were either succeeding or on your way out. As a
result, Princeton students who made it past the generals wound up
with doctorates after just two or three years at a time when
Harvard students were taking six, seven, or eight years."
Harvard, where Nash had yearned to go for the prestige and magic
of its name, was at that time a nightmare of bureaucratic red
tape, fiefdoms, and faculty with relatively little time to devote
to students. Nash could not possibly have realized it fully that
first day, but he was lucky to have chosen Princeton over
Harvard.
That genius will emerge regardless of circumstance is a widely
held belief. The biographer of the great
--------------------------------------------------------------145
Indian mathematician Ramanuian, for example, claims
that the five years that the young Ramanujan spent in complete
isolation from other mathematicians, having failed out of school
and unable to get as much as a tutoring position, were the key to
his stunning discoveriesdd14 But when writing Ramanujan's
obituary, G. H. Hardy, the Cambridge mathematician who knew him
best, called that view, held earlier by himself, "ridiculous
sentimentalismdd"Af Ramanujan's death at thirty-three, Hardy
wrote that the "the tragedy of Ramanuian was not that he died
young, but that, during his five unfortunate years, his genius
was misdirected, side-tracked, and to a certain extent
distorted."`,
As was to become increasingly obvious over the months that
followed, Princeton's approach to its graduate students, with its
combination of complete freedom and relentless pressure to
produce, could not have been better suited to someone of Nash's
temperament and style as a mathematician, nor more happily
designed to elicit the first real proofs of his genius. Nash's
great luck, if you want to call it luck, was that he came onto
the
--------------------------------------------------------------146
mathematical scene at a time and to a place tailor-made for his
particular needs. He came away with his independence, ambition,
and originality intact, having been allowed to acquire a truly
first-class training that was to serve him brilliantly.
Like nearly all the other graduate students at Princeton, Nash
lived in the Graduate College. The College was a gorgeous,
faux-English edifice of dark gray stone surrounding an interior
courtyard that sat on a crest overlooking a golf course and lake.
It was located about a mile from Fine Hall on the far side of
Alexander Road, about halfivay between Fine and the Institute for
Advanced Study. Especially in winter, when it was dark by the
time the afternoon seminar ended, it was a good long walk,   A146
and once you were there, you didn't feel like going out again.
Its location was the outcome of a fight between Woodrow Wilson
and Dean Andrew West.
16
Wilson had wanted the graduate students to mix and mingle with
the undergraduates. West wanted to re-create the atmosphere of
one of the Oxbridge colleges, far removed from the rowdy,
snobbish
--------------------------------------------------------------147
undergraduate eating clubs on Prospect Street.
In 1948, there were about six hundred graduate students, their
ranks swelled by the numbers of returning veterans whose
undergraduate or graduate careers had been interrupted by the
war." The College, a bit shabbier than before the war and in need
of sprucing up, was full, overflowing really, and a good many
less lucky first-year students had been turned away and were
being forced to lodge in rented rooms in the village. Almost
everyone else had to share rooms. Nash, who lived in Pyne Tower,
was lucky to get a private room, one of the perks of his
fellowship." About fifteen or twenty of the mathematics students,
second- and third-year as well as first-year students, and a
couple of instructors lived in the college at the time. Life was
masculine, monastic, and scholarly, exactly as Dean West had
envisioneddd19 The graduate students ate breakfast, lunch, and
dinner together at the cost of fourteen dollars a week. Breakfast
and lunch were served in the "breakfast" room, hurried meals that
were taken on the run. But dinner, served in Procter
Hall, a refectory very much in the English style,
--------------------------------------------------------------148
was a more leisurely affair. There were tall windows, long wooden
tables, and formal portraits of eminent PrincetonianS on the
walls; the evening prayer was led by Sir Hugh Taylor, the
college's dean, or his second in command, the college's master.
There were no candles and no wine, but the food was excellent.
Gowns were no longer required as before the war (they were
reinstated in the early 1950's, and did not disappear for good
until the 1970's), but jackets and ties were required.
The atmosphere at dinner was a combination of male debating
society, locker room, and seminary. Though historians, English
scholars, physicists, and economists all lived cheek by jowl with
the mathematicians, the mathematicians segregated themselves as
strictly as if they were living under some legal system of
apartheid, always occupying a table by themselvesdd10 The older,
more sophisticated students, namely Harold Kuhn, Leon Henkin, and
David Gale, met for sherry in Kuhn's rooms before dinner.
Conversation at dinner, sometimes but not always mathematical,
was more expansive than at teatime. The talkeaeaone. former
student recalls, frequently revolved around "politics, music, and
girls." Political debate resembled
--------------------------------------------------------------149
discussions about sports, with more calculation of odds and
betting than ideology. In that early fall, the Truman-Dewey race
provided a great deal of entertainment. Being a more diverse
group, the graduate students were more evenly split          A149
between the candidates than the Princeton undergraduates; 98
percent of the undergraduates at Princeton, it turned out, were
Dewey supporters. One graduate student even wore a Wallace button
for Henry Wallace, the candidate supported by the American Labor
party, a corn 'munist front organization."
Girls, or rather the absence of girls, the difficulty of meeting
girls, the real or imagined exploits of certain older and more
worldly students, were also hot subjectsdd"V few of the students
dated. Women were not allowed in the main dining hall, and, of
course, there were no female students. "We are allhomosexuals
here"was a famous remark made by a resident to fluster the dean's
wife." Isolation made the real prospects of meeting a girl
remote. A few venturesome souls, orgoodnized by a young
instructor named John Tukey, went to Thursday night folk dances
at the local high s'chooldd14 But most were too shy and
self-conscious
--------------------------------------------------------------150
to do even that. Sir Hugh, a stuffed shirt roundly disliked by
the mathematicians, did his best to discourage what little
socializing there was. One student was called into the dean's
office because a pair of women's panties had been found in his
room; it turned out his sister had been visiting and he, to
preserve appearances, had moved out for the night. At one point,
a seemingly unnecessary rule was handed down that residents of
the Graduate College were not allowed to entertain a woman past
midnight. The very few students who actually had girlfriends
interpreted the rule literally to mean that a woman could be in
the room, but couldn't be entertained. Harold Kuhn spent his
honeymoon theredd"The only time and place that women were allowed
to join the larger group was Saturday lunch in the Breakfast
Room.
In short, social life was rather enveloping comx would be hard to
become really lonely-and at the same time limited to other men,
in Nash's case specifically to other mathematicians. The parties
held in student rooms were thus mostly all-male
affairs. Such evenings, as often as not, were devoted to
mathematical parties organized by one of the graduate students at
Lefschetz's request to entertain some visitor but actually to get
his
--------------------------------------------------------------151
students much-needed job contacts. 16
The quality, diversity, and sheer volume of mathematics talked
about in Princeton every day, by professors, Institute
professors, and a steady stream of visitors from all over the
world, not to mention the students themselves, were unlike
anything Nash had ever imagined, much less experienced. A
revolution was taking place in mathematics and Princeton was the
center of the action. Topology. Logic. Game theory. There were
not only lectures, colloquia, seminars, classes, and weekly
meetings at the institute that Einstein and von Neumann
occasionally attended, but there were breakfasts, lunches,
dinners, and after-dinner parties at the Graduate College, where
most of the mathematicians lived, as well as the daily afternoon
teas in the common room. Martin Shubik, a young economist    A151
studying at Princeton at that time, later wrote that the
mathematics department was "electric with ideas and the sheer joy
of the hunt. If a stray ten-year-old with bare feet, no tie, torn
blue jeans, and an interesting theorem had walked into Fine Hall
at tea times, someone would have listeneV
37
--------------------------------------------------------------152
Tea was the high point of every daydd"X was held in Fine Hall
between three and four between the last class and the four-thirty
seminar that went until five-thirty or six. On Wednesdays it was
held in the west common room, or the professor's room as it was
also called, and was a far more formal affair, where the
self-effacing Mrs. Lefschetz and the other wives of the senior
faculty, wearing long gowns and white gloves, poured the tea and
passed the cookies. Heavy silver teapots and dainty English bone
china were brought out.
On other days, tea was held in the east common room, also known
as the students` room, a much-lived-in, funky place full of
overstuffed leather armchairs and low tables. The janitor would
bring in the tea and cookies a few minutes before three o'clock
and the mathematicians, tired from a day of working alone or
lecturing or attending seminars, would start drifting in, one by
one or in groups. The faculty almost always came, as did most of
the graduate students and a sprinkling of more precocious
undergraduates. It was very much a family gathering, small and
intimate. It is hard to think where a student could get to know
as many other mathematicians as well as at Princeton teatime.
--------------------------------------------------------------153
The talk was by no means purely formal. Mathematical gossip
aboundedwho was working on what, who had a nibble from what
department, who had run into trouble on his generals. Melvin
Hausner, a former Princeton graduate student, later recalled,
"You went there to discuss math. To do your own version of
gossiping. To meet faculty. To meet friends. We discussed math
problems. We shared our readings of recent math papersdd019
The professors felt it their duty to come, not only to get to
know the students but to chat with one another. The great
logician Alonzo Church, who looked "like a cross between a panda
and an owlea"never spoke unless spoken to, and rarely
then, would head straight for the cookies, placing one between
the fingers of his splayed hand, and munch awaydd40 The
charismatic algebraist Emil Artin, son of a German opera singer,
would fling his gaunt, elegant body into one of the leather
armchairs, light a Camel, and opine on Wittgenstein and the like
to his disciples, huddled, more or less literally, at his
feetdd41 The topologist Ralph Fox, a go master, almost always
made a beeline for a game board, motioning some student to join
hmdd41 Another topologist, Norman Steenrod, a good-looking,
--------------------------------------------------------------154
friendly midwesterner who had just created a sensation with his
now classic exposition of fiber bundles, usually stopped in for a
game of chessdd41 Albert Tucker, Lefschetz's righthand man, was
the straitlaced son of a Canadian Methodist minister and Nash's
eventual thesis adviser. Tucke r always surveyed the room    A154
before he came in and would make fussy little adjustments comsch
as straightening the curtain weights if the drapes happened to be
awry, or issuing a word-to-the-wise to a student who was taking
too many cookiesdd44 More often than not, a few visitors, often
from the Institute for Advanced Study, would turn up as well.
The students who gathered at teatime were as remarkable, in a
way, as the faculty. Poor Jews, new immigrants, wealthy
foreigners, sons of the working classes, veterans in their
twenties, and teenagers, the students were a diverse as well as
brilliant group, among them John Tate, Serge Lang, Gerard
Washnitzer, Harold Kuhn, David Gale, Leon Henkin, and Eugenio
Calabidd41 The teas were heaven for the shy, friendless, and
socially awkward, a category in which many of these young men
belonged. John Milnor, the most
--------------------------------------------------------------155
brilliant freshman in the history of the Princeton mathematics
department, described it this way: "Everything was new to me. I
was awkward socially, shy and isolated. Everything was wonderful.
This was a whole new world. Here was a whole community in which I
felt very much at home."
46
The atmosphere was, however, as competitive as it was
friendlydd47 Insults and one-upmanship were always major
ingredients in teatime banter. The common room was where the
young bucks warily sized each other up, bluffed and postured, and
locked horns. No culture was more hierarchical than mathematical
culture in its precise ranking of individual merit and prestige,
yet it was a ranking always in a state of suspense and flux, in
which new challenges and scuffles erupted almost daily. Back in
their undergraduate colleges, most of these young men had gotten
used to being the brightest and best, but now they were bumping
up against the brightest and best from other schools. One of the
graduate students who entered with Nash admitted,
"Competitiveness, it was sort of like breathing. We thrived on
it. We were nasty. This guy, he's dumb, we'd say. Therefore he no
longer existeddd041
--------------------------------------------------------------156
There were cliques, mostly based on fields. The clique at the top
of the hierarchy was the topology clique, which clustered around
Lefschetz, Fox, and Steenrod. Then came analysis, grouped around
Lefschetz's archrival in the department, a civilized and erudite
lover of music and art named Bochner. Then came algebra, which
consisted of Emil Artin and a handful of anointed followers.
Logic, for some reason, was not highly regarded, despite Church's
towering reputation among early pioneers of computer theory. The
game theory clique around Tucker
School of Genius
65
was considered quite d6class6, an anomaly in this ivory tower of
pure mathematics. Each clique had its own thoughts about the
importance of its subject and its own way of putting the others
down.
Nash had never in his life encountered anything like this exotic
little mathematical hothouse. It would soon provide him      A156
with the emotional and intellectual context he so much needed to
express himself Princeton, 1948-49
It is good that I did not let myself be influenced. -
LuDwiG W equals GEN-STE-IATION
--------------------------------------------------------------157
i
K
LA-I CHUNG,
a mathematics instructor who had survived the horrors of the
Japanese conquest of his native China, was surprised to see the
door of the Professors' Room standing ajar.` It was usually
locked.
Kai Lai liked to stop
by on the rare occasions when it was open and nobody was about.
It had the feel of an empty church, no longer imposing and
intimidating as it was in the afternoons when it was crowded with
mathematical luminaries, but simply a beautiful sanctuary.
The light in the west common room filtered through thick
stained-glass windows inlaid with formulae: Newton's law of
gravity, Einstein's theory of relativity, Heisenberg's
uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. At the far end, like
an altar, was a massive stone fireplace. On one side was a
carving of a fly confronting the paradox of the M6bius band.
Mbbius had given a strip of paper a half twist and connected the
ends, creating a seemingly impossible object: a surface with only
one
--------------------------------------------------------------158
side. Kai Lai especially liked to read the whimsical inscription
over the fireplace, Einstein's expression of faith in science,
"Der Herr Gott ist raffiniert aber Boshaft ist Er nichtea"wh he
took to mean that "the Lord is subtle but not malicious."`
On this particular fall morning, as he reached the threshold of
the half-open door, Kai Lai stopped abruptly. A few feet away, on
the massive table that dominated the room, floating among a sea
of papers, sprawled a beautiful dark-haired young man. He lay on
his back staring up at the ceiling as if he were outside on a
lawn under an elm looking up at the sky through the leaves,
perfectly relaxed, motionless, obviously lost in thought, arms
folded behind his head. He was whistling softly. Kai Lai
recognized the distinctive profile immediately. It was the new
graduate student from West Virginia. A trifle shocked and a
little embarrassed, Kai Lai backed away from the door and hurried
away before Nash could see or hear him. The first-year students
were an extremely cocky bunch, but Nash immediately struck
everyone as a good deal cockier-and odder. His appearance helped
create the impression.` At twenty, Nash looked young,
--------------------------------------------------------------159
perhaps younger than he was, but he was no longer a gawky
youngster who looked as if he'd lust climbed off a tractor. Six
foot one, he weighed nearly 170 pounds. He had broad shoulders, a
heavily muscled chest, and a tapered waist. He had the build, if
not the bearing, of an athlete, "a very strong, very masculine
body," one fellow graduate student recalled. He was, moreover,
"handsome as a god," according to another student. His       A159
high forehead, somewhat protruding ears, distinctive nose, fleshy
lips, and small chin gave him the look of an English aristocrat.
His hair flopped over his forehead; he was constantly brushing it
away. He wore his fingernails very long, which drew attention to
his rather limp and beautiful hands and long, delicate fingers.
His voice, on the high, reedy side, was cool and southern and had
a slightly ironic edge. His speech had an Olympian and ornamental
quality that struck others as a bit stilted. Moreover, his
expression was somewhat haughty and he smiled to himself in a
superior way.
From the start, he was quite visible at teatime. He seemed eager
to be noticed and seemed to want to establish that he was smarter
than anyone else in the
--------------------------------------------------------------160
place. A fellow student, who had come to Princeton from the City
College of New York, recalled, "He had a way of saying 'trivial`
to anything you might have regarded as nontrivial. That could be
taken as a put-downdd"Nash would accuse people of burbling. If
somebody was talking on and on, he was just burbling. "ALGEBRA IS
BURBLEEA"Nash once scrawled on a blackboard that another student,
an algebraist, would pull down in the midst of a talk. "Hackers"
was another favorite Nash term. A hacker was somebody who plodded
along, somebody who was doing things not worth doingddbled As
another student put it: "Nash was very interested that everyone
would recognize how smart he was, not because he needed this
admiration, but anybody who didn't recognize it wasn't on top of
things. If anyone wasn't aware, he would take a little trouble to
make sure he found outdd"Another student recalls, "He wanted to
be noticed more than anything."`
He seized opportunities to boast about his accomplishments. He
would mention, out of the blue, that he'd discovered, as an
undergraduate, an original proof of Gauss's proof of the
fundamental theorem of algebra, one of the great achievements of
--------------------------------------------------------------161
eighteenth-century mathematics, nowadays taught in advanced
courses on the theory of complex variablesdd6
He was a self-declared free thinker. On his Princeton
application, in answer to the question "What is your religion""he
wrote "Shinto."` He implied that his lineage was superior to that
of his fellow students, especially Jewish students. Martin Davis,
a fellow student who grew up in a poor family in the Bronx,
recalled catching up with Nash when he was ruminating about blood
lines and natural aristocracies one day as they were walking from
the Graduate College to Fine Hall. "He definitely had a set of
beliefs about the aristocracyea"said Davis. "He was
opposed to racial mixing. He said that miscegenation would result
in the deterioration of the racial line. Nash implied that his
own blood lines were pretty gooddd08 He once asked Davis whether
Davis had grown up in a slum.
Nash appeared to be interested in almost everything mathematical
comtopology, algebraic geometry, logic, and game theory-and he
seemed to absorb a tremendous amount about each of these during
his first yeardd9 He himself recalled, without
elaborating, having "studied mathematics fairly broadly"at    162
Princetondd10 Yet he avoided attending classes. No one recalls
sitting in a regular class with him." He did, he later said,
begin a course in algebraic topology offered by Steenrod, who
essentially founded the field." Steenrod and Samuel Eilenberg had
just invented the axioms that were the foundation of homology
theory. The stuff was very trendy and the course attracted many
students, but Nash decided it was too formal for him and not
geometric enough for his taste, so he stopped going.
Nobody remembers seeing Nash with a book during his graduate
career eitherdd"In fact, he read astonishingly little. "Both Nash
and I were dyslexic to some degree," said Eugenio Calabi, a young
Italian immigrant who entered Princeton the year before Nash. "I
had great difficulty keeping my attention on reading that
required great concentration. Then, I just thought of it as
laziness. Nash, on the other hand, defended not reading, taking
the attitude that learning too much secondhand would stifle
creativity and originality. It was a dislike of passivity and
giving up controldd014
Nash's main mode of picking up information he
--------------------------------------------------------------163
deemed necessary consisted of quizzing various faculty members
and fellow students." He carried around a clipboard and
constantly made notes to himself. They were little hints to
himself, ideas, facts, things he wanted to do, Calabi recalled.
His handwriting was almost unreadable. He once explained to
Lefschetz that he had to use ruled notebook paper even when
writing a letter because without the lines his script formed a
"very irregular wavy line." As it was, his notes were full of
crossouts and misspellings of even simple words like
"InteresEted."
16
He compensated by learning through conversation in the common
room and by attending lectures given by visiting mathematicians.
According to Calabi, Nash
11 was quite systematic in asking shrewd questions and developing
his own ideas from the answers. I've seen some of his results in
the makingdd"Some of his best ideas came "from things learned
only halfway, sometimes even wrongly, and trying to reconstruct
them comeven if he could not do so completely.""
He was always asking probing questions. The questions, not only
about game theory, but also about topology and geometry, often
contained a kernel of speculation.
--------------------------------------------------------------164
John Milnor, who entered as a freshman that year, recalls one
such question, posed in the common room: Let V, be a singular
algebraic variety of dimension k, embedded in some smooth variety
Mo and let
Mi equals G, (MO)
be the Grassmann variety of tangent k-planes to Mo. Then Vo lifts
naturally to a k-dimensional variety Vi c Mi. Continuing
inductively, we obtain a sequence ofk-dimensional varieties.
... Do we eventually reach a variety V, which is nonsingular? (As
it turns out, Milnor adds, the conjecture has since been proven
only in special cases.)"                                     A164
Nash spent most of his time, it appears, simply thinking. He rode
bicycles borrowed from the racks in front of the Graduate College
in tight little figure eights or ever-smaller concentric
circles."` He paced around the interior quadrangle of the
college. He glided along the gloomy second-floor hallway of Fine,
his shoulder pressed firmly against the wall, like a trolley
never losing contact with the dark paneled walls."` He would lie
on a desk or table in
--------------------------------------------------------------165
the empty common room, or more frequently, in the third-floor
librarydd"Alm always, he whistled Bach, most often the Little
Fugue." The whistling prompted the mathematics secretaries to
complain about Nash to Lefschetz and Tucker."
Melvin Hausner recalled: "He was always buried in thought. He'd
sit in the common room by himself He could easily walk by you and
not see you. He was always muttering to himself. Always
whistling. Nash was always thinking. . . . If he was lying on a
table, it was because be was thinking. Just thinking. You could
see he was thinkingdd014
He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. A profound dislike
for merely absorbing knowledge and a strong compulsion to learn
by doing is one of the most reliable signs of genius. In
Princeton, Nash's thinking began to take on an urgent, focused
quality. He was obsessed with learning from scratch. Milnor
recalled: "It was as if he wanted to rediscover, for himself,
three hundred years of mathematics.0"Steenrod, who was to become
Nash's sounding board as the year wore on, wrote several years
later, "More than any other student I have known, Nash believes
in learning a subject by doing
--------------------------------------------------------------166
research in
itdd016
Like the nineteenth-century German mathematician Carl Friedrich
Gauss, who complained that "such an overwhelming horde of ideas
stormed my mind before I was twenty that I could hardly control
them and had time but for a small fraction,"" Nash seemed to
overflow with ideas. According to Steenrod, "During his first
year of graduate work, he presented me with a characterization of
a simple closed curve in the plane. This was essentially the same
as one given by Wilder in 1932. Some time later he devised a
system of axioms for topology based on the primitive concept of
connectedness. I was able to refer him to papers by Wallace.
During his second year, he showed me a definition of a new kind
of homology group which proved to be the same as the
Reiderneister group based on homotopy chainsdd021 What is
striking about the ideas that Steenrod attributes to Nash as a
first-year student is that they are not merely clever exercises
designed to show off the brilliance of a precocious student, but
mathematically interesting and important ideas." Nash was always
on the lookout for problems. "He was very much aware of unsolved
problemsea"said Milnor.


"He really cross-examined people on what were the important   167
problems. It showed a tremendous amount of ambition."", In this
search, as in so much else, Nash displayed an uncommon measure of
self-
confidence and self-importance. On one occasion, not long after
his arrival at Princeton, he went to see Einstein and sketched
some ideas he had for amending quantum theory.
That first fall in Princeton, Nash sometimes took a slight detour
down busy Mercer Street in order to catch a glimpse of
Princeton's most remarkable resident." Most mornings between nine
and ten, Einstein walked the mile or so from his white clapboard
house at 112 Mercer Street to his office at the Institute. On
several occasions, Nash managed to brush past the saintly
scientist-
wearing a baggy sweater, drooping trousers, sandals without
socks, and an impassive expression on the streetdd"He imagined
how he might strike up a conversation, stopping Einstein in his
tracks with some startling observation." But once when he passed
him walking with Kurt G6del, Nash caught snatches of German and
sadly wondered whether his own lack of that language might
constitute an
--------------------------------------------------------------168
insuperable barrier to communicating with the great mandd14
In 1948, Einstein had been a world cult figure for more than a
quarter of a century." His special theory of relativity was
published in 1905, as was his assertion that light was propagated
in space not as waves but as discrete particles. The general
theory of relativity appeared in 1916. Astronomers' confirmation
in 1919 that light rays were bent by the sun's gravity -- as
Einstein had predicted --
brought him fame unrivaled by any scientist before or since.
Einstein's political activities comon behalf of the A-bomb and
then for nuclear disarmament, world government, the state of
Israel -- added a ch`aintly aura.
For decades, Einstein's main scientific preoccupations had been
two, one in which he achieved a measure of success, the other a
complete failuredd16 He succeeded in casting doubt on some of the
basic tenets of one of the most successful and widely accepted
theories in physics --
quantum theory -- a theory first proposed by himself when he
demonstrated the existence of light quanta in 1905, and
subsequently developed by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, who
insisted the act
--------------------------------------------------------------169
of observation changes the object being measured. Einstein's 1935
attack on quantum theory produced a front-page headline in
The New York Times
and has never been satisfactorily refuted; indeed, as of the
mid-1990's, the latest experimental evidence has breathed new
life into his critique.
His greater preoccupation was the ultimate task of uniting the
phenomena of light and gravity into a single theory. Einstein
never was able, as one biographer put it, to "accept that the
universe was fragmented into relativity on one side and quantum
mechanics on the other."                                     A169
17
On the eve of his seventieth birthday, he was still searching for
a single, consistent set of principles that applied to all of the
universe's diverse forces and particles and was, in fact,
preparing what proved to be his final paper on so-called "unified
field theory.""
It was a measure of Nash's bravura and the power of his fantasy
that he was not content merely to see Einstein but soon requested
an audience with him. Just a few weeks into his first term at
Princeton,
--------------------------------------------------------------170
Nash made an appointment to see
Genius
71
Einstein in his office in Fuld Hall. He told Einstein's assistant
that he had an idea that he wished to discuss with Professor
Einsteindd19 Einstein's office, a large airy room with a bay
window that let in plenty of light, was messy. Einstein's
twenty-two-year-old Hungarian assistant-an intense, chain-smoking
logician named John Kemeny, who would later invent the computer
language BASIC, become president of Dartmouth College, and head a
commission to investigate Three Mile Island-ushered Nash in.
Einstein's handshake, which ended with a twist, was remarkably
firm, and he showed Nash to a large wooden meeting table on the
far side of the office. The late-morning light streaming through
the bay window produced a sort of aura around Einstein. Nash,
however, quickly got into the substance of his idea while
Einstein listened politely, twirled the curls on the back of his
head with his finger, sucked on his tobaccoless pipe, and
occasionally muttered a remark or asked a question. As he spoke,
Nash became aware of a mild form of echolalia: deep, deep,
--------------------------------------------------------------171
interesting, interestingdd41
Nash had an idea about "gravity, friction, and radiationea"z he
later recalled. The friction he was thinking of was the friction
that a particle, say a photon, might encounter as it moved
through space due to its fluctuating gravitational field
interacting with other gravitational fields
.41
Nash had given his hunch enough thought to spend much of the
meeting 'at the blackboard scribbling equations. Soon, Einstein
and Kemeny were standing at the blackboard as
welldd41
The discussion lasted the better part of an hour. But in the end
all that Einstein said, with a kindly smile, was 'You had better
study some more physics, young mandd"Nash did not immediately
take Einstein's advice and he never wrote a paper on his idea.
His youthful foray into physics would become a lifetime interest-
though, like Einstein's search for the unified field, it would
not be especially fruitfuldd41 Many decades later, however, a
German physicist published a similar idea.
44
Nash conspicuously avoided attaching himself to any
particular faculty member, either in the department or at     172
the institute. It was not a matter of shyness, his fellow
students thought, but rather that he wished to preserve his
independence. One mathematician who knew Nash at the time
observed: "Nash was determined to keep his intellectual
independence. He didn't want to be unduly influenced. He'd talk
freely with other students, but he was always worried about
getting too close to other professors for fear that he'd be
overwhelmed. He didn't want to become dominated. He disliked the
whole idea of being intellectually beholdendd041 He did, however,
use at least one faculty member, Steenrod, as a kind of sounding
board. Temperamentally, Steenrod was an entirely different
character from flamboyant, domineering types like Lefschetz and
Bochner, whose lectures, it was said, were "exciting but 90
percent wrong." Steenrod was a careful, methodical man who chose
his suits and sports coats according to a mathematical formula
and had a mania for thinking up highly logical, if impractical,
solutions to social problems like crimedd46 Steenrod also
happened to be friendly, helpful, and patient.
He was immensely impressed by Nash, found him more
--------------------------------------------------------------173
charming than not, and treated the young man's brashness and
eccentricity with amused tolerancedd41 Surrounded for the first
time in his life by young men whom he regarded, if
not exactly as his equals, at least as worth talking to, Nash
preferred picking other students` brains. "Some mathematicians
work very much by themselvesea"said one fellow student. "He liked
to exchange ideasdd041 One of the students he sought out was John
Milnor, the first of a number of brilliant younger mathematicians
to whom Nash was drawn. Tall, lithe, with a baby face and the
body of a gymnast, Milnor was only a freshman but he was already
the department's golden boydd49
In
his freshman year, in a differential geometry course taught by
Albert Tucker, be learned about an unproved conjecture of a
Polish topologist, Karol Borsuk, concerning the total curvature
of a knotted curve in space. The story goes that Milnor mistook
the conjecture for a homework assignmentdd"Whatever the case, he
arrived at Tucker's door a few days after with a written proof
and the request: "Would you be good enough to point out the flaw
in this attempt. I'm sure there is one, but
--------------------------------------------------------------174
can't find itdd"Tucker studied it, showed it to Fox and to
Shiing-shen Chern. No one could find anything wrong. Tucker
encouraged Milnor to submit the proof as a Note to the
Anndd7]ness of Mathematics.
A few months later Milnor turned in an exquisitely crafted paper
with a full theory of the curvature of knotted curves in which
the proof of the Borsuk conjecture was a mere by-product. The
paper, more substantial than most doctoral dissertations, was
published in the
Annals
in 1950. Milnor also dazzled the department-and Nasb-by winning
the Putnam competition in his second semester at Princeton (in
fact, he went on to win it two more times and was offered    A174
a Harvard scholarshipgg.51
Nash was choosy about whom he would talk mathematics with. Melvin
Peisakoff, another student who would later overlap with Nash at
the RAND Corporation, recalled: `Tou couldn't engage him in a
long conversation. He'd just walk off in the middle. Or he
wouldn't respond at all. I don't remember Nash having a
conversation that came to a nice soft landing. I also don't
remember him ever
--------------------------------------------------------------175
having a conversation about mathematics. Even fhe full professors
would discuss problems they were working on with other people.""
On one occasion in the common room, however, Nash was sketching
an idea when another graduate student got very interested in what
he was saying and started to elaborate on the ideadd"Nash said,
"Well, maybe I ought to write a Note for the
Proceedings of the NNa] Academy
on thisdd"The other student said, "Well, Nash, be sure to give me
a creditdd"Nash's reply was, "All right, I'll put in a footnote
that So and So was in the room when I had the idea."
Nash was respected but not well liked. He wasn't invited to
Kuhn's room for sherry or out with the others when they went to
Nassau Street to drink beer. "He wasn't somebody you'd want as a
close friendea"Calabi recalled. "I don't know many people who
felt any warmth for himdd014 Most of the graduate students were
slightly odd ducks themselves, beset by shyness, awkwardness,
strange mannerisms, and all
kinds of physical and psychological tics, but they collectively
felt that Nash was even odder. "Nash was out of the
ordinaryea"said a former graduate
--------------------------------------------------------------176
student from his time. "If he was in a room with twenty people,
and they were talking, if you asked an observer who struck you as
odd, it would have been Nash. It wasn't anything he consciously
did. It was his bearing. His aloofness.""
Another recalled, "Nash was totally spooky. He wouldn't look at
you. He'd take a lot of time answering a question. If he thought
the question was foolish, he wouldn't answer at all. He had no
affect. It was a mixture of pride and something else. He was so
isolated but there really was underneath it all a warmth and
appreciation [for other people]dd016
When Nash did engage in one of his flights of garrulity, he often
seemed to be simply thinking out loud. Hausner remembered, "A lot
of us would discount a lot of what Nash said. A lot of the things
he said were so far out, you didn't want to engage him. 'What was
happening on earth when the Martians took over and there was a
period of violence and why such and such4'You wouldn't know what
he was talking about. Nash came out with things. They were
unfinished and we weren't ready to hear them. I wouldn't want to
listen. You didn't feel comfortable with the persondd011
His sense of humor was not only childish but odd.
--------------------------------------------------------------177
One former student recalled that Nash was personally responsible
for getting the much-despised gown requirement at meals
temporarily restored. "Firstea"recounted Felix Browder,      A177
who left Princeton in the fall of 1948, "he wrote a letter to
Hugh Taylor, a pompous ass who was looking for an excuse,
demanding that the custom be restored. After it was, nobody ate
in the hall. It didn't make John popular.""
He was also capable of frightening people when provoked.
Occasionally, the teasing and needling would spill over into a
sudden eruption of violence. On one occasion, Nash was baiting
one of Artin's students by telling him that the best way into
Artin's graces was to catch his beautiful daughter Karindd"The
student, Serge Lang, who everyone knew was painfully obsessed by
his shyness around girls, threw a cup of hot tea in Nash's face.
Nash chased him around the table, threw him to the ground, and
stuffed ice cubes down the back of his shirt. Another time, Nash
picked up a metal ashtray stand comthe kind that supports a heavy
glass ashtray and brought it down on Melvin Peisakoffs shins,
hard enough to cause considerable pain for a number of weeksdd611
In the spring of 1949, Nash ran into some trouble
--------------------------------------------------------------178
.61
He had acquired some strong supporters on the faculty, namely
Steenrod, Lefschetz, and Tucker. Tucker was among those who
believed that Nash was "very brilliant and original but rather
eccentricea"arguing that "his creative ability ... should make
one tolerate his queernessdd061 But not everyone in the
department felt that way. Some felt that Nash didn't belong at
Princeton at all. Among them was Artin.
Slender, handsome, with ice-blue eyes and a spellbinding voice,
Artin looked like a 1920's German matinee idoldd61 He wore a
black leather trench coat and
sandals throughout the academic year, wore his hair long, and
smoked incessantly. The representative of "modern"algebra, Artin,
who had been recommended by Weyl for the appointment at the
institute that von Neumann eventually got, was a wonderful
lecturer who admired polish and scholarship, but was famously
intolerant of those who did not meet his rather fastidious
standards. He was well known for screaming and throwing chalk at
students who asked obtuse questions in his classes.
Artin and Nash bad clashed a number of times in the
--------------------------------------------------------------179
common room. Artin was always interested in talking with talented
students. Yet he apparently found Nash not only irritatingly
brash but also shockingly ignorantdd64 At a faculty meeting in
the spring, Artin commented that he could see no way for Nash to
pass his generals, which the better students were expected to
take at the end of their first year. When Lefschetz proposed an
Atomic Energy Commission fellowship for Nash for the following
year, Artin opposed it and made it clear he thought it would be
better if Nash left Princeton. Lefschetz and Tucker overruled
Artin on the subject of the fellowshipdd61 But they dissuaded
Nash from sitting for the generals that spring and suggested that
he take them in the fall instead. He was safe for the time being,
but his unpopularity among some faculty members was to crop up
again when he sought, two years later, to join the department as
an assistant professor.                                      A179
Princeton, Spring 1949
JOHN
VON NEUMANN,
aka the Great Man behind his back, was threading his way through
the crowd, nattily dressed as always and daintily holding a cup
in one hand, a saucer in the
--------------------------------------------------------------180
other. I The students` common room was unusually crowded on this
late afternoon in spring. A large audience, from the Institute
and physics as well as math, had turned out for So and So's
lecture and was lingering over tea. Von Neumann hovered for a
moment by two rather sloppily dressed graduate students who
hunched over a peculiar-looking piece of cardboard. It was a
rhombus covered with hexagons. It looked like a bathroom floor.
The two young men were taking turns putting down black and white
go stones and had very nearly covered the entire board.
Von Neumann did not ask the students or anyone near him what game
they were playing and when Tucker caught his eye momentarily, he
averted his glance and quickly moved away. Later that evening, at
a faculty dinner, however, he buttonholed Tucker and asked, with
studied casualness, "Oh, by the way, what was it that they were
playing?0"Nashea"answered Tucker, allowing the corners of his
mouth to turn up ever so slightly, "Nash."
Games were one of the charming European customs that the 6migr6's
brought with them to Fine Hall in the 1930's. Since then one game
or another has
--------------------------------------------------------------181
always dominated the students' common room. Today it's
backgammon, but in the late
1940's it was Kriegspiel, go, and, after it was invented by its
namesake, "Nash"or "John."`
In Nash's first year, there was a small clique of go players led
by Ralph Fox, the genial topologist who had imported it after the
war.` Fox, who was a passionate Ping-Pong player, had achieved
master status in go, not altogether surprising given his
mathematical specialty. He was sufficiently expert to have been
invited to Japan to play go and to have once invited a well-known
Japanese master named Fukuda to play with him at Fine Hall.
Fukuda, who also played against Einstein and won, obliterated Fox
comto the delight of Nash and some of the other denizens of
Fineddbled
Kriegspiel, however, was the favorite game. A cousin of chess,
Kriegspiel was
a century-long fad in Prussia. William Poundstone, the author of
Prisoner Dilemma,
reports that Kriegspiel was devised as an educational game for
German military schools in the eighteenth century, originally
played on a board
--------------------------------------------------------------182
consisting of a map of the French-Belgian frontier divided into a
grid of thirty-six hundred squares.` Von Neumann, growing up in
Budapest, played a version of Kriegspiel with his brothers. They
drew castles, highways, and coastlines on graph paper, then
advanced and retreated armies according to a set of rules.   A182
Kriegspiel turned up in the United States after the Civil War,
but Poundstone quotes an army officer complaining that the game
"cannot readily and intelligently be pursued by anyone who is not
a mathematician." Poundstone compared it to learning a foreign
languagedd6 The version of Kriegspiel that surfaced in the common
room in the 1930's was played with three chessboards, of which
one-the only one that accurately showed the moves of both players
comwas visible only to the umpire. The players sat back to back
and were ignorant of each other's moves. The umpire told them
only whether the moves they made were legal or illegal and also
when a piece was taken.
A number of his fellow students remember thinking that Nash spent
all of his time at Princeton in the common room playing board
games.` Nash, who had played chess in high school,` played both
go
--------------------------------------------------------------183
and Kriegspiel, the latter frequently with Steenrod or Tukeydd9
He was by no means a brilliant player, but he was unusually
aggressivedd"Games brought out Nash's natural competitiveness and
one-upmanship. He would stride into the common room, one former
student recalls, where people were playing Kriegspiel, glance at
the boards, and say offhandedly but loudly enough for the players
to hear, "Oh, white really missed his opportunity when he didn't
take castle three moves agodd"I I One time, a new graduate
student was playing go. "He managed not just to overwhelm me but
to destroy me by pretending to have made a mistake and letting me
think I was catching him in an oversightea"Hartley Rogers
recalled. "This is regarded by the Japanese as a very invidious
way of cheating
- hamate -
poker-type bluffing. That was a lesson both in how much better he
was and how much better an actor."" That spring, Nash astounded
everyone by inventing an extremely clever game that quickly took
over the common room." Piet Hein, a Dane, had invented the game a
few years before Nash, and it would be marketed by Parker
Brothers in the mid-1950's as Hex. But Nash's invention of the
game appears
--------------------------------------------------------------184
to have been entirely independentdd14
One can imagine that von Neumann felt a twinge of envy on hearing
Tucker tell him that the game he was watching had been dreamed up
by a first-year graduate student from West Virginia. Many great
mathematicians have amused themselves by thinking up games and
puzzles, of course, but it is hard to think of a single one who
has invented a game that other mathematicians find intellectually
intriguing and esthetically appealing yet that nonmathematical
people could enjoy
77
playing. I I The inventors of games that people do play --
whether chess, Kriegspiel, or go comare, of course, lost in the
mists of time. Nash's game was his first bona fide invention and
the first hard evidence of genius.
The game would likely not have appeared in a physical
manifestation, in the Princeton common room or anywhere      A184
else, had it not been for another graduate student named David
Gale. Gale, a New Yorker who had spent the war in the MIT
Radiation Lab, was one of the first men Nash met at the Graduate
College.
16
--------------------------------------------------------------185
Gale, Kuhn, and Tucker ran the weekly game theory seminar. Now a
professor at Berkeley and the editor of a column on games and
puzzles in
The MddblegtheMdd76671;Intelligencer,
Gale is an aficionado of mathematical puzzles and games. Nash
knew of Gale's interest in such games since Gale was in the
habit, during mealtimes at the Graduate College, of silently
laying down a handful of coins in a pattern or drawing a grid and
then abruptly challenging whoever was dining across the table to
solve some puzzle. (This is exactly what Gale did when he saw
Nash for the first time after a fifty-year hiatus at a small
dinner in San Francisco to celebrate Nash's Nobeleagg17
One morning in late winter 1949, Nash literally ran into the much
shorter, wiry Gale on the quadrangle inside the Graduate College.
"Gale! I have an example of a game with perfect informationea"he
blurted out. "There's no luck, just pure strategy. I can prove
that the first player always wins, but I have no idea what his
strategy will be. If the first player loses at this game, it's
because he's made a mistake, but nobody knows what
--------------------------------------------------------------186
the perfect strategy is.""
Nash's description was somewhat elliptical, as most of his
explanations were. He described the game not in terms of a
rhombus with hexagonal tiles, but as a checkerboard. "Assume that
two squares are adjacent if they are next to each other in a
horizontal or vertical row, but also on the positive
diagonalea"he saiddd"Then he described what the two players were
trying to do.
When Gale finally understood what Nash was trying to tell him, he
was captivated. He immediately started to think about how to
design an actual game board, something that had apparently never
occurred to Nash, who had been toying with the idea of the game
since his final year at Carnegie. "You could make it pretty, I
thought." Gale, who came from a well-to-do business family, was
artistic and a bit of a tinkerer. He also thought, and said as
much to Nash, that the game might have some commercial potential.
"So I made a boardea"said Gale. "People played it using go
stones. I left it in Fine Hall. It was the mathematical idea that
counted. What I did was just design. I acted as his agent."
"Nash"or "John"is a beautiful example of a zero-sum two-person
game with perfect information in
--------------------------------------------------------------187
which one player always has a winning strategy." Chess and
tic-tac-toe are also zero-sum two-person games with perfect
information but they can end in draws. "Nash"is really a
topological game. As Milnor describes it, an
11
n by n"                                                      A187
Nash board consists of a rhombus tiled with n hexagons on each
side." The ideal size is fourteen by fourteen. Two opposite edges
of the board are colored black, the other two white. The players
use black and white go stones. They take turns placing stones on
the hexagons, and once played the pieces are never moved. The
black player tries to construct a connected chain of black stones
from the black to black boundary. The white player tries to do
the same with white stones from the white to white boundary. The
game continues until one or the other player succeeds. The game
is entertaining because it is challenging and appealing because
it involves no complex set of rules as does chess.
Nash proved that, on a symmetrical board, the first player can
always win, His proof is extremely
--------------------------------------------------------------188
deft, "marvelously nonconstructive"in the words of Milnor, who
plays it very welldd"If the board is covered by black and white
pieces, there's always a chain that connects black to black or
white to white, but never both. As Gale put it, "You can walk
from Mexico to Canada or swim from California to New York, but
you can't do both."" That explains why there can never be a draw
as in tic-tac-toe. But as opposed to tic-tac-toe, even if both
players try to lose, one will win, like it or not.
The game quickly swept the common
roorndd14
It brought Nash many admirers, including the young John Milnor,
who was beguiled by its ingenuity and beauty. Gale tried to sell
the game. He said, "I even went to New York and showed it to
several manufacturers. John and I had some agreement that I'd get
a share if it sold. But they all said no, a thinking game would
never sell. It was a marvelous game though. I then sent it off to
Parker Brothers, but I never got a response."" Gale is the one
who suggested the name Hex in his letter to Parker Brothers,
which Parker used for the Dane's game. (Kuhn remembers Nash
describing the
--------------------------------------------------------------189
game to him, very likely over a meal at the college, in terms of
points with six arrows emanating from each point, proof, in
Kuhn's mind, that his invention was independent of Hein's.
(16
Kuhn made a board for his children, who played it with great
delight and saw to it that their children learned
it toodd27
Milnor still has a board that he made for his childrendd"His
poignant essay on Nash's mathematical contri butions for the
MathematicalIntelliaencer,
written after Nash's Nobel Prize, begins with a loving and
detailed description of the game. Princeton, 1948-49
JOHN
VON NEUMANN Was
the very brightest star in Princeton's mathematical firmament and
the apostle of the new mathematical era. At forty-five, he was
universally considered the most cosmopolitan, multifaceted, and
intelligent mathematician
the twentieth century had produced.` No one was more         A189
responsible for the newly found importance of mathematics in
America's intellectual elite.
--------------------------------------------------------------190
Less of a celebrity than Oppenheimer, not as remote as Einstein,
as one biographer put it, von Neumann was the role model for
Nash's generation.` He held a dozen consultancies, but his
presence in Princeton was much felt.` "We were all drawn by von
Neumannea"Harold Kuhn recalledddbled Nash was to come under his
spell.` Possibly the last true polymath, von Neumann made a
brilliant career comhalf a dozen brilliant careers-by plunging
fearlessly and frequently into any area where highly abstract
mathematical thought could provide fresh insights. His ideas
ranged from the first rigorous proof of the ergodic theorem to
ways of controlling the weather, from the implosion device for
the A-bomb to the theory of games, from a new algebra [of rings
of operators) for studying quantum physics to the notion of
outfitting computers with stored programsdd6 A giant among pure
mathematicians by the time he was thirty years old, he had become
in turn physicist, economist, weapons expert, and computer
visionary. Of his 150 published papers, 60 are in pure
mathematics, 20 in physics, and 60 in applied mathematics,
including statistics and game theory.` When he died in
--------------------------------------------------------------191
1957 of cancer at fifty-three, he was developing a theory of the
structure of the human brain.`
Unlike the austere and otherworldly G. H. Hardy, the Cambridge
number theorist idolized by the previous generation of American
mathematicians, von Neumann wasworldly and engaged. Hardy
abhorred politics, considered applied mathematics repellent, and
saw pure mathematics as an esthetic pursuit best practiced for
its own sake, like poetry or musicdd9 Von Neumann saw no
contradiction between the purest mathematics and the grittiest
engineering problems or between the role of the detached thinker
and the political activist.
He was one of the first of those academic consultants who were
always on a train or plane bound for New York, Washington, or Los
Angeles, and whose names frequently appeared in the news. He gave
up teaching when he went to the Institute
in 1933 and gave up full-time research in 1955 to become a
powerful member of the Atomic Energy Commissiondd"He was one of
the people who told Americans how to think about the bomb and the
Russians, as well as how to think about the peaceful uses of
atomic energydd"An alleged model for Dr.
--------------------------------------------------------------192
Strangelove in the 1963 Stanley Kubrick film," he was a
passionate Cold Warrior, advocating a first strike against
Russia"and defending nuclear testingdd14 Twice married and
wealthy, he loved expensive clothes, hard liquor, fast cars, and
dirty jokes." He was a workaholic, blunt and even cold at times.
16 Ultimately he was hard to know; the standing joke around
Princeton was that von Neumann was really an extraterrestrial who
had learned how to imitate a human perfectly." In public, though,
von Neumann exuded Hungarian charm and wit. The parties he gave
in his brick mansion on Princeton's fashionable Library      A192
Place were "frequent and famous and long," according to Paul
Halmos, a mathematician who knew von Neumanndd"His rapid-fire
repartee in any of four languages was packed with references to
history, politics, and the stock marketdd19
His memory was astounding and so was the speed with which his
mind worked. He could instantly memorize a column of phone
numbers and virtually anything else. Stories of von Neumann's
beating computers in mammoth feats of calculation abound. Paul
Halmos tells the story in an obituary of the first
--------------------------------------------------------------193
test of von Neumann's electronic computer. Someone suggested a
question like "What is the smallest power of 2 with the property
that its decimal digit fourth from the right is 7""Z Halmos
recounts, "The machine and Johnny started at the same time, and
Johnny finished firstdd010
Another time somebody asked him to solve the famous fly puzzle:"
Two bicyclists start twenty miles apart and head toward each
other, each going at a steady rate of 10 m.pddh. At the same
time, a fly that travels at a steady 15 m.pddh. starts from the
front wheel of the southbound bicycle and flies to the front
wheel of the northbound one, then turns around and flies to the
front wheel of the southbound one again, and continues in this
manner till he is crushed between the two front wheels. Question:
what total distance did the fly cover?
There are two ways to answer the problem. One is to calculate the
distance the fly covers on each leg of its trips between the two
bicycles and finally sum the infinite series so obtained. The
quick way is to observe that the bicycles meet exactly an hour
after they start so that the fly had just an hour for his
travels; the answer must therefore be 15 miles.
--------------------------------------------------------------194
When the question was put to von Neumann, he solved it in an
instant, and thereby disappointed the questioner: "Oh, you must
have heard the trick before!0"What trickea"asked von Neumann,
"all I did was sum the infinite series."
This seems astounding until one learns that at six, von Neumann
could divide two eight-digit numbers in his head."
Born in Budapest to a family of Jewish bankers, von Neumann was
undeniably
John von Neumann
precociousdd"At age eight, be had mastered calculus. At age
twelve, he was reading works aimed at professional
mathematicians, such as Emile Borel's
Theorie des Fonctions,
But he also loved to invent mechanical toys and became a child
expert on Byzantine history, the Civil War, and the trial of Joan
of Arc. When it was time to go off to university, he agreed to
study chemical engineering as a compromise with his father, who
feared that his son couldn't make a living as a mathematician.
Von Neumann kept his bargain by enrolling at the University of
Budapest and promptly leaving for Berlin, where he spent his time


doing mathematics, including visiting lectures by Einstein,   195
and returning to Budapest at the end of every semester to take
examinations. He published his second mathematics paper, in which
he gave the modern definition of ordinal numbers which superseded
Cantor's, at age nineteendd14By age twenty-five he had published
ten major papers; by age thirty, nearly three dozen."
As a student in Berlin, von Neumann frequently took the
three-hour train trip to Gatingen, where he got to know Hilbert.
The relationship led to von Neumann's famous 1928 paper on the
axiornatization of set theory. Later he found the first
mathematically rigorous proof of the ergodic theorem, solved
Hilbert's socalled Fifth Problem for compact groups, invented a
new algebra and a new field called "continuous geometry," which
is the geometry of dimensions that vary continuously (instead of
a fourth dimension, one could now speak of three and
tbree-quarters dimension). He was also a leader in the drive
among mathematicians to colonize other disciplines by inventing
new approachesdd16Von Neumann was still in his twenties when he
wrote his famous paper on the theory of parlor games and his
groundbreaking
--------------------------------------------------------------196
book on the mathematics of the new quantum physics,
Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik-
the one Nash studied in the original German at Carnegie.
17
Von Neumann was a
privatdozent
first at Berlin and then at Hamburg. He became a half-time
professor at Princeton in 1931 and joined the Institute for
Advanced Study in 1933 at age thirty. When the war came, his
interests shifted once again. Halmos says that "till then he was
a top-flight pure mathematician who understood physics; after
that he was an applied mathematician who remembered his pure
work."" During the war, he collaborated with Morgenstern on a
twelvehundred-page manuscript that became
The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. He was also the top
mathematician in Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project from 1943
onward. His contribution to the A-bomb was his proposal for an
implosion method for triggering an
--------------------------------------------------------------197
explosion with nuclear fuel, an idea credited with shortening the
time needed to develop the bomb by as much as a yeardd19
In 1948, he was back at the Institute and very much a presence in
Princeton. He did not teach any courses, but he edited and held
court at the IASDD11 He dropped in at Fine Hall teas from time to
time. He and Oppenheimer were already deep into their great
debate over whether the H-bomb, or the Super, as it was known,
could and should be built." He was fascinated by meteorological
prediction and control, suggesting once that the north and south
poles be dyed blue in order to raise the earth's temperature. He
not only showed the physicists, economists,
and electrical engineers that formal mathematics could yield
fresh breakthroughs in their fields but made the enterprise of
applying mathematics to real-world disciplines seem glamorous to
the purest of young mathematicians.                          A197
By the end of the war, von Neumann's real passion had become
computers, though he called his interest in them "obscene.""
While he did not build the first computer, his ideas about
computer architecture were accepted, and he invented mathematical
techniques
--------------------------------------------------------------198
needed for computers. He and his collaborators, who included the
future scientific director of IBM, Hermann Goldstine, invented
stored rather than hardwired programs, a prototype digital
computer, and a system for weather prediction. The theoretically
oriented Institute had no interest in building a computer, so von
Neumann sold the idea to the Navy, arguing that the Normandy
invasion had almost failed because of poor weather predictions.
He promoted the MANIAC, as the machine was eventually named, as a
device for improving meteorological prediction. More than
anything, though, von Neumann was the one who saw the potential
of these "thinking machines"most clearly, arguing in a speech in
Montreal in 1945 that "many branches of both pure and applied
mathematics are in great need of computing instruments to break
the present stalemate created by the failure of the purely
analytical approach to nonlinear problems.""
Everything von Neumann touched was imbued with his glamour. By
wading fearlessly into fields far beyond mathematics, he inspired
other young geniuses, Nash among them, to do the same. His
success in applying similar approaches to dissimilar problems
--------------------------------------------------------------199
was a green light for younger men who were problem solvers rather
than specialists.
The invention of deliberately oversimphfied theories is one of
the major techniques ofscience, particularly of the "exact"
sciences, which make extensive use ofmathernatical analysis Ifa
biophysicist can usefidly employ simplified inodels of the
celland the cosmologist simplified models of the universe then we
can reasonably expect that simplibed games mayprove to be useful
models for more complicated conflicts. comJoHN WILL-IAms,
The
Compleat Strategyst
I
11ASH BECAME AWARE-OF
a new branch of mathematics that was in the air of Fine Hall. It
was an attempt, invented by von Neumann in the 1920's, to
construct a systematic theory of rational human behavior by
focusing on games as simple settings for the exercise of human
rationality.
The first edition of
The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by von Neumann and
Oskar Morgenstern came out in
--------------------------------------------------------------200
1944.1 Tucker
was running a popular new seminar in Fine on game theory.` The
Navy, which had made use of the theory during the war in
antisubmarine warfare, was pouring money into game theory
research at Princeton.` The pure mathematicians around the
department and at the Institute were inclined to view the    A200
new branch of mathematics, with its social science and military
orientation, as "trivial;` "just the latest fadea"and
"d6class6'
"4
but to many of the students at Princeton at the time it was
glamorous, heady stuff, like everything associated with von
Neumann.`
Kuhn and Gale were always talking about von Neumann and
Morgenstern's book
.6
Nash attended a lecture by von Neumann, one of the first speakers
in Tucker's serninar.` Nash was intrigued by the apparent wealth
of interesting, unsolved problems. He soon became one of the
regulars at the seminar that met Thursdays at five o'clock;
before long he was identified as a member of "Tucker's clique."`
--------------------------------------------------------------201
Mathematicians have always found games intriguing. Just as games
of chance led to probability theory, poker and chess began to
interest mathematicians around G6menttingen, the Princeton of its
time, in the 1920'sdd9 Von Neumann was the first to provide a
complete mathematical description of a game and to prove a
fundamental result, the min-max theorem."`
Von Neumann's 1928 paper,
Zur Theorie der GcselIschaftspiele, suggests that the theory of
games might have applications to economics: "Any eventgiven the
external conditions and the participants in the situation
(provided that the latter are acting of their own free will) --
may be regarded as a game of strategy if one looks at the effect
it has on the participantsea"adding, in a footnote, "[this] is
the principal problem of classical economics: how is the
absolutely selfish `homo economicus` going to act under given
external circumstances.0"B the focal point of the theory-in von
Neumann's lectures and in discussions in mathematical circles
during the 1930's-basically remained the exploration of parlor
games like chess and pokerdd12 It was not until von Neumann met
Morgenstern, a
--------------------------------------------------------------202
fellow 6migr6, in Princeton in 1938 that the link to economics
was forged." Morgenstern, a tall, imposing expatriate from Vienna
who was given to Napoleonic airs, claimed to be the grandson of
the Kaiser's father, Friedrich In of Germanydd14 Tall, darkly
handsome, "with cool gray eyes and a sensuous mouth," Morgic cut
an elegant figure on horseback, and caused a sensation among his
students by abruptly marrying a beautiful redhead named Dorothy,
a volunteer for the World Federalists many years his junior."
Born in Silesia, Germany, in 1902, Morgenstern grew up and was
educated in Vienna in a period of great intellectual and artistic
fermentdd16 After a three-year fellowship abroad financed by the
Rockefeller Foundation, he became a professor and, until the
Anschluss, was head of an institute for business cycle research.
When Hitler marched into Vienna, Morgenstern happened to be
visiting Princeton, and he decided it made sense to stay. He
joined the university's economics faculty, but disliked most of
his American colleagues. He gravitated to the Institute,     A202
where Einstein, von Neumann, and G6deI were working at the time,
--------------------------------------------------------------203
angling for, but never receiving, an appointment there. "There is
a spark missing," he wrote disdainfully to a friend, referring to
the University. "It is too provincial.""
Morgenstern was, by temperament, a critic.
His first book,
Wirtschaftspearognose
(Economic Prediction),
was an attempt to prove that forecasting the ups and downs of the
economy was a futile endeavor." One reviewer called it as
disremarkable for its pessimism as it is for any ... theoretical
innovationdd"19 Unlike those in astronomy, economic predictions
have the peculiar ability to change outcomes." Predict a
shortage, and businesses and consumers will react; the result is
a glut.
His larger theme was the failure of economic theory to take
proper account of interdependence among economic actors. He saw
interdependence as the salient feature of all economic decisions,
and he was always criticizing other economists for ignoring
itdd"Robert Leonard, the historian, writes: "To some extent, his
increasingly harsh views of economic theory were the product of
--------------------------------------------------------------204
mathematicians' critical stance on the subject.0"Von Neumann, he
found, "focused on the black hole in the middle of economic
theory.0"Ac to one of von Neumann's biographers, Morgenstern
"interested him in aspects of economic situations, specifically
in problems of exchange of goods between two or more persons, in
problems of
The Theojy of Games
monopoly, oligopoly and free competition. It was in a discussion
of attempts to schernatize mathematically such processes that the
present shape of this theory began to take formdd014
Morgenstern yearned to do "something in the truly scientific
spiritdd015 He convinced von Neumann to write a treatise with him
arguing that the theory of games was the correct foundation for
all economic theory. Morgenstern, who had studied philosophy, not
mathematics, could not contribute to the elaboration of the
theory, but played muse and producerdd16 Von Neumann wrote almost
the whole twelve-hundred-page treatise, but it was Morgenstern
who crafted the book's provocative introduction and framed the
issues in such a way that the book captured the attention of the
mathematical and
--------------------------------------------------------------205
economic community.
27
The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
was in every way a revolutionary book. In line with Morgenstern's
agenda, the book was "a blistering attack" on the prevailing
paradigm in economics and the Olympian Keynesian perspective, in
which individual incentives and individual behavior were often
subsumed, as well as an attempt to ground the theory in
individual psychology. It was also an effort to reform social
theory by applying mathematics as the language of            A205
scientific logic, in particular set theory and combinatorial
methods. The authors wrapped the new theory in the mantle of past
scientific revolutions, implicitly comparing their treatise to
Newton's
Principia
and the effort to put economics on a rigorous mathematical
footing-to Newton's mathernatization, using his invention of the
calculus, of physicsdd"One reviewer, Leo Hurwicz, wrote, "Ten
more such books and the future of economics is assureddd019
The essence of von Neumann and Morgenstern's
--------------------------------------------------------------206
message was that economics was a hopelessly unscientific
discipline whose leading members were busily peddling solutions
to pressing problems of the day-such as stabilizing employment
comwithout the benefit of any scientific basis for their
proposals.`,, The fact that much of economic theory had been
dressed up in the language of calculus struck them as
"exaggerated" and a failuredd"Th was not, they said, because of
the "human element"or because of poor measurement of economic
variablesdd"R, they claimed, "Economic problems are not
formulated clearly and are often stated in such vague terms as to
make mathematical
treatment q priori appear
hopeless because it is quite uncertain what the problems really
are.""
Instead of pretending that they had the expertise to solve urgent
social problems, economists should devote themselves to "the
gradual development of a theorydd014 The authors argued that a
new theory of games was "the proper instrument with which to
develop a theory of economic behavior.0"The authors claimed that
"the typical problems of economic behavior become strictly
identical with the mathematical notions of suitable games of
--------------------------------------------------------------207
strategy."
16
Under the heading "necessary limitations of the objectivesea"von
Neumann and Morgenstern admitted that their efforts to apply the
new theory to economic problems had led them to "results that are
already fairly well known," but defended themselves by
contending that exact proofs for many well-known economic
propositions had been lacking."
Before they have been given the respective proofs, theory simply
does not exist as a scientific theory. The movements of the
planets were known long before their courses had been calculated
and explained by Newton's theory...
We believe that it is necessary to know as much as possible about
the behavior of the individual and about the simplest forms of
exchange. This standpoint was actually adopted with remarkable
success by the founders of the marginal utility school, but
nevertheless it is not generally accepted. Economists frequently
point to much larger, more burning questions and brush everything
aside which prevents them from making statements about them. The
experience of more advanced sciences, for example, physics,
indicates this impatience merely                             A207
--------------------------------------------------------------208
delays progress, including the treatment of the burning
questions.
When the book appeared in
1944,
von Neumann's reputation was at its peak. It got the kind of
public attention comincluding a breathless front-page story in
The New York Times-that
no other densely mathematical work had ever received, with the
exception of Einstein's papers on the special and general
theories of relativity."` Within two or three years, a dozen
reviews appeared by top mathematicians and economistsdd39
The timing, as Morgenstern had sensed, was perfect. The war had
unleashed a search for systematic attacks on all sorts of
problems in a wide variety of fields, especially economics,
previously thought to be institutional and historical in
character. Quite apart from the new theory of games, a major
transformation was under way comled by Samuelson's
Foundations of Economic Theory-
making economic theory more rigorous through the use of calculus
and advanced statistical methodsdd40 Von Neumann was critical of
these efforts, but
--------------------------------------------------------------209
they surely prepared the ground for the reception of game
theorydd41
Economists were actually somewhat standoffish, at least compared
to mathematicians, but Morgenstern's antagonism to the economics
profession no doubt contributed to that reaction. Samuelson later
complained to Leonard, the historian, that although Morgenstern
made "great claims, he himself lacked the mathematical
wherewithal to substantiate them. Moreover [Morgenstern] had the
irksome habit of always invoking the authority of some physical
scientist or anotherdd041 In Princeton, Jacob Viner, the chairman
of the economics department, heaped scorn on the unpopular
Morgenstern by saying that if game theory couldn't even solve a
game like chess, what good was it, since economics was far more
complicated than
cheSS"41
It must have become obvious to Nash fairly early on that "the
bibleea"z
The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
was known to students, though mathematically innovative,
contained no fundamental new theorems beyond von Neumann's
stunning min-max theorem.- He reasoned that von Neumann had
--------------------------------------------------------------210
The Theory of Games
87
succeeded neither in solving a major outstanding problem in
economics using the new theory nor in making any major advance in
the theory itself4ful Not a single one of its applications to
economics did more than restate problems that economists had
already grappled withdd46 More important, the best-developed part
of the theory comwh took up one-third of the book comcccerned
zero-sum two-person games, which, because they are games     A210
of total conflict, appeared to have little applicability in
social science
.47
Von Neumann's theory of games of more than two players, another
large chunk of the book, was incompletcdd41 He couldn't prove
that a solution existed for all such gamesdd49 The last eighty
pages of
The Theory ofGames and Economic Behqvior dealt with non-zero-sum
games, but von Neumann's theory reduced such games formally to
zero-sum games by introducing a fictitious player who consumes
the excess or makes up the deficitdd10 As one commentator was
later to write, "This artifice helped but did not suffice for a
--------------------------------------------------------------211
completely adequate treatment of the non-zero-sum case. This is
unfortunate because such games are the most likely to be found
useful in practice.""
To an ambitious young mathematician like Nash, the gaps and flaws
in von Neumann's theory were as alluring as the puzzling absence
of ether through which light waves were supposed to travel was to
the young Einstein. Nash immediately began thinking about the
problem that von Neumann and Morgenstern described
as the
most important test of the new theory. Princeton, Spring 1949
We hope however to obtain a real understanding of the problem of
exchange by studying it from an altogether different angle; that
is, from the perspective of a `came of/tateea7. ?- Voation
NE-UMANN AND MoRGEN-STERN,
The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, second edition, 1947
ASH WROTE HIS FIRST PAPER, one of the great classics of modern
economics, during his second term at Princeton.` "The Bargaining
Problem"is a remarkably down-to-earth work for a mathematician,
especially a young mathematician.
--------------------------------------------------------------212
Yet no one but a brilliant mathematician could have conceived the
idea. In the paper, Nash, whose economics training consisted of a
single undergraduate course taken at Carnegie, adopted "an
altogether different angle"on one of the oldest problems in
economics and proposed a completely surprising solutiondd2 By so
doing, he showed that behavior that economists had long
considered part of human psychology, and therefore beyond the
reach of economic reasoning, was, in fact, amenable to systematic
analysis.
The idea of exchange, the basis of economics, is nearly as old as
man, and deal-making has been the stuff of legend since the
Levantine kings and the pharaohs traded gold and chariots for
weapons and slaves.` Despite the rise of the great impersonal
capitalist marketplace, with its millions of buyers and sellers
who never meet face-to-face, the one-on-one bargain cominvolving
wealthy individuals, powerful governments, labor unions, or giant
corporations comdominates the headlines, But two centuries after
the publication of Adam Smith's
The Wealth of Nations,
there were still no principles of economics that could
tell one how the parties to a potential bargain would         213
interact, or how they would split up the pieddbled
The economist who first posed the problem of the bargain was a
reclusive Oxford don, Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, in 1881.1
Edgeworth and several of his Victorian contemporaries were the
first to abandon the historical and philosophical tradition of
Smith, Ricardo, and Marx and to attempt to replace it with the
mathe-
matical tradition of physics, writes Robert Heilbroner in
The Worldly Philosophersdd6
Edgeworth was not fascinated with economics because it justified
or explained or condemned the world, or because it opened new
vistas, bright or gloomy, into the future. This odd soul was
fascinated by economics because economics dealt with
quqntities
and because anything that dealt with quantities could be
translated into
mathernaticsdd1
Edgeworth thought of people as so many profit-and-loss
calculators and recognized that the world of perfect competition
had "certain properties peculiarly
--------------------------------------------------------------214
favorable to mathematical calculation; namely a certain
indefinite multiplicity and dividedness, analogous to that
infinity and infinitesimality which facilitate so large a portion
of Mathematical Physics ... (consider the theory of Atoms, and
all applications of the Differential Calculus)."
The weak link in his creation, as Edgeworth was uncomfortably
aware, was that people simply did not behave in a purely
competitive fashion. Rather, they did not behave this way all the
time. True, they acted on their own. But, equally often, they
collaborated, cooperated, struck deals, evidently also out of
self-interest. They joined trade unions, they formed governments,
they established large enterprises and cartels. His mathematical
models captured the results of competition, but the consequences
of cooperation proved elusivedd9
Is it peace or war? asks the lover of "Maud"of economic
competition, It is both, pax or pact between contractors during
contract, war, when some of the contractors without consent of
others contract.
The first principle of Economics is that every agent is actuated
only by self-interest. The workings of this
--------------------------------------------------------------215
principle may be viewed under two aspects, according as the agent
acts without, or with, the consent of others affected by his
actions. In a wide sense, the first species of action may be
called war; the second contract.
Obviously, parties to a bargain were acting on the expectation
that cooperation would yield more than acting alone. Somehow, the
parties reached an agreement to share the pie. How they would
split it depended on bargaining power, but on that score economic
theory had nothing to say and there was no way of finding one
solution in the haystack of possible solutions that met this
rather broad criterion. Edgeworth admitted defeat: "The general
answer is -- (a) Contract without competition is             A215
indeterminatedd010
Over the next century, a half-dozen great economists, including
the Englishmen John Hicks and Alfred Marshall and the Dane F.
Zeuthen, took up Edgeworth's problem, but they, too, ended up
throwing up their handsdd"Von Neumann and Morgenstern suggested
that the answer lay in reformulating the problem as a game of
strategy, but they themselves did not succeed in solving it."
Nash took a completely novel approach to the
--------------------------------------------------------------216
problem of predicting how two rational bargainers will interact.
Instead of defining a solution directly, he started by writing
down a set of reasonable conditions that any plausible solution
would have to satisfy and then looked at where they took him.
This is called the axiomatic approach -- a method that had swept
mathematics in the 1920's, was used by von Neumann in his book on
quantum theory and his papers on set theory, and was in its
heyday at Princeton in the late 1940'sdd11 Nash's paper is one of
the first to apply the axiomatic method to a problem in the
social sciencesdd14
Recall that Edgeworth had called the problem of the bargain
"indeterminatedd"In other words, if all one knew about the
bargainers were their preferences, one couldn't predict how they
would interact or how they would divide the pie. The reason for
the indeterminacy would have been obvious to Nash. There wasn't
enough information so one had to make additional assumptions.
Nash's theory assumes that both sides` expectations about each
other's behavior are based on the intrinsic features of the
bargaining situation itself. The essence of a situation that
results in a deal is "two individuals who have the opportunity
--------------------------------------------------------------217
to collaborate for mutual benefit in more than one way.0"How they
will split the gain, he reasoned, reflects how much the deal is
worth to each individual.
He started by asking the question, Vs/bat reasonable conditions
would any solution comany split comh to satisfy? He then posed
four conditions and, using an ingenious mathematical argument,
showed that, if his axioms held, a unique solution existed that
maximized the product of the players' utilities. In a sense, his
contribution was not so much to "solve" the problem as to state
it in a simple and precise way so as to show that unique
solutions were possible.
The striking feature of Nash's paper is not its difficulty, or
its depth, or even its elegance and generality, but rather that
it provides an answer to an important problem. Reading Nash's
paper today, one is struck most by its originality. The ideas
seem to come out of the blue. There is some basis for this
impression. Nash arrived at his essential idea-the notion that
the bargain depended on a combination of the negotiators' back-up
alternatives and the potential benefits of striking a deal comz
an undergraduate at Carnegie Tech before he came
--------------------------------------------------------------218
to Princeton, before he started attending Tucker's game theory
seminar, and before. he had read von Neumann and Morgenstern's
book. It occurred to him while be was sitting in the only    A218
economics course be would ever attend.
16
The course, on international trade, was taught by a clever and
young Viennese
6migr6
in his thirties named Bert Hoselitz. Hoselitz, who emphasized
theory in his course, had degrees in law and economics, the
latter from the University of Chicagodd"International agreements
between governments and between monopolies had dominated trade,
especially in commodities, between the wars, and Hoselitz
was an expert on the subject of international cartels and
tradedd"Nash took the course in his final semester, in the spring
of 1948, simply to fulfill degree requirements. 19 As always,
though, the big, unsolved problem was the bait.
That problem concerned trade deals between countries with
separate currencies, as he told Roger Myerson, a game theorist at
Northwestern University, in
--------------------------------------------------------------219
1996.11 One of Nash's axioms, if applied in an international
trade context, asserts that the outcome of the bargain shouldn't
change if one country revalued its currency. Once at Princeton,
Nash would have quickly learned about von Neumann and
Morgenstern's theory and recognized that the arguments that he'd
thought of in Hoselitz's class had a much wider applicability."
Very likely Nash sketched his ideas for a bargaining solution in
Tucker's seminar and was urged by Oskar Morgenstern -- whom Nash
invariably referred to as Oskar La Morgue -- to write a paper."
Legend, possibly encouraged by Nash himself, soon had it that
he'd written the whole paper in Hoselitz's class commuch as
Milnor solved the Borsuk problem in knot theory as a homework
assignment comand that he had arrived at Princeton with the
bargaining paper tucked into his briefcasedd"Nash has since
corrected the record
.14
But when the paper was published in 1950, in Econometrica,
the leading journal of mathematical economics, Nash was careful
to retain full credit for the ideas:
--------------------------------------------------------------220
"The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Professors
von Neumann and Morgenstern who read the original form of the
paper and gave helpful advice as to the presentation."
15
And in his Nobel autobiography, Nash makes it clear that it was
his interest in the bargaining problem that brought him into
contact with the game theory group at Princeton, not the other
way around: "as a result of that exposure to economic ideas and
problems I arrived at the idea that led to the paper `The
Bargaining Problem` which was later published in Econometrica.
And it was this idea which in turn, when I was a graduate student
at Princeton,
led to my interest in the game theory studies there." 16
Nash's Rival Idea
Princeton, 1949-50
1 was playings non-cooperative game in rebtion to von        A220
Neumann rather than
simply seeking to join his coalition. comJoHN F NA-SH, JR., 1993
IN
THE SUMMER OF
--------------------------------------------------------------221
1949, Albert Tucker caught the mumps from one of his children.`
He had planned to be in Palo Alto, California, where he was to
spend his sabbatical year, by the end of August. Instead, he was
in his office at Fine, gathering up some books and papers, when
Nash walked in to ask whether Tucker would be willing to
supervise his thesis.
Nash's request caught him by surprise.` Tucker had liffle direct
contact with Nash during the latter's first year and had been
under the impression that he would probably write a thesis with
Steenrod. But Nash, who offered no real explanation, told Tucker
only that he thought he had found some "good results related to
game theory." Tucker, who was still feeling out of sorts and
eager to get home, agreed to become his adviser only because he
was sure that Nash would still be in the early stages of his
research by the time he returned to Princeton the following
summer.
Six weeks later, Nash and another student were buying beers for a
crowd of graduate students and professors in the bar in the
basement of the Nassau Inn-z tradition demanded of men who had
just passed their generals.` The mathematicians were growing more
boisterous and drunken by the minute. A limerick
--------------------------------------------------------------222
competition was in full swing. The object was to invent the
cleverest, dirtiest rhyme a`0
a member of the Princeton mathematics department, preferably
about one of this ones present, and shout it out at the top of
one's lungsdd"At one point, a shaggy t Scl
aptly named Macbeath jumped to his feet, beer bottle in hand, and
began to b4ilt out stanza after stanza of a popular and salacious
drinking song, with the others chiming in for the chorus: "I put
my hand upon her breaststShe said, `Young man, I like that
best`/ggChorus) Gosh, gore, blimey, how ashamed I was."`
That night, with its quaint, masculine rite of passage, marked
the effective end of Nash's years as a student. He had been
trapped in Princeton for an entire
hot and sticky summer, forced to put aside the interesting
problems he had been thinking about, to cram for the general
examination
.6
Luckily, Lefschetz had appointed a friendly trio of examiners:
Church, Steenrod, and a visiting professor from Stanford, Donald
Spencerdd7 The whole nerve-racking event had gone
--------------------------------------------------------------223
rather well.
Many mathematicians, most famously the French genius Henri
Poincar6, have testified to the value of leaving a partially
solved problem alone for a while and letting the unconscious work
behind the scenes. In an oft-quoted passage from a
1908 essay about the genesis of mathematical discovery,      A223
Poincar6 writes: I
For fifteen days I struggled to prove that no functions analogous
to those I have since called Fuchsian functions could exist. I
was then very ignorant. Every day I sat down at my work table
where I spent an hour or two; I tried a great number of
combinations and arrived at no result.... I then left Caen where
I was living at the time, to participate in a geological trip
sponsored by the School of Mines. The exigencies of travel made
me forget my mathematical labors; reaching Coutances we took a
bus for some excursion or another. The instant I put my foot on
the step the idea came to me, apparently with nothing whatever in
my previous thoughts having prepared me for it. Nash's
"wasted"summer, with its enforced break from his research, proved
unexpectedly fruitful, allowing several vague hunches from the
spring to crystallize
--------------------------------------------------------------224
and mature. That October, he started to experience a virtual
storm of ideas. Among them was his brilliant insight into human
behavior: the Nash equilibrium.
Nash went to see von Neumann a few days after he passed his
generalsdd9 He wanted, he had told the secretary cockily, to
discuss an idea that might be of interest to Professor von
Neumann. It was a rather audacious thing for a graduate student
to do."` Von Neumann was a public figure, had very little contact
with Princeton graduate students outside of occasional lectures,
and generally discouraged them from seeking him out with their
research problems. But it was typical of Nash, who had gone to
see Einstein the year before with the germ of an idea.
Von Neumann was sitting at an enormous desk, looking more like a
prosperous bank president than an academic in his expensive
three-piece suit, silk tie, and jaunty pocket handkerchiefdd"He
had the preoccupied air of a busy executive. At the time, he was
holding a dozen consultancies, "arguing the ear off Robert
Oppenheimer"over the development of the H-bomb, and overseeing
the construction and programming of two
--------------------------------------------------------------225
prototype computers." He gestured Nash to sit down. He knew who
Nash was, of course, but seemed a bit puzzled by his visit. He
listened carefully, with his head cocked slightly to one side and
his fingers
tapping. Nash started to describe the proof he had in mind for an
equilibrium in games of more than two players. But before he had
gotten out more than a few disjointed sentences, von Neumann
interrupted, jumped ahead to the yet unstated conclusion of
Nash's argument, and said abruptly, "That's trivial, you know.
That's just a fixed point theorem.""
It is not altogether surprising that the two geniuses should
clash. They came at game theory from two opposing views of the
way people interact. Von Neumann, who had come of age in European
caf6 discussions and collaborated on the bomb and compuiers,
thought of people as social beings who were always communicating.
It was quite natural for him to emphasize the central importance
of coalitions and joint action in society. Nash tended to think
of people as out of touch with one another and acting on     A225
their own. For him, a perspective founded on the ways that people
react to individual incentives seemed far more natural.
--------------------------------------------------------------226
Von Neumann's rejection of Nash's bid for attention and approval
must have hurt, however, and one guesses that it was even more
painful than Einstein's earlier but kindlier dismissal. He never
approached von Neumann again. Nash later rationalized von
Neumann's reaction as the naturally defensive posture of an
established thinker to a younger rival's idea, a view that may
say more about what was in Nash's mind when he approached von
Neumann than about the older man. Nash was certainly conscious
that he was implicitly challenging von Neumann. Nash noted in his
Nobel autobiography that his ideas
ldeviqted somewhat from the Wne'ggz ifof (mliticalpanv lines of
von Neumann and Morgenstern book. "I
his
Valleius, the Roman philosopher, was the first to offer a theory
for why geniuses often appeared, not as lonely giants, but in
clusters in particular fields in particular cities. He was
thinking of Plato and Aristotle, Pythagoras and Archimedes, and
Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, but there are
many later examples as well, including Newton and
--------------------------------------------------------------227
Locke, or Freud, Jung, and Adler. He speculated that creative
geniuses inspired envy as well as emulation and attracted younger
men who were motivated to complete and recast the original
contribution."
In a letter to Robert Leonard, Nash wrote a further twist: "I was
playing a non-cooperative game in relation to von Neumann rather
than simply seeking to join his coalition. And of course, it was
psychologically natural for him not to be entirely pleased by a
rival theoretical approach."
16
In his opinion, von Neumann never behaved unfairly. Nash compares
himself to a young physicist who challenged Einstein, noting that
Einstein was initially critical of Kaluza's fivedimensional
unified theory of gravitational and electric fields but later
supported its publicationdd"Nash, so often oblivious to the
feelings and motivations of other people, was quick, in this
case, to pick up on certain emotional undercurrents, especially
envy and jealousy. In a way, he saw rejection as the price genius
must pay.
A few days after the disastrous meeting with von Neumann, Nash
accosted
--------------------------------------------------------------228
David Gale. "I think I've found a way to generalize von Neumann's
min-max theoremea"he blurted out. "The fundamental idea is that
in a two-person zero-sum solution, the best strategy for both is
... The whole theory is built on it. And it works with any number
of people and doesn't have to be a zero-sum game.0"Gale recalls
Nash's saying, "I'd call this an equilibrium point." The idea of
equilibrium is that it is a natural resting point that tends to
persist. Unlike von Neumann, Gale saw Nash's point. "Hmmea"he
said, "that's quite a thesisdd"Gale realized that Nash's     A228
idea applied to a far broader class of real-world situations than
von Neumann's notion of zero-sum games. "He had a concept that
generalized to disarmamentea"Gale said later. But Gale was less
entranced by the possible applications of Nash's idea than its
elegance and generality. "The mathematics was so beautiful. It
was so right mathematically."
Once again, Gale acted as Nash's agent. "I said this is a great
resultea"Gale recalled. "This should get priority." He told Nash
that he was sure that Nash had a brilliant thesis in hand. But he
also urged Nash to take credit for the result right
--------------------------------------------------------------229
away before someone else came up with a similar idea. Gale
suggested asking a member of the National Academy of Sciences to
submit the proof to the academy's monthly proceedings. "He was
spacey. He would never have thought of doing thatea"Gale said
recently, "so he gave me his proof and I drafted the NAS
notedd"Lefschetz submitted the note immediately and it appeared
in the November proceedingsdd19 Gale added later, "I certainly
knew right away that it was a thesis. I didn't know it was a
Nobeldd010
Almost fifty years later, two months before his death, Tucker
could not recall getting Nash's first draft of the thesis, which
Nash mailed to him at Stanford, or his own reaction on reading
it, other than being surprised that Nash had produced a result so
quickly. He was certain, however, that he had not been bowled
over. He said: "Whether or not this was of any interest to
economists wasn't known."" Nash used to say that Tucker was "a
machineea"implying that Tucker was methodical but
unimaginativedd"B, in fact, Nash was quite astute to have chosen
him as an adviser. Tucker, a Canadian, Methodist rigidity
notwithstanding, possessed a rare willingness to defend
--------------------------------------------------------------230
unconventional ideas and individuals. A truly fine teacher, he
firmly be] ieved that students should choose research topics they
felt passionate about, not ones they merely believed would appeal
to their professors. A few years later, it was Tucker who
convinced another young, offbeat genius who would go on to become
one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, Marvin L. Minsky,
to drop the mainstream but boring mathematics problem he had
chosen as a thesis topic and instead to write on his real
passion, the structure of the braindd"Tucker always claimed that
he did little more than sign off on Nash's slender,
twenty-seven-page dissertation com"There was no essential role
played by me," Tucker said -- but he encouraged Nash to get it
out quickly and defended its merits within the departmentdd14
Kuhn, who was close to Tucker at the time, later recalled: "The
thesis itself was completed and submitted after the persistent
urging and
counsel of Professor Tucker. John always wanted to add more
material, and Tucker had the wisdom to say, `Get the results out
early! "I I
Tucker responded to Nash's first draft by demanding

that Nash include a concrete example of his equilibrium       231
idea. He also suggested a number of changes in Nash's
presentation. "I urged him to deal with a particular case rather
than only a general caseea016 Tucker said. The recommendation, to
his mind, was largely esthetic. "Wn you deal with the general
case you have to deal with sophisticated notation that is very
hard to readea"he saiddd"Nash responded with a prolonged silence
that was in fact a measure of his fury. "He reacted unfavorably,
largely by expressing nothing. I didn't hear from him again for a
long timeea"Tucker recalled."
Nash was actually considering dropping the thesis with Tucker and
pursuing another topic, an ambitious problem in algebraic
geometry, with Steenrod insteaddd19 He chose to interpret
Tucker's demands for revisions-along with von Neumann's coldly
dismissive reaction-z signs that the department would not accept
his work on game theory for a dissertation. However, Tucker, who
could be surprisingly forceful, eventually convinced Nash to
stick with his original conception comand to make the requested
changes. "Nash had an answer for everythingea"he said. "You
couldn't catch him out in a
--------------------------------------------------------------232
mathematical fault.0"A May 10 letter to Lefschetz reads: "It is
not necessary that I see the revised draft, for he has kept me
informed (almost daily) of the progress of the revision.0"Tucker
adds, "I was delighted to notice a pleasant change of attitude in
Nash during the course of our long correspondence on his work. He
became much more cooperative and appreciative towards the end. I
wrote to him like a Dutch uncle, but I suspect you or someone
else at the Princeton end had some influence in effecting the
changedd011
The entire edifice of game theory rests on two theorems: von
Neumann's min-max theorem of 1928 and Nash's equilibrium theorem
of 1950.11 One can think of Nash's theorem as a generalization of
von Neumann's, as Nash did, but also as a radical departure. Von
Neumann's theorem was the cornerstone of his theory of games of
pure opposition, so-called two-person zero-sum games. But
two-person zero-sum games have virtually no relevance to the real
worlddd14 Even in war there is almost always something to be
gained from cooperation. Nash introduced the distinction between
cooperative and noncooperative games." Cooperative games are
games in which players can
--------------------------------------------------------------233
make enforceable agreements with other players. In other words,
as a group they can fully commit themselves to specific
strategies. In contrast, in a noncooperative game, such
collective commitment is impossible. There are no enforceable
agreements. By broadening the theory to include games that
involved a mix of cooperation and competition, Nash succeeded in
opening the door to applications of game theory to economics,
political science, sociology, and, ultimately, evolutionary
biologydd16
Although Nash used the same strategic form as von Neumann had
proposed, his approach is radically different. More than half of
the von Neumann and
Morgenstern book deals with cooperative theory. In           A233
addition, von Neumann and Morgenstern's solution concept
comsomething called a stable set comdoes not exist for every
game. By contrast, Nash proved on page six of his thesis that
every noncooperative game with any number of players has at least
one Nash equilibrium point.
To understand the beauty of Nash's result, write Avinash Dixit
and Barry Nalebuff in
Thinking Strategical]
--------------------------------------------------------------234
1v, one begins with the notion that interdependence is the
distinguishing feature of games of strategydd17 The outcome of a
game for one player depends on what all the other players choose
to do and vice versa. Games like tic-tac-toe and chess involve
one kind of interdependence. The players move in sequence, each
aware of the other's moves. The principle for a player in a
sequential-move game is to look ahead and reason back. Each
player tries to figure out how the other players will respond to
his current move, how he will respond in turn, and so forth. The
player anticipates where his initial decision will ultimately
lead and uses the information to make his current best choice. In
principle, any game that ends after a finite sequence of moves
can be solved completely. The player's best strategy can be
determined by looking ahead to every possible outcome. For chess,
in contrast to tic-tac-toe, the calculations are
too complex for the
human brain-or even for computer programs written by humans.
Players look a few moves ahead and try to evaluate the resultant
positions on the basis of experience.
--------------------------------------------------------------235
Games like poker, on the other hand, involve simultaneous moves.
"In contrast to the linear chain of reasoning for sequential
games, a game with simultaneous moves involves a logical
circleea"write Dixit and Nalebuff. "Although players act at the
same time, in ignorance of other players` current actions, each
is forced to think about the fact that there are other players
who in turn are similarly awaredd"Poker is an example of, `I
think he thinks that I think that he thinks that I think. . .`
Each must figuratively put himself in the shoes of all and try to
calculate the outcome. His own best action is an integral part of
the calculation."
Such circular reasoning would seem to have no conclusion. Nash
squared the circle using a concept of equilibrium whereby each
player picks his best response to what the others do. Players
look for a set of choices such that each person's strategy is
best for him when all others are playing their best strategies.
Sometimes one person's best choice is the same no matter what the
others do. That is called a dominant strategy for that player. At
other times, one player has a uniformly bad choice -- a
--------------------------------------------------------------236
dominated strategy -- in the sense that some other choice is best
for him irrespective of what the others do. The search for
equilibrium should begin by looking for dominant strategies and
eliminating dominated ones. But these are special and relatively
rare cases. In most games each player's best choice does     A236
depend on what the others do, and one must turn to Nash's
construct. Nash defined equilibrium as a situation in which no
player could improve his or her position by choosing an
alternative available strategy, without implying that each
person's privately held best choice will lead to a collectively
optimal result. He proved that for a certain very broad class of
games of any number of players, at least one equilibrium exists
coms long as one allows mixed strategies. But some
98 A BEAUTIFUL MIND
games have many equilibria and others, relatively rare ones that
fall outside the
class
he defined, may have none.
Today, Nash's concept of equilibrium from strategic games is one
of the basic paradigms in social sciences and biologydd19 It is
largely
--------------------------------------------------------------237
the success of his vision that has been responsible for the
acceptance of game theory as, in the words of
The New Pqlgrave,
"a powerful and elegant method of tackling a subject that had
become increasingly baroque, much as Newtonian methods of
celestial mechanics had displaced the primitive and increasingly
ad hoc
methods of the ancients.0"O Like many great scientific ideas,
from Newton's theory of gravitation to Darwin's theory of natural
selection, Nash's idea seemed initially too simple to be truly
interesting, too narrow to be widely applicable, and, later on,
so obvious that its discovery by
someone
was deemed all but inevitabledd41 As Reinhard Selten, the German
economist who shared
the 1994
Nobel with Nash and John C. Harsanyi, said: "Nobody would have
foretold the great impact of the Nash equilibrium on economics
and social science in general. It was even less expected that
Nash's equilibrium point concept would ever have
--------------------------------------------------------------238
any significance for biological theory. 1141
Its significance was not immediately recognized, not even by the
brash twenty-one-year-old author himself, and certainly not by
the genius who inspired Nash, von Neumanndd43
Lloyd
Prfnceton, 1950
All mathematicians live in two different worlds. They live in a
crystalline world ofperfectplatonic forms An ice palace But they
also live in the common world where things are transient,
ambiguous, subject to vicissitudes. Mathematicians go backward
and forward from one world toanother. Thev-e ddults in the
crystalline world, Jufmts in the real one. -- 5
CAPPELL,
Courant Institute ofMathematics, 1996
AT
TWENTY-ONE,                                                  A238
Nash the mathematical genius had emerged and connected with the
larger community of mathematicians around him, but Nash the man
remained largely hidden behind a wall of detached eccentricity.
He was quite popular with his professors, but utterly out of
touch with his
--------------------------------------------------------------239
peers. His interactions with most of the men his own age seemed
motivated by an aggressive competitiveness and the most cold
considerations of self-interest. His fellow students believed
that Nash had felt nothing remotely resembling love, friendship,
or real sympathy, but as far as they were able to judge, Nash was
perfectly at home in this and state of emotional isolation.
This was not the case, however. Nash, like all human beings,
wanted to be close to someone, and at the beginning of his second
year at Princeton he had finally found what he was looking for.
The friendship with Lloyd Shapley, an older student, was the
first of a series of emotional attachments Nash formed to other
men, mostly brilliant mathematical rivals, usually younger. These
relationships, which usually began with mutual admiration and
intense intellectual exchange, soon became one-sided and
typically ended in rejection. The relationship with Shapley
foundered within a year, although Nash never completely lost
touch with him over the decades to follow comall through his long
illness and after he began to recover comwhen he and Shapley
became direct competitors for the Nobel Prize.
When he first moved into the Graduate College a
--------------------------------------------------------------240
few doors down from Nash in the fall of 1949, Lloyd Shapley had
just turned twenty-six, five years and eleven
days older than Nash.` No one could have presented a stronger
contrast with the childish, boorish, handsome, and uninhibited
boy wonder from West Virginia. Born and bred in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, Shapley was one of five children
of one of the most famous and revered scientists in America, the
Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley. The senior Shapley was a
public figure known to every educated household, and also one of
the most politically active.` In 1950, he was accorded the
dubious honor of being the first prominent scientist to appear on
the earliest of Senator Joseph McCarthy's famous lists of
crypto-communistsdd1
Lloyd Shapley was a war heroddbled He was drafted in 1943. He
refused an offer to become an officer. That same year, as a
sergeant in the Army Air Corps in Sheng-Du, China, Shapley got a
Bronze Star for breaking the Japanese weather code. In 1945, he
went back to Harvard, where he had begun to study mathematics
before he was drafted, and finished his
--------------------------------------------------------------241
B.A. in mathematics in 1948.
When Shapley showed up at Princeton, von Neumann already
considered him the brightest young star in game theory research.`
Shapley had spent the year after graduating from Harvard at the
RAND Corporation, a think tank in Santa Monica that was
attempting to use game theory applications to solve military
problems, and came to Princeton while technically on leave   A241
from RAND. He was immediately recognized as brilliant and quite
sophisticated in his thinking. One contemporary remembers that he
"talked good math, knew a lotdd06
He did extraordinarily hard double crostics from The New York
Times
without using a pencil.` He was a fiercely competitive and highly
accomplished player of Kriegspiell and go. "Everybody knew that
his game was strictly his ownea"said another fellow student, "He
went out of his way to find nonstandard moves. No one was going
to anticipate themdd"He was also well read. He played the piano
beautifullyally, His manner suggested an acute awareness of
pedigree and prospects. When Lefschetz wrote him a letter telling
him of a very
--------------------------------------------------------------242
generous grant if he came to Princeton, for example, Shapley
replied loftily and with a hint of disdain, "Dear Lefschetz, The
arrangements are satisfactory. Go ahead with the formalities.
Shapleydd011
Shapley was by no means as self-confident as his imperious note
to Lefschetz implied. His appearance can only be described as
rather strange. Tall, dark, and so thin that his clothing hung
from him like a scarecrow's, Shapley reminded one young woman of
a giant insect; another contemporary says he looked like a
horsedd"His normally gentle demeanor and ironic banter hid a
violent temper and a harshly self-critical streak." When
challenged in some unexpected fashion, he could become
hysterical, literally vibrating and shaking with furydd14 His
perfectionism, which would later prevent him from publishing a
large portion of his research, was extreme." He was, moreover,
acutely self-conscious about being a few years older than some of
the brilliant young men around the Princeton mathematics
departmentdd16
Nash was one of the first students Shapley met at the Graduate
College. For a time, they shared a bathroom. Both of them
attended Tucker's game
--------------------------------------------------------------243
theory seminar every Thursday, now run by Kuhn and Gale while
Tucker was at Stanford. The best way to describe the impression
Nash made on Shapley when the two first
Lloyd
101
talked about mathematics is to say that Nash took Shapley's
breath away. Shapley could, of course, see what the others saw
comthe childishness, brattiness, obnoxiousness comb he saw a
great deal more. He was dazzled by what he would later describe
as Nash's "keen, beautiful, logical mind." 11 Instead of being
alienated like the others by the younger man's odd manner and
weird behavior, he interpreted these simply as signs of
immaturity. "Nash was spiteful, a child with a social IQ of 12,
but Lloyd did appreciate talentea"recalled Martin Shubikdd11
As for Nash, starved for affection, how could he not be drawn to
Shapley? In Nash's eyes, Shapley had it all. A brilliant
mathematician. War hero. Harvard man. A son of Harlow. Favorite
of von Neumann and, soon, of Tucker as well. Shapley, who    A243
was popular with faculty and students alike, was one of the very
few
--------------------------------------------------------------244
around Princeton, other than Milnor, who could really hold Nash's
attention in a mathematical conversation, challenge him, and help
him to pursue the implications of his own reasoning. And, for
that reason -- along with his open admiration and obvious
sympathy comhe was one who could engage Nash's emotions.
Nash acted like a thirteen-year-old having his first crush. He
pestered Shapley mercilesslydd19 He made a point of disrupting
his beloved Kriegspiel games, sometimes by sweeping the pieces to
the ground. He rifled through his mail. He read the papers on his
desk. He left notes for Shapley: "Nash was hereff"He played all
kinds of pranks on him. Shapley's greatest eccentricity at the
time was his claim that he was on a twenty-five-hour sleep
cycledd10 He worked and slept at extremely odd hours, often
transposing night and day. "Every once in a while he'd disappear
from sight," another student recalled. "That's what he said. We
accepted anything.0"Waking Shapley when he was lost to the world
became an ongoing prank. "A group of us was attending a regular
seminar at the institute given by de Rham and Kodaira. We were
always very anxious to go but only three or four of us had cars.
--------------------------------------------------------------245
Lloyd Shapley was one but there was one difficulty. Lloyd liked
to sleep late and was often asleep at two o'clock in the
afternoon. So we had to devise all sorts of ways to wake him. We
dropped hot candle wax on him. I devised another method. We
played 45-rpm records of Lloyd's favorite Chinese music without
the little insert so that it oscillated all over the place (and
made excruciating noise)dd021 Nash once tried to wake Shapley by
climbing on his bed, straddling him and dropping water in his ear
with an eyedropper."
Sometimes the jokes, also aimed at other friends of Shapley's,
got totally out of hand. Shapley shared his room at the college
with a graduate student in economics, Martin Shubik, who became
interested in game theory and also developed a lifelong
friendship with Shapley. Shubik recalled: "Nash's idea of a joke
was to unscrew the electric light bulb in the bathroom. There was
a glass shade under the bulb, which he filled full of water. We
could easily have gotten electrocuted. Did he intend to
electrocute me? I'm not sure he didn't intendto."
14
--------------------------------------------------------------246
Shubik, whom Nash insisted on calling Shoobie-Woobie, was a
frequent target
of Nash's digs. A typical putdown, from a postscript to a note
ostensibly commiserating with Shubik after the latter was injured
in a car accident: "Oscar 1ence Morgue would like for someone ...
to blast Baumol [William Baumol, then the rising young star of
the Princeton economics department] for his impudence in
publishing a paper attacking confusedly the only true utility.
It's beneath his dignity, but he doesn't really think you're the
best man for the job because . . . `Shubik does not write very
clearly.`""                                                  A246
John McCarthy, one of the inventors of artificial intelligence,
also befriended Shapley and apparently aroused Nash's jealousy.
One day McCarthy got an inquiry from a Philadelphia haberdashery
about a massive shirt order he had placeddd16 How good was his
credit, the company wanted to know? McCarthy, who hadn't placed
any such order, immediately suspected Nash and asked Shapley if
Nash was the culprit. Shapley confirmed that this was highly
likely. McCarthy asked the cornpany for the original order. Sure
enough, a postcard came back with Nash's unmistakable
--------------------------------------------------------------247
scrawl in green ink, the color Nash always used. Shubik and
McCarthy cornered Nash and confronted him. "There was no denying
what he had done. We threatened him with postal inspectors. The
post office refused to merely bawl him out. `If we do anything,
we'll prosecute him,` they saiddd"Concluding that Nash had
learned his lesson, Shubik and McCarthy dropped the matter.
Another time, he rigged up McCarthy's bed so that it would
collapse when McCarthy tried to crawl under the coversdd27
It was Shapley who reacted to Nash's absurd behavior with amused
tolerance, who proposed that they might channel his mischievous
impulses in a more intellectually constructive way. So Nash,
Shapley, Shubik, and McCarthy, along with another student named
Me] Hausner, invented a game involving coalitions and
double-crosses. Nash called the game comwh was later published
under the name "So Long, Sucker"-Fuck Your Buddy." The game is
played with a pile of different-colored poker chips. Nash and the
others crafted a complicated set of rules designed to force
players to join forces with one another to advance, but
ultimately to double-cross one another in order
--------------------------------------------------------------248
to win. The point of the game was to produce psychological
mayhem, and, apparently it often did. McCarthy remembers losing
his temper after Nash cold-bloodedly dumped him on the
second-to-last round, and Nash was absolutely astonished that
McCarthy could get so emotional. "But I didn't need you
anymoreea"Nash kept saying, over and overdd19
By and large, Shapley tried to play the role of mentor. He came
to Nash's aid, for example, when Tucker demanded that Nash
include a concrete example of an equilibrium point in his thesis
and Nash couldn't think of a good one. Shapley spent weeks
working out an elaborate but convincing example of Nash's
equilibrium concept involving three-handed poker, another Shapley
specialty." The friendship between the men always had a
competitive edgedd"Shapley, who started out as the slightly older
and wiser half of the relationship, may have resented Nash's
reputation as a genius. He kept remarking on "running starts,"
and he made
Lloyd
it clear that he felt he was being left behinddd"Nash's stubborn
independence in the face of well-meant advice, instead of
delighting, began to irk.


Nash's real sin, though, may have been to publish three       249
important papers in the space of one year, long before Shapley
had even come close to finding a thesis topic for himself." In
one of them, Nash beat Shapley to the punch on a problem they
were both working on and had spent many hours discussingdd14 But
Shapley actually had good reason to feel secure. Despite Nash's
brilliant dissertation, the consensus at Princeton at the time
was that it was Shapley who was the real star of the next
generation and inheritor of the von Neumann mantle. Tucker wrote
in 19 5 3: Shapley is "the best young American mathematician
working in the subject.0"Z a person, Tucker added, Shapley is 11
agreeable, cooperative and well-liked by faculty and students."
16
A letter from Frederic Bohnenblust, Shapley's mentor at RAND,
dated 1953, says Shapley "perhaps lacked the wherewithal to
develop a theory and depended on others for ideasea"b added that
he thought him "second only to the creator of the theory of
games, John von Neumann.0"A letter from von Neumann dated January
1954 said: "I know Shapley very well and I think he is VERY good.
I
--------------------------------------------------------------250
would put him above Bohnenblust and I would bracket him with
Segal and Birkhoffdd011
But something other than graduate-student rivalry caused a sudden
break. By the middle of the next year, by which time Nash had
already completed his thesis and was on the job market, Shapley
told a fellow student that he would not return to RAND if Nash,
who had been offered a permanent post there, were to accept xdd39
Fifty years later, Shapley made a point of correcting anyone who
suggested that he and Nash had ever been close friends.
40
RAND, Summer 1950
Oh, the RAND Corpon7mention is the hoon of the world; They
thinkall diy for a fee.
They sitandplaygamesahoutgoing up in flames, For counters they
use you and me, Honey Bee, For counters they use you and me.
comMAL viNA REYN-OLD's,
"The RAND H 1961 yrnn,
TE
DC-3 SHOOK as
it droned past the desert and mountains toward the opaque Pacific
and water-colored sky. Los
--------------------------------------------------------------251
Angeles lay thousands of feet below, resembling some
science-fiction vision of a space colony under its sulfurous
blanket of haze. Nash had boarded the TWA flight in New York
almost twenty-four hours earlier. He had not slept at all. He was
rumpled, sweaty, cramped, and exhausted, but as the plane
descended, he hardly registered these discomforts. His attention
was wholly absorbed by the exotic panorama and his own intense
excitement.
Flying was still a highly novel experience in 1950, no more so
than for a twenty-two-year-old West Virginian whose travels had
mostly been limited to the Norfolk and Western runs between
Roanoke and Princeton. Nash's first flight marked the        A251
beginning of his career as a consultant for the secretive RAND
Corporation. RAND is a civilian think tank in Santa Monica,
described by
Fortune
in 1951 as "the Air Force's big-brain-buying venture,"` where
brilliant academics pondered nuclear war and the new theory of
games. Nash's on-and-off encounter with RAND over the next four
years was a transforming experience in his life. His association
with RAND, at the height of the Cold
--------------------------------------------------------------252
War, started promisingly in the summer of 1950, just as the
Korean War began, and ended traumatically in the summer of
1954, when McCartbyism reached its peak.
On a purely personal level, Nash's view of the world and himself
was permanently and subtly colored by the RAND Zeitgeist comxs
worship of the rational life and quantification, its geopolitical
obsessions, and its weirdly compelling mix of Olympian
detachment, paranoia, and megalomania. Intellectually, it was
another story. From the moment of his arrival, Nash began
actively disengaging himself from the interests and individuals
that brought him to RAND in the first place, retreating from game
theory and moving rapidly into pure mathematics, a process of
disengagement that would repeat itself several times over the
rest of the decade.
Nothing like the RAND of the early 1950's has existed before or
since.` It was the original think tank, a strange hybrid of which
the unique mission was to apply rational analysis and the latest
quantitative methods to the problem of how to use the terrifying
new nuclear weaponry to forestall war with Russia comor to win a
war if deterrence failed.
--------------------------------------------------------------253
The people of RAND were there to think the unthinkable, in Herman
Kahn's famous phrase
.3
It attracted some of the best minds in mathematics, physics,
political science, and economics. RAND may well have been the
model for Isaac Asimov's
Foundation
series, about a RAND-LIKE organization full of hyper-rational
social scientists --
psychohistorians -- who are supposed to save the galaxy from
chaosddbled And Kahn and von Neumann, RAND's most celebrated
thinkers, were among the alleged models for Dr. Strangelovedd1
Although its heyday lasted a decade or less, RAND's way of
looking at human conflict not only shaped America's defense in
the second half of the century but also made a deep and lasting
impression on American social science. RAND had its roots in
World War
11,
when the American military, for the first time in its history,
had recruited legions of scientists, mathematicians, and
economists and used them to help

win the war. As Fred Kaplan writes of RAND's role in          254
nuclear strategyea6
[World War 11 was] a war in which the talents of scientists were
exploited to an unprecedented, almost extravagant degree. First,
there were all the new inventions comof warfare comradar,
infrared detection devices, bomber aircraft, long-range rockets,
torpedoes with depth charges, as well as the atomic bomb. Second,
the military had only the vaguest of ideas about how to use these
inventions.... Someone had to devise new techniques for these new
weapons, new methods of assessing their effectiveness and the
most efficient way to use them. It was a task that fell to the
scientists. Initially, the scientists worked on narrow technical
problems-for example, how to build the bomb, how deep to set the
charges, the choice of targets. But when it became clear that
people didn't know the best way to use this incredibly expensive
and destructive weaponry, they were increasingly drawn into
discussions of strategy.
The advent of the bomb turned the temporary wartime partnership
between the military and the scientific establishment into a
continuing relationship, The Air Force, which controlled the new
weaponry, emerged after
--------------------------------------------------------------255
the war as the linchpin of the national defense. "Whole
conceptions of modern warfare, the nature of international
relations, the question of world order, the function of weaponry,
had to be thought through again. Nobody knew the answersea"Kaplan
writes.` Again the military turned to the academic community. As
Oskar Morgenstern, also a RAND consultant during the 1950's, put
it in his book on defense issues: "Military matters have become
so complex and so involved that the ordinary experience and
training of the generals and admirals were no longer sufficient
to master the problems.... More often than not their attitude is,
'here is a big problem. Can you help us?` And this is not
restricted to the making of new bombs, better fuel, a new
guidance system or what have you. It often comprises tactical and
strategic use of the things on hand and the things only
planned."`
Fortune
magazine put it more succinctly: "If World War 11 was a war of
weapons, another conflict would include on both sides a war of
wits at the highest level of knowledgedd09
In the final days of the war, the Air Force generals began to
worry about the brain drain of top
--------------------------------------------------------------256
scientistsdd"How to keep the best and brightest thinking about
military problems was far from obvious. Men of the caliber of
John von Neumann would hardly sign up for the civil service. But
scientists would have to have access to secrets so one couldn't
just rely on contracts with universities. The solution was a
private nonprofit organization outside the military but with
close ties to the Air Force. In the fall of 1945, General Henry
"Hap" Arnold promised to give Douglas Aircraft $10 million of
leftover wartime procurement funds for a research venture to be
called Project RAND (for "research and developmentea"though wits
later insisted the acronym stood for "research and           A256
nondevelopment"). The project was housed on the third floor of
Douglas's Santa Monica plant. Friction between Douglas and the
new entity led to a spinoff as a private nonprofit corporation in
1946, which was when RAND moved to its downtown offices.
RAND's Air Force contract gave it an amazingly free hand,
according to William Poundstone's history of RAND. The contract
called for research on intercontinental warfare, which, given the
dominant
--------------------------------------------------------------257
role of nuclear weaponry, effectively gave RAND an unrestricted
license to roam over the front lines of the U.S. defense
strategy. Within these guidelines, RAND scientists could study
anything that interested them. RAND could also refuse specific
studies requested by the Air Force.
From the beginning, RAND's work was a curious mix of narrowly
focused engineering, cost-benefit studies, and blue-sky
conjecture. A now-famous 1946 study, completed more than a decade
before the launch of Sputnik
in 19
5 7, proved remarkably prescient. In "Preliminary Design of an
Experimental World-Circling Spaceshipea"RAND scientists argued
that "the nation which first makes significant achievements in
space travel will be acknowledged as the world leader in both
military and scientific techniques. To visualize the impact on
the world, one can imagine the consternation and admiration that
would be felt here if the US were to discover suddenly that some
other nation had already put up a successful satellite.""
RAND's civilian scientists soon made a mark on American defense
policy. Poundstone
--------------------------------------------------------------258
reports that RAND played a leading role in the development of the
ICBM; RAND convinced the Air Force to adopt in-flight refueling
of jet bombers; it was responsible for the fail-safe protocol
whereby bombers are kept in the air at all times and during a
crisis head for targets in an enemy nation. Its worry that a
psychotic individual in a position of power could trigger a
nuclear war convinced the Air Force to adopt a safer button that
required cooperation of several individuals to arm and detonate a
nuclear warhead.
To be plucked from academe and initiated into the secret world of
the military had become something of a rite of passage for the
mathematical elite. In World War 11, the very best had traveled
into the New Mexico desert to Los Alamos to work on the A-bomb
alongside von Neumann, and to Bletchley Park north of London to
help Turing and his team break the Nazi codedd"Many others, less
well known or simply younger, wound up at dozens of less famous
sites working on weapon design, encryption, bomb targeting, and
submarine chasesdd13
The recruitment of scientists by the military hadn't
--------------------------------------------------------------259
stopped when the war ended, much to everyone's surprise. Many of
the mathematicians and scientists did not return to their quiet
prewar routines but instead took on military research contracts,
made frequent visits to the Pentagon and the Atomic Energy   A259
Commission, and, in a few cases, stayed on at Los Alamos and the
other government weapons labs. For an elite cadre of applied
mathematicians, computer engineers, political scientists, and
economists RAND was the equivalent of Los Alamosdd14
The problems the military asked the scientists to solve called
for new theories and new techniques, which in turn attracted the
top scientific talent on which RAND's credibility depended. "We
had so many practical problems that involved mathematicians and
we didn't have the right toolsea"said Bruno Augenstein, a former
RAND vice-president, years later. "So we had to invent or perfect
the tools."" Mostly, according to Duncan Luce, a psychologist who
was a consultant at RAND, "RAND capitalized on ideas that
surfaced during the war."
16
These were scientific, or at least systematic,
--------------------------------------------------------------260
approaches to problems that had been previously considered the
exclusive province of men of "experience." They included such
topics as logistics, submarine research, and air defense.
Operations research, linear programming, dynamic programming, and
systems analysis were all techniques that RAND brought to bear on
the problem of "thinking the unthinkabledd"Of all the new tools,
game theory was far and away the most sophisticated. The spirit
of quantification, however, was contagious, and it was at RAND,
more than anywhere else, that game theory in particular and
mathematical modeling in general entered the mainstream of
postwar thinking in economics. At that point, the military was
the only government sponsor of pure research in the social
sciences-a role later taken over by the National Science
Foundation-and it bankrolled a great many ideas that turned out
to have little true relevance for the military but a great deal
for other endeavors. RAND attracted a younger generation of
mathematically sophisticated economists who embraced the new
methods and tools, including the computer, and attempted to turn
economics from a branch of political philosophy into a precise,
predictive science.
--------------------------------------------------------------261
Take Kenneth Arrow, one of the early Nobel Laureates in
economics. When Arrow came to RAND in 1948, he was an unknown
youngsterdd"His famous thesis,
written in the as-yet-unfamiliar language of symbolic logic, was
a product of a RAND assignment. The assignment was to demonstrate
that it was okay to apply game theory, which is formulated in
terms of individuals, to aggregations of many individuals, namely
nations. Arrow was asked to write a memorandum showing how it
could be done. As it turned out, the memorandum became Arrow's
dissertation, an attempt to restate the theories of British
economist John Hicks in modern mathematical language. "That was
it! It took about five days to write in September
1948ea"he recalled. "When every attempt failed I thought of the
impossibility theorem.""` Arrow showed that it is logically
impossible to add up the choices of individuals into an
unambiguous social choice not just under a constitution based on
the principle of majority rule, but under every              A261
conceivable constitution except dictatorship. Arrow's theorem,
along with his proof of the existence of a competitive
equilibrium, which also owes something
--------------------------------------------------------------262
to Nash, earned him the Nobel Prize in 1972 and ushered in the
use of sophisticated mathematics in economic theory.
Other giants of modern economics who did seminal work at RAND in
the early 1950's included Paul A. Samuelson, probably the most
influential economist of the twentieth century, and Herbert
Simon, who pioneered the study of decisionmaking inside
organizations. RAND's location was part of its allure. The
corporation's headquarters, in a oncesleepy beach colony, lies
five miles to the south of the Santa Monica Mountains at the far
end of the Malibu Crescent, just west of Los Angeles. In the
early 1950's, Santa Monica looked the way Nash imagined that
certain towns in Italy or France might look. Wide avenues were
lined with pencil-thin palm trees. Cream-colored houses were
topped with tiled roofs and encircled by shoulder-high walls.
Seaside hotels and rest homes were across from a seaside
promenade. The magentas and reds of the bougainvillea and
hibiscus were improbably intense. The breeze, surprisingly cool,
smelled of oleander and seawater. Some of the best work was done
in beach chairs.
--------------------------------------------------------------263
RAND itself was tucked out of sight of the ocean on Fourth and
Broadway at the edge of Santa Monica's slightly rundown business
district. The 1920's bank building was a white stucco affair
ornamented with Victorian flourishes. The building had recently
housed the presses of the Santa Monica Evening
Outlook; the
newspaper had moved catty-corner to a former Chevy dealership
when RAND moved in. By 1950, RAND was already spilling over into
several annexes located over storefronts, including ones occupied
by the
Outlook and
a bicycle shop. A year later, when
Fortune
magazine discreetly introduced RAND to the wider public, it
described "bright walls shining through fog-sunny days and its
wide, white-lighted windows shining on uninterruptedly through
the night. The building is never closed, nor is it ever really
opendd019
It was one of the most difficult buildings in the United States
to get into,
Fortune
--------------------------------------------------------------264
said. On Nash's first day, members of RAND's uniformed, armed
police force stood guard in front of the building and in its
lobby, scrutinizing him closely
and memorizing his facedd10 After that, for the rest of the
summer and in subsequent years, the guards always greeted him
with a cool, respectful "Hello, Dr. Nashdd"There were no ID cards
in those days. Inside were a series of locked doors, with offices
clustered by types of security clearance needed to gain      A264
access to them. The math division occupied a group of small
private offices in the middle of the first floor, upstairs from
the electronics shop where von Neumann's new computer, the
johnniac, stooddd"Nash got an office to himself, a small
windowless cubicle whose walls didn't quite extend to the
ceiling, with a desk, blackboard, fan, and, of course, a safe.
RAND bristled with self-confidence, a sense of mission, an esprit
de corps." Military uniforms signaled visitors from Washington.
Executives from defense firms came for meetings. The consultants,
mostly under thirty, carried briefcases, smoked pipes, and walked
around looking self-important. Big shots like
--------------------------------------------------------------265
von Neumann and Herman Kahn had shouting matches in the
hallwaysdd"There was a feeling around the place of "wanting to
outrun the enemy'"z a former RAND vice-president later
put xdd24
Arrow, who was an army veteran from the Bronx, said, "We were all
convinced that the mission was important though there was lots of
room for intellectual visiondd025
RAND's sense of mission was propelled largely by a single fact:
Russia had the A-bomb. That shocking news had been delivered by
President Truman the previous fall, a mere four years after
Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and many years before Washington had
expected it. The military had hard evidence, the president said
in a speech on September 13, 1949, of a nuclear explosion deep
inside the Soviet Uniondd16 Nobody in the scientific community,
especially around Princeton, where von Neumann and Oppenheimer
were engaged in an almost daily debate over the wisdom of pushing
ahead with the Super, doubted that the Soviets were capable of
developing nuclear weaponsdd"The shock was that they had
succeeded so quickly. Physicists and mathematicians, who were
less
--------------------------------------------------------------266
convinced of Russia's scientific and technological backwardness,
had been warning the administration all along that predictions by
senior government officials that America's nuclear monopoly would
persist another ten, fifteen, or twenty years were hopelessly
naive, but the sense of being caught off guard was still very
greatdd"The news effectively ended the debate over the hydrogen
bomb more or less immediately. By the time the president
delivered the news of the Soviet explosion to the public, he had
authorized a crash program at Los Alamos to design and
manufacture an H-bomb-19
It was unthinkable that such destructive power would be
unleashed. Therefore RAND insisted that it was necessary to
ponder the possibility."` The rational life was worshiped to an
almost absurd degree. RAND was full of men and women committed to
the idea that systematic thought and quantification were the key
to the most complex problems. Facts, preferably detached from
emotion, convention,
and preconception, reigned supreme. If reducing complex political
and military choices, including the problem of nuclear war, to
mathematical formulae could produce light, why then the same
approach must be good for more mundane matters. RAND          267
scientists tried to tell their wives that the decision whether to
buy or not to buy a washing machine was an "optimization
problem.""
RAND was privy to the military's most highly guarded secrets at a
time when the nation was growing increasingly nervous about the
safeguarding of those secrets to the point of paranoia. From the
summer of 1950 on, RAND would be increasingly affected by the
growing alarm over Russian access to American military secrets."
It began with the Fuchs trial in the winter of 1950.11 Fuchs was
a German emigre scientist who had fled to Britain during the war
and eventually wound up working with von Neumann and Edward
Teller at Los Alamos. A clandestine member of the British
Communist Party, Fuchs subsequently confessed in January 1950 to
passing atomic secrets to the Russians and was tried and
convicted in London that February. Senator Joseph McCarthy had
embarked that same month on his anticommunist campaign, accusing
the federal government of security breachesdd14 Four years later,
in April of 1954, Robert Oppenheimer, the former head of the
Manhattan Project, the director of the
--------------------------------------------------------------268
Institute for Advanced Study, and the most famous scientist in
America, was declared a security risk by Eisenhower and stripped
of his security clearances in the full glare of national
publicitydd"The ostensible reason was Oppenheimer's youthful
left-wing associations, but the real reason, as von Neumann and
most scientists testified at the time, was Oppenheimer's refusal
to support the development of the H-bomb.
The fact that McCarthy himself ultimately became a target of
censure would do little to dispel the atmosphere of paranoia and
intimidation at RAND, which lived on Air Force and AEC money and
had projects on the H-bomb and ICBM'SDD16 Most of what the
mathematicians worked on was not in fact classified, but that
didn't matter. RAND, which harbored a collection of oddballs like
Richard Bellman (a former Princeton mathematician who had all
kinds of communist associations, mostly accidental, including a
chance encounter with a cousin of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg),
would become particularly careful about minding its Ps and
Qsdd37
Everybody needed a top-secret clearance. People who arrived
without a temporary security clearance were
--------------------------------------------------------------269
banished to "quarantine"or "preclearance"and weren't permitted to
sit with everybody else. Nash's secret clearance was granted on
October 25, 1950.111 His recollection that he had a top-secret
clearance comwh a large contingent in the math division did
have-is probably faulty. Nash also recalls that he applied for a
Q clearance in 1952.19 Any consultant to the math division who
worked on Atomic Energy Commission contracts was required to have
a Q clearance because of access to documents related to the
construction and use of nuclear weapons. But despite a November
10, 1952, postcard to his parents telling them that he had
applied for a higher clearance at RAND, Nash now says
In
it was never approved commeaning that his role at RAND was   A269
largely confined to highly theoretical excercises as opposed to
applications of game theory concepts to actual questions of
nuclear strategy comthe province of men like von Neumann, Herman
Kahn, and Thomas Schellingdd411
Everyone had a safe in his office for storing classified
documents, and everyone was warned about taking documents out of
the building or talking out of
--------------------------------------------------------------270
schooldd41 Papers had to be put in the safes at the end of every
day. There were spot checks. There was a public address system
and there were parts of the building that were off-limits to
people who didn't have a Q clearance.
By 1953, soon after Eisenhower issued a new set of security
guidelines, security consciousness, in the sense of not
overlooking anyone who might be thought remotely unreliable,
greWdd42
The Eisenhower guidelines broadened the grounds for denying a
clearance or stripping someone of an existing clearance. Without
a doubt, fear about potential leaks brought to a boil many
simmering antagonisms against individuals and groups who posed
little or no actual threat to security. Almost any sign of
nonconformity, political or personal, came to be considered a
potential security breach. The notion, for example, that
homosexuals were unreliable, because of either poor judgment or
vulnerability to blackmail, was first codified in the Eisenhower
guidelines.
Like the decade itself, RAND had a split personality. Its style
was informal. It tolerated quirky people. It was in some ways
more democratic
--------------------------------------------------------------271
than a university. Almost everyone, including von Neumann, was
called by his or her first name, except by the guards, never
Doctor or Professor or Sir. Graduate students rubbed shoulders
with full professors in a way unimaginable in most academic
departments. RAND's president, a former Douglas Aircraft
executive, was a spit-andpolish man who was almost never seen in
a suit and tie. All but one or two of the mathematicians,
including Nash, came to work in short-sleeved shirts. Appearances
were so casual that one mathematician, who found it all very
d6class6, felt obliged to rebel by wearing a three-piece suit and
a tie to the office every daydd41 Practical jokes were as much a
part of the RAND culture as pipes and crewcuts. Mathematicians
and physicists mixed rubber bands into the pipe tobacco,
substituted dog biscuits for cookies, and tilted desks so pencils
rolled onto the
floordd44
Wit was greatly appreciated. When John Williams, the head of
RAND's mathematics department, wrote a primer on game theory,
published as a RAND study, it was illustrated with
--------------------------------------------------------------272
funny little cartoon figures and full of jokey examples starring
John Nash, Alex Mood, Lloyd Shapley, John Milnor, and other
members of the math department
.41                                                          A272
The mathematicians were, as usual, the freest spiritsdd46 They
had no set hours. If they wanted to come into their offices at
3:00 A.M.,
fine. Shapley, who had come back from Princeton for the summer
and continued to insist on the sanctity of his sleep cycle, was
rarely seen before midafn. Another man, an electrical engineer
named Hastings, typically slept in the "shop" next to his beloved
computer.
Lunches were long, much to the annoyance of RAND's engineers, who
prided themselves on sticking to a more respectable routine. The
mathematicians mostly took their bag lunches to a conference room
and pulled out chessboards. They invariably played Kriegspiel,
usually in total silence, occasionally punctuated by a wrathful
outburst from Shapley, who frequently lost his temper over an
umpire's or opponent's error. Even though the games typically
lasted well into the afternoon, they were
--------------------------------------------------------------273
rarely finished and finally reluctantly abandoned midgame. Poker
and bridge groups met after hours.
There were no afternoon teas, formal seminars, or faculty
meetings at RAND. Unlike the physicists and engineers, the
mathematicians usually worked alone. The idea was that they would
work on their own ideas but would help solve the myriad problems
encountered by researchers, picking up problems to solve as the
spirit moved themdd47 People would drift into each other's
offices or, more frequently, simply stop to chat in the corridors
near the coffee stations. The grids and courtyards of RAND's
permanent headquarters comto which the mathematics group moved in
1953, the year before Nash's final summer at RAND-were designed,
by John Williams, as it happens, "to maximize chance
meetingsdd0411 Through such encounters new research was
"announced" and mathematicians got hooked on problems that
colleagues in other departments wanted solved. Most of the work
wasn't reported formally, and even when it was published as RAND
memoranda, there was no formal approval process. A consultant
would simply go to the math department secretaries, hand over a
handwritten paper, and a day or two later a RAND
--------------------------------------------------------------274
memorandum would appeardd49 Published reports for outside
circulation didn't go through a much more rigorous vetting
process.
This copacetic atmosphere was mostly Williams's doing." Witty and
charming, weighing close to three hundred pounds, expensively
suited, Williams looked like a businessman always about to reach
into his pocket to pull out a wad of twenties. An astronomer from
Arizona who had spent a couple of years in Princeton attending
lectures in Fine Hall, playing poker, and developing an
enthusiasm for the theory of games, Williams had been a
dollar-a-year man in Washington during the war and became RAND's
fifth employee afterward. Williams hated flying. He loved fast
cars. At one point, he spent an entire year outfitting his
chocolate-brown Jaguar with a powerful Cadillac engine. It had
taken substantial RAND resources (RAND had a repair shop) and
considerable bravado to install the thing. Cadillac and      A274
Jaguar mechanics had both dismissed the idea as impractical, but
Williams had prevailed. He disproved the mechanics` conventional
wisdom in late-night, 125-mile-an-hour drives along the Pacific
--------------------------------------------------------------275
Coast Highway.
Williams's approach to management would have made him very much
at home in Silicon Valley today: "Williams had a
theoryea"recalled his deputy, Alexander Mood, also a former
Princetonian. "He believed people should be left alone. He was a
great believer in basic research. He was a very relaxed
administrator. That's why people thought the math division was
pretty weirddd011 Williams's letter to von Neumann offering the
mathematician a two-hundred-dollar-a-month retainer conveys the
man's style. The letter said, "The only part of your thinking
we'd like
to bid for systematically is that which you spend shaving: we'd
like you to pass on to us any ideas that come to you while so
engageddd011 When Williams first arrived, RAND was a tiny annex
inside a mammoth Douglas Aircraft factory where thirty thousand
workers punched time cards every day. Williams was the one who
freed the mathematicians from the clock and then proceeded to
demand coffee and blackboards for his mathematicians, explaining
that not providing these would guarantee that none of them would
produce anything worthwhile. After RAND and Douglas Aircraft
parted company, Williams went further. He
--------------------------------------------------------------276
insisted that the building be open twenty-four hours a day
instead of just between eight and five. He got private offices.
He set up coffee stations that had their own special full-time
maintenance crew. He mollified the engineers and the Air Force
generals, who wondered why the hell the mathematicians had to be
allowed to be themselves. Everyone soon knew Nash by sight. He
roamed the halls incessantly." He was usually chewing an empty
paper coffee cup that was clamped firmly between his teeth. He
would glide through the corridors for hours at a time, frowning,
lost in thought, shirt untucked, his powerfully built shoulders
hunched forward, his sharp Nixonian nose leading the way.
Sometimes he wore a small, ironic smile that suggested some
secret amusement not likely to be shared with anyone he might
encounter. When he did meet someone he knew, he rarely greeted
him by name or even acknowledged his presence unless spoken to
first, and then not always. When he wasn't chewing a coffee cup,
he whistled, often the same tune, from Bach's
The Art of the Fugue,
over and over agdd14
His legend had preceded him. In the eyes of his new
--------------------------------------------------------------277
colleagues, Arrow recalled, Nash was "a young genius who could do
anything, a guy who liked solving problems."" Mathematicians who
were struggling with tricky problems quickly learned to collar
him by planting themselves squarely in his path. Nash's curiosity
was easily piqued, they discovered, provided that the problem
struck him as interesting and the speaker mathematically
competent. He was usually more than willing to step around   A277
to their offices to look at masses of messy equations on their
blackboards. Williams's deputy, Alex Mood, was one of the first
to try." A gentle giant of a man with a dry wit and easy manner,
Mood happened to be oppressed by a problem left over from a
first, ill-fated thesis attempt at Princeton before the war. He
had found a better derivation of a famous solution, he felt, but
his proof was overly long, too complicated, and distressingly
inelegant. Could Nash come up with something "shorter, simpler"?
Nash listened and stared, frowned and walked away. But the very
next day, he was back at Mood's door with a clever and entirely
unanticipated solution. Nash had "sidestepped the whole induction
by regarding integers as variables and sending them to revealing
limitsdd"Z much as anything else, Mood was charmed
--------------------------------------------------------------278
by Nash's style. "When he found a problemea"Mood recalled, "he
sat down and started attacking it immediately. He didn't, like
some of
his colleagues, browse through the library to see what related
stuff had already been done."
Williams too was immediately taken with Nash and took him under
his wing. He frequently told others that Nash had greater insight
into mathematical structure than any mathematician he had ever
known, an extraordinary remark ftom a man who spent the late
1930's in Fine Hall and was an intimate of von Neumann's. "He
knew which factors of a hundred thousand were the most
important," Williams used to saydd17 He liked to describe how
Nash would come into an office, stare at a blackboard dense with
equations, and stand there silently, meditating. "Thenea"Williams
would say, "he'd solve the whole thing. He could
see
the structure."
However, Nash mostly kept to himself He talked about his own
research rarely and then only with a select few. When he did, it
was not usually because he was looking for help. "It wasn't so
much that he sought advice," another consultant recalled. "You
were a
--------------------------------------------------------------279
reflecting mirror. He was his own creative object.0"The only
person he regularly sought out at RAND was Shapley, and fairly
soon people around the mathematics division started to think of
the two as a pair, RAND's Wunderkinder.
Still, Nash's eccentricity soon became fodder for RAND's gossip
mill. "He reinforced RAND's idea that mathematicians were a bit
crazyea"Mood said.", His office, in which he could rarely be
found, was a godawful mess. When he left at the end of that
summer he did so without bothering to clean out his desk. The
staffer who was saddled with the chore found, among other things,
"banana peels. Bank statements for Swiss bank accounts with
thousands of dollars in them. One or two hundred dollars in cash.
Classified documents. The C-I isometric embedding paperdd060
Some people found Nash absurdly childish. He was fond of playing
adolescent jokes on his colleagues. Knowing that his whistling
irritated one particular musicloving mathematician, who
frequently asked him to stop, he once left behind a          A279
recording of his whistling on the man's Dictaphonedd61 RAND's
blue-collar police
--------------------------------------------------------------280
force and maintenance crew found Nash an entertaining subject.
They would watch him as he left the building walking north on
Fourth Avenue. On several occasions some of them complained to a
RAND manager that they had seen Nash tiptoing exaggeratedly along
the avenue, stalking flocks of pigeons, and then suddenly rushing
forward, "trying to kick `em."``
We hope [the theory ofgamesst will work, just as we hoped in 1942
that the atomic homb would work. comAN-ONymous PENTAGON SCIENTIST
to Fortune,
1949
1ASH's NOVEL IDEA about games with many players had preceded him
at RAND by several months. The first version of his elegant proof
of the existence of equilibrium for games with many players
comtwo skimpy pages in the November
1949 issue of the National Academy of Sciences proceedings
comswept through the white stucco building at Fourth and Broadway
like a California brushfiredd1
The biggest appeal of the Nash equilibrium concept was its
promise of liberation from the two-person zero-sum game. The
mathematicians, military
--------------------------------------------------------------281
strategists, and economists at RAND had focused almost
exclusively on games of total conflict commy win is your loss or
vice versa combbt two players. Shapley and Dresher's
1949 review of game theory research at RAND refers to the
organization's "preoccupation with the zero-sum two person
game."` That preoccupation was natural, given that these were
games for which the von Neumann theory was both sound and
reasonably complete. Zero-sum games also seemed to fit the
problem -- nuclear conflict between two superpowers comwh
absorbed most of RAND's attention.
Only it really didn't. At least some of the researchers at RAND
were already chafing at the central assumption of a fixed payoff
in such games, Arrow recalled.` As weapons got ever more
destructive, even all-out war had ceased to be a situation of
pure conflict in which opponents had no common interest whatever.
Inflicting the greatest amount of damage on an enemy-bombing him
back to the Stone Age comno longer made any sense, as American
strategists realized during the final phase of the campaign
against Germany when they decided not to destroy the coal mines
and industrial complexes of the Ruhrddbled As Thomas C.
Schelling, one of
--------------------------------------------------------------282
RAND's nuclear strategists, would put it a decade later,`
In international affairs, there is mutual dependence as well as
opposition. Pure conflict, in which the interests of two
antagonists are completely opposed, is a special case; it would
arise in a war of complete extermination, otherwise not even in
war. The possibility of mutual accommodation is as important
and dramatic as the element of conflict. Concepts like
deterrence, limited war, and disarmament, as well as         A282
negotiation, are concerned with the common interest and mutual
dependence that can exist between participants in a conflict.
Schelling goes on to say why this is so: "These are games in
which, though the element of conflict provides the dramatic
interest, mutual dependence is part of the logical structure and
demands some kind of collaboration or mutual accommodation-tacit,
if not explicit-even if only in the avoidance of mutual
disasterdd116
In 1950, at least the economists at RAND were aware that if game
theory were to evolve into a descriptive theory that could be
usefully applied to real-life military and economic conflicts,
one
--------------------------------------------------------------283
had to focus on games that allowed for cooperation as well as
conflict. "Everybody was already bothered by the zero-sum
gameea"Arrow recalled. "You're trying to decide whether to go to
war or not. You couldn't say that the losses to the losers were
gains to the winner. It was a troublesome thing."`
Military strategists were the first to seize on the ideas of game
theory. Most economists ignored The Theory of Games and Economic
Behavior and the few that didn't, like John Kenneth Galbraith
writing in
Fortune
and Carl Kaysen, later director of the Institute for Advanced
Study, turn out to have had significant contact with military
strategists during the wardd"An article in
Fortune
in
1949 by John
McDonald made it clear that the military hoped to use von
Neumann's theory of games to work out intelligence missions,
bombing patterns, and nuclear defense strategydd9 On the lookout
for new ideas and with plenty of money to spend, the Air Force
embraced game theory with the same enthusiasm
--------------------------------------------------------------284
with which the Prussian military had embraced probability theory
a couple hundred years earlierdd10
Game theory had already made its debut in military planning
rooms. It had been used during the war to develop antisubmarine
tactics when German submarines were destroying American military
transports. As McDonald reported in
Fortune.-I I
The military application of "Games"was begun early in the last
war, some time in fact before the publication of the complete
theory, by ASWOEG (Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Evaluation
Group). Mathematicians in the group had got hold of von Neumann's
first paper on poker, published in
1928.
But von Neumann actually spent his frenetic visits to Santa
Monica almost exclusively with the computer engineers and the
nuclear scientistsdd"His enormous prestige and Williams's deft
salesmanship led to a major concentration on game theory at RAND
from 1947 into the 1950's. The hope was that game theory would
provide the                                                  A284
--------------------------------------------------------------285
mathematical underpinning for a theory of human conflict and
spread to disciplines other than mathematics. Williams convinced
the Air Force to let
RAND create two new divisions, economics and social science. By
the time Nash arrived, a "trust" of game theory research had
grown up at RAND including such game theorists as Lloyd S.
Shapley, J. C. McKinsey, N. Dalkey, F. B. Thompson, and H. F.
Bohnenblust, such pure mathematicians as John Milnor,
statisticians David Blackwell, Sam Karlin, and Abraham Girschick,
and economists Paul Samuelson, Kenneth Arrow, and Herbert Simon."
Most of the RAND military applications of game theory concerned
tactics. Air baffles between fighters and bombers were modeled as
duelsdd14 The strategic problem in a duel is one of timing. For
each opponent, having the first shot maximizes the chance of a
miss. But having the better shot also maximizes the chance for
being hit. The question is when to fire. There's a tradeoff. By
waiting a little longer each opponent improves his own chance of
scoring a hit, but also increases the risk of being
--------------------------------------------------------------286
shot down. Such duels can be both noisy and silent. With "silent
gunsea"the duelist doesn't know the other has fired unless he is
hit. Therefore, neither participant knows whether the other still
has a bullet or has fired and missed and is now defenseless.
A report by Dresher and Shapley summarizing RAND's game theory
research between the fall of 1947 and the spring of 1949 gives
the flavordd"The mathematicians describe a problem of staggered
attacks in a bombing mission:
Problem A single intercepter base, having I fighters, is located
on a base line. Each fighter has a given endurance. If a fighter,
vectored out against a bomber attack, has not yet engaged his
original target, then at the option of the ground controller he
may be vectored back to engage a second attack.
The attacker has a stock of N bombers and A bombs. The attacker
chooses two points to attack and sends N I bombers including A,
bomb carriers on the first attack and t minutes later he sends
N2 equals
N -- N, bombers including A2 equals A
--------------------------------------------------------------287
comA, carriers on the second attack. The payoff to the attacker
is the number of bomb carriers that are not destroyed by the
fighters.
Solution Both players have pure optimal strategies. An optimal
strategy of the attacker is to attack both targets simultaneously
and distribute the A bomb carriers in proportion to the number of
bombers in each attack. An optimum strategy of the defender is to
dispatch interceptors in proportion to the number of attacking
bombers and not to revector fighters. The value of the game to
the attacker will be V equals max (0eaAggI -- I Nk))
where k is the kill probability of the fighter
The game Nash had in mind could be solved without communication
or collaboration. Von Neumann had long believed that the RAND
researchers ought to focus on cooperative games, conflicts in
which players have the opportunity to communi-               A287
cate and collaborate and are able ?to discuss the situation and
agree on a rational joint plan of action, an agreement that is
assumed to be enforceable."
16
In cooperative games, players form coalitions
--------------------------------------------------------------288
and reach agreements. The key assumption is that there's an
umpire around to enforce the agreement. The mathematics of
cooperative games, like the mathematics of zero-sum games, is
rich and elegant. But most economists, like Arrow, were cool to
the idea." It was like saying, they thought, that the only hope
for preventing a dangerous and wasteful nuclear arms race lay in
appointing a world government with the power to enforce
simultaneous disarmament. World government, as it happens, was a
popular idea among mathematicians and scientists at the time.
Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, and indeed much of the world's
intellectual elite subscribed to some version of "one worldism."
11 Even von Neumann tipped his hat to the notion, conservative
hawk that he was. But most social scientists were dubious that
any nation, much less the Soviets, would cede sovereignty to such
an extent. Cooperative game theory also seemed to have little
relevance to most economic, political, and military problems. As
Arrow jokingly put it, "You did have cooperative game theory. But
I couldn't force the other side to cooperatedd019
By demonstrating that noncooperative games, games that did not
involve joint actions, had stable
--------------------------------------------------------------289
solutions, said Arrow, "Nash suddenly provided a framework to ask
the right questionsdd"At RAND, he added, it immediately led
"a
lot of people to calculate equilibrium points." News of Nash's
equilibrium result also inspired the most famous game of strategy
in all of social science: the Prisoner's Dilemma. The Prisoner's
Dilemma was partly invented at RAND, some months before Nash
arrived, by two RAND mathematicians who responded to Nash's idea
with more skepticism than appreciation of the revolution that
Nash's concept of a game would inspire." The actual tale of
prisoners used to illustrate the game's significance was invented
by Nash's Princeton mentor, A] Tucker, who used it to explain
what game theory was all about to an audience of psychologists at
Stanford."
As Tucker told the story, the police arrest two suspects and
question them in separate roomsdd"Each one is given the choice of
confessing, implicating the other, or keeping silent. The central
feature of the game is that no matter what the other suspect
does, each (considered alone) would be better off if he
confessed. If the other confesses, the suspect
--------------------------------------------------------------290
in question ought to do the same and thereby avoid an especially
harsh penalty for holding out. If the other remains silent, he
can get especially lenient treatment for turning state's witness.
Confession is the dominant strategy. The irony is that both
prisoners (considered together) would be better off if neither
confessed -- that is, if they cooperated -- but since each   A290
is aware of the other's incentive to confess, it is "rational"for
both to confess.
Since 1950, the Prisoner's Dilemma has spawned an enormous
psychology literature on determinants of cooperation and
defectiondd"On a conceptual level, the game highlights the fact
that Nash equilibria comdefined as each player's following his
best strategy assuming that the other players will follow their
best strategy-aren't necessarily the best solution from the
vantage point of the group of playersdd14 Thus, the Prisoner's
Dilemma contradicts Adam Smith's metaphor of the Invisible Hand
in economics. When each person in the game pursues his private
interest, he does not necessarily promote the best interest of
the collective.
The arms race between the Soviet Union and the United States
could be thought of as a Prisoner's
--------------------------------------------------------------291
Dilemma. Both nations might be better off if they cooperated and
avoided the race. Yet the dominant strategy is for each to arm
itself to the teeth. However, it doesn't appear that Dresher and
Flood, Tucker, or, for that matter, von Neumann, thought of the
Prisoner's Dilemma in the context of superpower rivalry." For
them, the game was simply an interesting challenge to Nash's
idea. The very afternoon that Dresher and Flood learned of Nash's
equilibrium idea, they ran an experiment using Williams and a
UCLA economist, Armen Alchian, as guinea pigSdd16 Poundstone says
that Flood and Dresher "wondered if real people playing the game
comespecially people who had never heard of Nash or equilibrium
points-would be drawn mysteriously to the equilibrium strategy.
Flood and Dresher doubted it. The mathematicians ran their
experiment one hundred times."
Nash's theory predicted that both players would play their
dominant strategies, even though playing their dominated
strategies would have left both better off. Though Williams and
Alchian didn't always cooperate, the results hardly resembled a
Nash equilibrium. Dresher and Flood argued, and von
--------------------------------------------------------------292
Neumann apparently agreed, that their experiment showed that
players tended not to choose Nash equilibrium strategies and
instead were likely to "split the difference."
As it turns out, Williams and Alchian chose to cooperate more
often than they chose to cheat. Comments recorded after each
player decided on strategy but before he learned the other
player's strategy show that Williams realized that players ought
to cooperate to maximize their winnings. When Alchian didn't
cooperate, Williams punished him, then went back to cooperating
next round.
Nash, who learned of the experiment from Tucker, sent Dresher and
Flood a note -- later published as a footnote in their report --
disagreeing with their interpretation: 11
The flaw in the experiment as a test of equilibrium point theory
is that the experiment really amounts to having the players play
one large multi-move game. One cannot just as well think of the
thing as a sequence of independent games as one can in zero-sum
cases. There is too much interaction.... It is really        A292
striking however how inefficient [Player One] and [Player Two]
were in obtaining the rewards.
--------------------------------------------------------------293
One would have thought them more rational.
Nash managed to solve a problem at RAND that he and Shapley had
both been working on the previous year. The problem was to devise
a model of negotiation
between two parties-whose interests neither coincided nor were
diametrically opposed comt the players could use to determine
what threats they should use in the process of negotiating. Nash
beat Shapley to the punch. "We all worked on this
problemea"Martin Shubik later wrote in a memoir of his Princeton
experiences, "but Nash managed to formulate a good model of the
two-person bargain utilizing threat moves to start with.""
Instead of deriving the solution axiomatically comt is, listing
desirable properties of a "reasonable" solution and then proving
that these properties actually point to a unique outcome comz he
had in formulating his original model of bargaining, Nash laid
out a four-step negotiNea19 Stage One: Each player chooses a
threat. This is what I'll be forced to do if we can't make a
deal, that is, if our demands are incompatible. Stage Two: The
players inform each other of the threats. Stage Three: Each
player chooses a demand, that is,
--------------------------------------------------------------294
an outcome worth a certain amount to him. If the bargain doesn't
guarantee him that amount, he won't agree to a deal. Stage Four:
If it turns out that a deal exists that satisfies both players`
demands, the players get what they ask for. Otherwise, the
threats have to be executed. It turns out that the game has an
infinite number of Nash equilibria, but Nash gave an ingenious
argument for selecting a unique stable equilibrium that coincides
with the bargaining solution he previously derived axiomatically.
He showed that each player had an "optimal"threat, that is, a
threat that ensures that a deal is struck no matter what strategy
the other player chooses.
Nash initially wrote up his results in a RAND memorandum dated
August 3 1,
1950, suggesting that he managed to finish the paper just before
leaving RAND for Bluefielddd10 A longer and more descriptive
version of the paper was eventually accepted by
Econometrica,
which had published "The Bargaining Problem" that April. Accepted
for publication sometime during the following academic year, "Two
Person Cooperative Games"did not in fact appear
--------------------------------------------------------------295
until January 1953.11 It was Nash's last significant contribution
to the theory of games.
Nobody at RAND solved any big new problems in the theory of
noncooperative games. For all intents and purposes, Nash stopped
working in the field in 1950. The dominant thrust of game theory
at RAND came from the mathematicians, particularly Shapley, and
they were guided less by applications than by the mathematics
themselves. During the 1950's Shapley focused on cooperative
games, which were necessarily of limited interest not only   A295
to economists but also to military strategists. The justification
of all mathematical models is that, oversimplified, unrealistic,
and even false as they may be in some respect, they force
analysts to confront possibilities that would not have occurred
to them otherwise. The history of physics and medicine abounds
with wrong or incomplete theories that throw just enough light to
allow some other big breakthroughs. The atom bomb, for example,
was built before physicists understood the structure of
particles. The most significant application of game theory to a
military problem grew
straight out of the theory of duels and helped shape
--------------------------------------------------------------296
what was probably RAND's single most influential strategic study.
The study was the brainchild of Also Wohlstetter, a mathematician
who joined RAND's economics group in early 1951, about six months
after Nash joined the mathematics group.
According to Kaplan, the SAC operational plan in the early 1950's
was to fly bombers from the United States to overseas bases and
then to mobilize and launch an attack against the Soviet Union
from theredd"The Air Force's whole deterrence strategy was based
on the idea of the power of the H-bomb and America's ability to
respond in kind to any attack. Apparently, no one before
Wohlstetter had focused on vulnerability to a first strike aimed,
not at American cities, but at wiping out the SAC force, then
concentrated in a small number of foreign bases within striking
distance of the Soviet Union. Kaplan writes:
Up to that point, most military applications of game theory had
focused on tactics-the best way to plan a fighter-bomber duel,
how to design bomber formations or execute anti-submarine warfare
campaigns. But Wohlstetter would carry it further. It was this
insistence on figuring out one's own
--------------------------------------------------------------297
best moves in light of the enemy's best moves that provoked
Wohlstetter to look at a map and to conclude that the closer we
are to them, the closer they are to us-the easier it is for us to
hit them, the easier it is for them to hit us. Wohlstetter and
his team estimated that a mere 120 bombs ... could destroy
75 to 85 percent of the B-47 bombers while they casually sat on
overseas bases. The SAC, seemingly the most powerful strike force
in the world, was appearing to be so vulnerable in so many ways
that merely putting the plan into action ... created a target so
concentrated that it invited a pre-emptive attack from the Soviet
Union.
33
Wohlstetter's study had an electrifying effect on the Air Force
establishment. With its focus on American vulnerability and the
temptation of a Soviet surprise attack, the study also
rationalized a paranoia in the military establishment that seeped
into the body politic and wound up as national hysteria over the
supposed dismissile gap"in the second half of the 1950's. The
RAND report, Fred Kaplan writes, "legitimized a basic fear of the
enemy and the unknown through

mathematical calculation and rational analysis, providing     298
the techniques and the general perspective through which the new
and rather scary situation comthe Soviet Union's acquisition of
long range nuclear weapons -- could be discussed and acted upon."
14
The golden age at RAND, from the point of view of the
mathematicians, strategic thinkers, and economists, was already
coming to a closedd35 After a time, RAND's sponsors grew less
enthusiastic about pure research, less tolerant of
idiosyncrasies, and more demanding. Mathematicians got bored and
frustrated with game theory. Consultants stopped coming and
permanent staffers drifted to universities. Nash never returned
after the summer of 1954. Flood left for Columbia University in
122
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
1953. Von Neumann, who in any case had played a very small role
in the group after inspiring it, dropped his RAND consultancy in
1954 when he accepted an appointment as a member of the Atomic
Energy Commission.
Game theory, in any case, was going out of vogue
--------------------------------------------------------------299
at RAND. R. Duncan Luce and Howard Raiffa concluded in their 1957
book, Gamesand Decisions:
"We have the historical fact that many social scientists have
become disillusioned with game theory. Initially there was a
naive band-wagon feeling that game theory solved innumerable
problems of sociology and economics, or that, at least it made
their solution a practical matter of a few years' work. This has
not turned out to be the case."" The military strategists were of
the same mind. "Whenever we speak of deterrence, atomic
blackmail, the balance of terror ... we are evidently deep in
game theoryea"Thomas Schelling wrote in 1960, "yet formal game
theory has contributed little to the clarification of these
ideas.""
Princeton, 1950-51
J_ 1EITHER THE PROSPECT
of playing military strategist, nor living in Santa Monica, nor
earning a handsome salary tempted Nash to accept Williams's offer
of a permanent post at the think tank. Nash shared little of
RAND's camaraderie or sense of mission. He wanted to work on his
own and to have the freedom to roam
--------------------------------------------------------------300
all over mathematics. To do that, he would have to obtain a
faculty position at a leading university.
For the moment, he planned to spend the upcoming academic year in
Princeton. Tucker had arranged for his support by assigning him
to teach a section of undergraduate calculus I and making him a
research assistant on his Office of Naval Research grant.` In
fact, Nash intended to devote most of his energy to his own
research and to looking for an academic opening for the following
fall. But before he could turn to these matters, he was forced to
confront an immediate threat to his career plans, namely, the
Korean War.
North Korea had invaded the South on June 25, 1950, about the
time that Nash was flying to Santa Monica.` A week later     A300
Truman promised to send American troops to repel the invasion.
The first reinforcements landed July 19. By July
31, Truman had issued an order to the Selective Service to call
up one hundred thousand young men right away, twenty thousand
immediately. A week or two later, John Sr. and Virginia wrote
that Nash might be in imminent danger of being
--------------------------------------------------------------301
drafted. Like most Republicans, they disliked Truman and had
their doubts about the war. They urged Nash to come to Bluefield
as soon as practical to talk with members of the local draft
board personally to sound them out about a II-A. Surely, they
said, Nash was more valuable at RAND or at Princeton than in
uniform.
When Nash left RAND at the very end of August, he flew from Los
Angeles to Boston and spent a day at the world mathematical
congress, which was meeting in Cambridgeddbled He presented his
algebraic manifolds result to a small audience there, a nice
distinction for a young mathematician. But he was anxious to get
back to Bluefield and didn't stay for most of the meetings.
He was determined to do all he could to avoid the draft. With a
war on, even an unpopular and undeclared war, who knew how long
he would have to serve? Any interruption of his research could
jeopardize his dream of joining a top-ranked
mathematics department. Returning World War 11 veterans had
flooded the job market and enrollments were falling because of
the draft. In two years there would be another crop of brilliant
youngsters clamoring for the handful of instructors hips. His
game theory thesis
--------------------------------------------------------------302
had been greeted with a mix of indifference and derision by the
pure mathematicians, so his only hope of a good offer, he felt,
was to finish his paper on algebraic manifolds.
Besides, he had no wish to become part of someone else's larger
design and dreaded the thought of military life-his hawkish
instincts and southern background notwithstanding. He had been
one of the few boys at Beaver High who hadn't prayed for World
War 11 to last long enough so that he would have a chance to
serve. Life in the army, with its mindless regimentation,
stultifying routines, and lack of privacy, revolted him, and he
had heard enough stories from other mathematicians to dread being
herded together with the kind of rude, uneducated young men whose
company he had been only too happy to escape when he left
Bluefield for Carnegie Tech. Nash proceeded methodically. Once
back in Bluefield, he called on two members of the board,
including its chairman, a retired attorney named T. H. Scott,
whom he later described as "a rock-ribbed Republican (Truman
equals moron equals Roosevelt)," and a Dr. H. L. Dickason, the
president of Bluefield State, a black
--------------------------------------------------------------303
junior college on the far side of the town.` He made it his
business to find out as much as he could about the men who would
be deciding his fate. As it turned out, the board had only a
fuzzy sense of what Nash was doing. Until he showed up at the
Peery building, they had no idea that he had already         A303
received his doctorate and had assumed he was returning to
Princeton that fall as a student. His student deferment had not
yet been canceled.
His meeting with Scott did nothing to ease his anxiety. The board
was already working through its list of twenty-two-year-olds. Now
that the board knew that he was no longer a graduate student, he
might very well be in the next call, which was scheduled for the
twentieth of the month, less than two weeks away. Nash mentioned
that he was doing classified research for the military, and
described both his affiliation with RAND and the ONR project at
Princeton. Scott did not rule out the possibility of granting an
occupational deferment, but he expressed some skepticism that a
young mathematician could be indispensable, except in uniform, in
a national emergency. Nash felt slightly better about his meeting
with Dickason, who had taught math and physics before the war and
appeared
--------------------------------------------------------------304
to be impressed by Nash's Princeton degree and associates. It was
probably Dickason who tipped Nash off to the fact that merely
filing an application for a II-A, an occupational deferment,
would temporarily halt the wheels of the draft machinery and take
him out of the pool of potential draftees at least until the
board had time to consider his 11-A application. Nash wasted no
time. In Bluefield, he went to the library and read the Selective
Service law. He thought about the board's psychology. He wrote to
Tucker, to the Office of Naval Research in Washington, and no
doubt also to Williams at RAND, though there is no record of such
a letterdd6 (A letter from the
Office of Naval Research in Washington, received by A] Tucker on
September 15, begins, "John Nash has written me asking if ONR can
help get him a draft deferment.") Nash asked them to request a
11-A deferment, but urged them to state only the bare facts,
promising more information later-so that "heavier guns may be
later rolled out without the appearance" of merely repeating the
initial statementsdd7 He was intent on buying as much time as
possible. Later on, in other
--------------------------------------------------------------305
circumstances, Nash would repeatedly express his dislike and
resentment of "politics"and "politicking." But, impractical,
childish, and detached from everyday concerns as he was in some
ways, he was quite capable of plotting strategy, ferreting out
necessary facts, making use of his father's connections, and most
of all, marshaling allies and supporters. Tucker, the university,
the Navy, and RAND responded sympathetically and promptly,
claiming in unison that he was irreplaceable, it would take years
to train a substitute, and his work was "essential to the welfare
and security of this nation." I Fred D. Rigby at the Office of
Naval Research in Washington advised Tucker that the best route
to take was for a university officer to ask the New York branch
of the ONR to write to the Bluefield draft board. "This process
is said to work well. Normally, it takes place after the man is
put in I-A, but there is no rule against its use in advance of
that eventdd"Rigby also noted that "this kind of question is
coming up frequently these days," suggesting that Nash was   A305
hardly alone among young academics with Defense Department
affiliations seeking to avoid the draft. Rigby also promised
that, should the branch office action fail, "we will then
--------------------------------------------------------------306
make a second try directly with the national selective service
organizN`"adding, however, that in all likelihood "this will not
be necessary.0"I
The concerted effort to save Nash from the draft was not much
different from similar efforts made for a great many other young
scientists at the time. The Korean War did not inspire the same
patriotic fervor as World War 11.11 Many academics regarded
defense research as a kind of alternative service and the notion
of exempting especially accomplished and valuable individuals had
antecedents even in World War 11.11 Kuhn remembers trying but
failing to join the Navy's V-12 program, which would have allowed
him to spend the war attending the same classes at Caltech that
he would have attended as a civilian, only in uniform. He wound
up in the infantry only because he failed the Navy's tougher
physical." Korea did not prompt the massive draft evasion of the
Vietnam era, de facto a working-class war, but among a certain
elite in Nash's generation there was a sense of entitlement and a
lack of embarrassment about obtaining special treatment.
The urgency of Nash's efforts to avoid the draft
--------------------------------------------------------------307
suggests deeper fears than those related to career ambitions or
personal convenience. His was a personality for which
regimentation, loss of autonomy, and close contact with strangers
were not merely unpleasant, but highly threatening. With some
justification, Nash would later blame the onset of his illness
partly on the stress of teaching, a far milder form of
regimentation than military life. His fear of being drafted
remained acute long after the Korean War ended and after he
turned twenty-six (the age
cut-off for draft eligibility). It eventually reached delusional
proportions and helped drive him to attempt to abandon his
American citizenship and seek political asylum abroad.
Interestingly, Nash's gut instinct has since been validated by
schizophrenia researchersdd14 None of the life events known to
produce mental disorders such as depression or anxiety neurosis
comcombat, death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job comh ever
been convincingly implicated in the onset of schizophrenia. But
several studies have since shown that basic military training
during peacetime can precipitate schizophrenia in men with a
hitherto unsuspected vulnerability to the
--------------------------------------------------------------308
illnessdd"Alth the study subjects were all carefully screened for
mental illnesses, hospitalization rates for schizophrenia turned
out to be abnormally high, especially for draftees. Rigby's
prediction was soon borne out. A handwritten note dated September
15 from the files of Princeton's dean of faculty, Douglas Brown,
records a telephone call from Agnes Henry, the mathematics
department secretary, who informed the dean's secretary that John
Nash had telephoned her asking the dean to write to the Office of
Naval Researchdd"A few days later Nash filled out a          A308
university form, "Information Needed in a National Emergency," in
which he stated that he was registered at Local Board 12 in
Bluefield, that his current classification was I-A, and that he
had a "chance or 2-A, application pendingdd011 The form noted
that Nash was engaged in project 727, Tucker's ONR logistics
grant. In response to the question "Are you engaged in any other
research work or consultation of possible national interest""Nash
responded yes and listed "consultant. for RAND corporation." A
note, added perhaps by the head of Princeton's grants office,
mentioned that Nash had spent "3
--------------------------------------------------------------309
years or more on the theory of games and related fields. Wrote
paper in this field when at Carnegie Tech as undergraduate, Two
years to get Ph.D. at Princeton. Dr. Rigby has already told NY to
support."
The university immediately wrote to ONR stating that "this
project is considered by the Logistics Branch of ONR, Washington
as a very important contribution in the present national
emergency. Dr. Nash is a key member of our staff in this project
and is one of the very few individuals in the country who have
been trained in this field,"" The ONR followed, on September 28,
with a letter to the draft board saying that Nash was "a key
research assistant"and "this contract is an essential part of the
Navy Departments research and development program and is in the
interest of national safetydd019
RAND protected Nash as well. RAND's former manager of security,
Richard Best, recalls writing letters for Nash and another
mathematician from Princeton, Mel Peisakoff, to "save"them from
the draftdd10 (Peisakoff's recollection differs from Best's,
however; he says he wanted to enlist but that his superiors at
RAND wouldn't let him.)0"We had a lot of reservists and a great
many
--------------------------------------------------------------310
young peopleea"said Best. "In 1948, the average age was 28.35
years. The personnel office wasn't well
The Draft
127
[equipped to handle the situation]. I wrote some form letters to
the draft board for Nashea"he recalled .12
Nash's lobbying campaign worked, though he was not immediately
granted the desired 11-A. By October 6, the university informed
Nash that "you seem to be safe until June 30dd0`l Apparently, the
board had simply postponed the designation for active service
until June 30, 195 1. The university advised Nash, I would
suggest that we defer any further action until next spring, at
which time, we can again apply for a 11-A classification and can
consider an appeal if this should be rejected." 14 But, at least
for now, he had prevented the military from wrecking his plans.
More important, by protecting his personal freedom, Nash may have
protected the integrity of his personality and won the ability to
function well for longer than he might otherwise have.
Princeton, 1950-51

STRANGE                                                       311
AS IT MAY NOW SEEM,
the dissertation that would one day win Nash a Nobel wasn't
highly regarded enough to assure him an offer from a top academic
department. Game theory did not inspire much interest or respect
among the mathematical elite, von Neumann's prestige
notwithstanding. Indeed, Nash's mentors at Carnegie and Princeton
were vaguely disappointed in him; they had expected the youngster
who had re-proved theorems of Brouwer and Gauss to tackle a
really deep problem in an abstract field like topology.` Even his
biggest fan, Tucker, had concluded that while Nash could "hold
his own in pure mathematicsea"x was not "his real strength."`

Having successfully sidestepped the threat of the draft, Nash now
began working on a paper that he hoped would win him recognition
as a pure mathematician.` The problem concerned geometric objects
called manifolds, which were of great interest to mathematicians
at that time. Manifolds were a new way of looking at the world,
so much so that even defining them sometimes tripped up eminent
mathematicians. At Princeton, Salomon
--------------------------------------------------------------312
Bochner, one of the leading analysts of his day and a fine
lecturer, used to walk into his graduate classes, start to give a
definition of a manifold, get hopelessly bogged down, and finally
give up, saying with an exasperated air, before moving on, "Well,
you all know what a manifoldiSdd0bled

In one dimension, a manifold may be a straight line, in two
dimensions a plane, or the surface of a cube, a balloon, or a
doughnut. The defining feature of a manifold is that, from the
vantage point of any spot on such an object, the immediate
vicinity looks like perfectly regular and normal Euclidean space.
Think of yourself shrunk to the size of a pinpoint, sitting on
the surface of a doughnut. Look around you, and it seems that
you're sitting on a flat disk. Go down one dimension and sit on a
curve, and the stretch nearby looks like a straight line. Should
you be perched on a three-dimensional manifold, however esoteric,
your immediate neighborhood would look like the interior of a
ball. In other words, how the object appears from afar may be
quite different from the way it appears to your nearsighted eye.

By 1950, topologists were having a field day
--------------------------------------------------------------313
with manifolds, redefining every
object in sight topologically. The diversity and sheer number of
manifolds is such that today, although all two-dimensional
objects have been defined topologically, not all three- and
four-dimensional objects comof which there is literally an
infinite assortment -- have been so precisely described.
Manifolds turn up in a wide variety of physical problems,
including some in cosmology, where they are often very hard to
cope with. The notoriously difficult three-body problem proposed
by King Oskar 11 of Sweden and Norway in 1885 for a mathematical
competition in which Poincar6 took part, which entails predicting
the orbits of any three heavenly bodies comsch as the sun,   A313
moon, and earth -- is one in which manifolds figure largely.`
Nash became fascinated with the subject of manifolds at
Carnegiedd6But it is likely that his ideas did not crystallize
until after he came to Princeton and began having regular
conversations with Steenrod. In his Nobel autobiography, Nash
says that, right around the time that he got his equilibrium
result for n-person games, that is, in the fall of 1949, he also
--------------------------------------------------------------314
made "a nice discovery relating to manifolds and real algebraic
varieties."` This is the result that he had considered writing up
as a dissertation after von Neumann's cool reaction to his ideas
about equilibrium for games with many players.
The discovery came long before Nash had worked out the laborious
steps of the actual proof. Nash always worked backward in his
head. He would mull over a problem and, at some point, have a
flash of insight, an intuition, a vision of the solution he was
seeking. These insights typically came early on, as was the case,
for example, with the bargaining problem, sometimes years before
he was able, through prolonged effort, to work out a series of
logical steps that would lead one to his conclusion. Other great
mathematicians --
Riemann, Poincar6, Wienerhave also worked in this way.` One
mathematician, describing the way he thought Nash's mind worked,
said: "He was the kind of mathematician for whom the geometric,
visual insight was the strongest part of his talent. He would see
a mathematical situation as a picture in his mind. Whatever a
mathematician does has to be justified by a rigorous proof. But
that's not how the solution presents itself to him. Instead, it's
a bunch
--------------------------------------------------------------315
of intuitive threads that have to be woven together. And some of
the early ones present themselves visuallydd09
With Steenrod's encouragement, 10 Nash gave a short talk on his
theorem at the International Congress of Mathematicians in
Cambridge in September 1950.11 Judging from the published
abstract, however, Nash was still missing essential elements of
his proof. Nash planned to complete it at Princeton.
Unfortunately for Nash, Steenrod was on leave in France."
Lefichetz, who undoubtedly was pressing Nash to have the paper
ready before the annual job market got under way in February,
urged Nash to go to Donald Spencer, the visiting professor who
had been on Nash's generals committee and had just been hired
away from Stanford, and to use Spencer as a sounding board for
completing the paper."
As a visiting professor, Spencer occupied a tiny office squeezed
between Artin's huge corner office and an equally grand study
belonging to William Feller. Spen-
cer, as Lefschetz wrote to the dean of faculty, was "probably the
most attractive mathematician in America at that momentea"z well
as "one of the most
--------------------------------------------------------------316
versatile American born mathematicians."
14
A doctor's son, Spencer grew up in Colorado and was          A316
admitted to Harvard, where he intended to study medicine.
Instead, he wound up at MIT studying theoretical aerodynamics and
then at Cambridge, England, where he became a student of J. E.
Lifflewood, Hardy's great coauthordd"Spencer did brilliant work
in complex analysis, a branch of pure mathematics that has
widespread engineering applicationsdd16 He was a much
sought-after collaborator, his most celebrated collaboration
being with the Japanese mathematician Kunihiko Kodaira, a Fields
medalistdd17 Spencer himself won the B6cher Prize." Although he
primarily worked in highly theoretical fields, he nonetheless had
some applied interests, namely hydrodynamics. 19
A lively, voluble man, Spencer was "sometimes daunting in his
reckless energy.0"His appetite for difficult problems was
boundless, his powers of concentration impressive. He could drink
enormous quantities of alcohol comfive martinis out of "bird
bath"glasses comand still talk circles around
--------------------------------------------------------------317
other mathematiciansdd"A man whose natural exuberance hid a
darker tendency toward depression and introspection, Spencer's
appetite for abstraction was accompanied by an extraordinary
empathy for colleagues who were in trouble."
He did not, however, suffer fools gladly. The first draft of
Nash's paper gave Spencer little confidence that the younger
mathematician was up to the task he'd set for himself. "I didn't
know what he was going to do, really. But I didn't think he was
going to get anywhere.0"B for months, Nash showed up at Spencer's
door once or twice a week. Each time he would lecture Spencer on
his problem for an hour or two. Nash would stand at the
blackboard, writing down equations and expounding his points.
Spencer would sit and listen and then shoot holes in Nash's
arguments.
Spencer's initial skepticism slowly gave way to respect. He was
impressed by the calm, professional way that Nash responded to
his most outrageous challenges and his fussiest objections. "He
wasn't defensive. He was absorbed in his work. He responded
thoughtfullydd"He also liked Nash for not being a whiner. Nash
never talked about himself, Spencer recalled. "Unlike other
students
--------------------------------------------------------------318
who felt underappreciated`"he said, "Nash never complaineddd"The
more he listened to Nash, moreover, the more Spencer appreciated
the sheer originality of the problem. "It
was not
a problem that somebody gave Nash. People didn't give
Nash problems. He was highly original. Nobody else could have
thought of this problem."
Many breakthroughs in mathematics come from seeing unsuspected
relationships between objects that seem intractable and ones that
mathematicians have already got their arms around.
Nash had in mind a very broad category of manifolds, all
manifolds that are compact (meaning that they are bounded and do
not run off into infinity the way a plane does, but are
self-enclosed like a sphere) and smooth (meaning that they
have no sharp bends or corners, as there are, for example,   A318
on the surface of a cube). His "nice discovery," essentially, was
that these objects were more manageable than they appeared at
first glance because they were in fact closely related to a
simpler class of objects called real algebraic varieties,
something previously unsuspected.
--------------------------------------------------------------319
Algebraic varieties are, like manifolds, also geometric objects,
but they are objects defined by a locus of points described by
one or more algebraic equations. Thus x1
plus
y' equals I represents a circle in the plane, while xy
equals
I represents a hyperbola. Nash's theorem states the following:
Given any smooth compact k-dimensional manifold M, there exists a
real algebraic variety Vin R11 plus 1 and a connected component
Wof Vso that Wis a smooth manifold diffeomorphic to
M14
In plain English, Nash is asserting that for any manifold it is
possible to find an algebraic variety one of whose parts
corresponds in some essential way to the original object. To do
this, he goes on to say, one has to go to higher dimensions.
Nash's result was a big surprise, as the mathematicians who
nominated Nash for membership in the National Academy of Sciences
in 1996 were to write: "It had been assumed that smooth
--------------------------------------------------------------320
manifolds were much more general objects than varieties.0"Td,
Nash's result still impresses mathematicians as "beautiful"and
disstriking"-quite apart from any applicability. "Just to
conceive of the theorem was remarkable," said Michael Artin,
professor of mathematics at MITDD16 Artin and Barry Mazur, a
mathematician at Harvard, used Nash's result in a 1965 paper to
estimate periodic points of a dynamical system."
just as biologists want to find many species distinguished by
only minor differences to trace evolutionary patterns,
mathematicians seek to fill in the gaps in the continuum between
bare topological spaces at one end and very elaborate structures
like algebraic varieties at the other. Finding a missing link in
this great chain comz Nash did with this result comopened up new
avenues for solving problems. "If you wanted to solve a problem
in topology, as Mike and I didea"said Mazur recently, disy could
climb one rung of the ladder and use techniques from algebraic
geometrydd011
What impressed Steenrod and Spencer, and later on, mathematicians
of Artin and Mazur's
--------------------------------------------------------------321
generation, was Nash's audacity. First, the notion that every
manifold could be described by a polynomial equation is a
larger-than-life thought, if only because the immense number and
sheer variety of manifolds would seem to make it inherently
unlikely that all could be described in so relatively simple a
fashion. Second, believing that one could prove such a thing also
involves daring, even hubris. The result Nash was aiming for
would have seemed "too strong" and therefore improbable and
unprovable. Other mathematicians before Nash had spotted     A321
relationships between some manifolds and some algebraic
varieties, but had treated these correspondences very narrowly,
as highly special and unusual cases.
29
By early winter, Spencer and Nash were satisfied that the result
was solid and that the various parts of the lengthy proof were
correct. Although Nash did not get around to submitting a final
draft of his paper to the
Annals ofMathernatics until
October 1951,11 Steenrod, in any case, vouched for the results
that February,
referring to "a piece of research which he has
--------------------------------------------------------------322
nearly completed, and with which I am well acquainted since he
used me
as
a sounding board.0"Spencer thought game theory was so boring that
he never bothered to ask Nash in the course of that whole year
what it was that he had proved in his thesis."
Nash's paper on algebraic manifolds -- the only one he was ever
truly satisfied with, though it was not his deepest
work?-established Nash
as
a pure mathematician of the first rank. It did not, however, save
him from a blow that fell that winter. Nash hoped for an offer
from the Princeton mathematics department. Although the
department's stated policy was not to hire its own students, it
did not, as a matter of practice, pass up ones of exceptional
promise. Lefschetz and Tucker very likely dropped hints that an
offer was a real possibility. Although most of the faculty other
than Tucker neither understood nor displayed any interest in his
thesis topic, they were aware that it had been greeted with
respect by economistsdd14
In January, Tucker and Lefschetz made a formal proposal that Nash
be offered an assistant
--------------------------------------------------------------323
professorshipdd"Bochner and Steenrod were strongly in favor,
although Steenrod, of course, was not present at the discussion.
The proposal, however, was doomed to failure. No appointment
could be made without unanimous support in a department as
small as
Princeton's, and at least three members of the faculty, including
Emil Artin, voiced strong opposition. Artin simply did not feel
that he could live with Nash, whom he regarded as aggressive,
abrasive, and arrogant, in such a small departmentdd16 Artin, who
supervised the honors calculus program in which Nash taught for a
term, also complained that Nash couldn't teach or get along with
students."
So the appointment wasn't offered. It was a bitter moment. The
thought must have occurred to Nash that he was being rejected
less on the basis of his work than on the basis of his
personality. It was an even greater blow because the same faculty
made it clear that it hoped that John Milnor, only a junior by
this time, would one day become part of the Princeton        A323
faculty."
The job market, while not as bad as in the Depression, was
nonetheless rather bleak, the Korean War
--------------------------------------------------------------324
having cut into university enrollments. Having been turned down
by Princeton, Nash knew he would be lucky to get a temporary
instructorship in a respectable department.
Both MIT and Chicago, it turns out, were interested in hiring
Nash as an instructordd"Bochner had the ear of William Ted
Martin, the new chairman of the MIT mathematics department, and
strongly urged Martin to offer Nash an instructorship.
40
Bochner urged Martin to ignore the gossip about Nash's supposedly
difficult personality. Tucker, meanwhile, was pushing Chicago to
do the samedd41 When MIT offered Nash a C. L. E. Moore
instructorship, Nash, who liked the idea of living in Cambridge,
accepteddd41 BYTHE
END OF JUNE,
Nash was in Boston living in a cheap room on the Boston side of
the Charles.` Every morning he walked across the Harvard Bridge,
over the yellow-gray river to east Cambridge where MIT's modern,
aggressively utilitarian campus lay sprawled between the river
and a swath of
--------------------------------------------------------------325
factories and warehouses. Even before he reached the far side, he
could smell the factory smells, including the distinct odors of
chocolate and soap mingling together from a Necco candy factory
and a PandG detergent plant.` As he turned right onto Memorial
Drive, he could see Building Two looming ahead, a featureless
block of cement painted an "alarming brownea"j to the right of
the new library, then under construction.` His office was on the
third floor next to the stairwell in a corner suite assigned to
several instructors, a spare, narrow room with a high ceiling,
overlooking the river and the low Boston skyline beyddbled
In 1951,
before
Sputnik
and
Vietnam, MIT was not exactly an intellectual backwater, but it
was nothing like what it is today. The Lincoln Laboratory was
famous for its wartime research, but its future academic
superstars were still relatively unknown youngsters, and
powerhouse departments for which it has since become known
comeconomics, linguistics, computer science, mathematics comwere
either infants or gleams in some
--------------------------------------------------------------326
academic's eye. It was, in spirit and in fact, still very much
the nation's leading engineering school, not a great research
universitydd5
An environment more antithetical to the hothouse atmosphere of
Princeton is hard to imagine. MIT's large scale and modern
contours made it feel like the behemoth state universities of the
Midwest. The military, as well as industry, loomed awfully large,
so large that MIT's armed, plainclothes campus security      A326
force existed solely for the purpose of guarding the half-dozen
"classified" sites scattered around the campus and preventing
those without proper security clearances and identification from
wandering in. ROTC and courses in military science were required
of all MIT's two-thousand-plus undergraduate men.` The academic
departments like mathematics and economics existed pretty much to
cater to the engineering student-in Paul Samuelson's words, "a
pretty crude animaldd117 All counted as "service departments,"
gas stations where engineers pulled up to get their tanks filled
with obligatory doses of fairly elementary mathematics, physics,
and chemistry.` Economics, for example, had no graduate program
at all until the wardd9
--------------------------------------------------------------327
Physics had no Nobel Laureates on its faculty at the timedd10
Teaching loads were heavy-sixteen hours a week was not uncommon
for senior faculty-and
were weighted toward large introductory courses like calculus,
statistics, and linear algebradd"Xs faculty were younger, less
well known, and less credentialed than Harvard's, Yales, or
Princeton's.
"There were advantagesea"said Samuelson. "A lot of the MIT
faculty didn't have Ph.D4's. I came without a formal degree.
Solow came before he had a formal degree. We were treated
magnificently. It was more of a meritocracy." He added, "People
would say, doesn't everybody do that? Not up the river, we'd
answer. How do you explain that? We're Avis, we try harderdd"I I
Socially, MIT was dominated by an old guard not of high-society
intellectuals, but of middle-class Republicans and engineers. "It
certainly was not a faculty club populated by cultivated
Brahmins," said Samuelson, who was then twenty-five years old:
"When I came [in 1940] it was 85 percent engineering, 15 percent
science.""
--------------------------------------------------------------328
MIT also had a less exclusionary tradition than Harvard or even
Princeton. By the 1950's, perhaps 40 percent of the mathematics
faculty and students at MIT were Jewishdd14 Bright youngsters
from New York City public schools, effectively barred even then
from attending Princeton as undergraduates, went there. Princeton
was "out of the question for a Jewea"recalls Joseph Kohn, who
enrolled as a freshman at MIT in 1950. "At Brooklyn Tech the
greatest thing in the world was sending a student to MITDD011
Still smarting from his rejection by Princeton, Nash arrived at
Building Two with something of a chip on his shoulder, a feeling
that he was a swan among ducks. MIT was already changing,
however. Indeed, bringing a brilliant young researcher like Nash
on board in the mathematics department was itself a sign of that
shift. There was money all of a sudden, not just for teaching the
exploding numbers of students, but for researchdd"The amounts
were small by
post-Sputnik
standards or even those of today, but huge by prewar standards.
Support for science, initially fueled by the successes during
World War 11, was now growing because
of the Cold War. It came not just from the Army, Navy, and    329
Air Force but from the Atomic Energy Commission and the Central
Intelligence Agency. MIT wasn't unique. Other institutions, from
the big state universities in the upper Midwest to Stanford, grew
up the same way. There was also the talent. Physics got many of
the Los Alamos people. Electrical engineering was becoming a
magnet for the first generation of computer scientists, an
eclectic group of neurobiologists, applied mathematicians, and
assorted visionaries like Jerome Lettvin and Walter Pitts, who
saw the computer as a model for studying the architecture and
functioning of the human brain.0"X was very much a growing
environment and science was a growing sphere2'said Samuelson,
adding that after the war, the 85 percent-15 percentsplit between
engineering and science had shifted to 50 percent-50 percent. He
added: "It was the upswing in money ... that made this possible.
That was part of the whole postwar pattern.0"I
Mathematics was on the verge of becoming an important department,
although that was not obvious to everyone at the time. The
department had one famous name, Norbert Wiener (who wound up at
MIT
--------------------------------------------------------------330
largely thanks to Harvard's anti-Semitism), and two or three
first-rate younger men, including the topologist George Whitehead
and the analyst Norman Levinson. But otherwise, mathematics
consisted largely of competent teachers rather than great
researchers com"a few giants but a lot of mediocritiesdd019
The man who changed all that was appointed chairman of the
department in
1947. William Ted Martin, called Ted by everyone who knew him,
was the tall, skinny, loquacious son of an Arkansas country
doctor. Blond and blue-eyed with a sunny disposition and a ready
grin, Martin was married to the granddaughter of a president of
Smith College and revved up with ambition. A man whose innate
decency would turn him into one of Nash's protectors after Nash
became ill, Martin would soon endure his own trial by fire. At
the height of the McCarthy witch hunt, Martin's secret past as an
underground member of the Communist Party in the late 1930's and
early 1940's would be exposed, threatening both his career and
his vision for the departmentdd10 But in 1951 the past was still
safely buried. A "sparkplug of a chairmanea"his real
--------------------------------------------------------------331
talent was for making things happen, wheedling money out of the
MIT administration, the Navy, and the Air Force, and using it to
great, indeed astounding, effect."
One of Martin's strokes of genius was figuring out that the
cheapest and quickest way to upgrade the department was not to
reel in a few more big'names, but to lure young hotshots there
for a year or two and handle them, as much as possible, with kid
gloves. Copying Harvard's Benjamin Pierce Fellows, Martin created
C. L. E. Moore Instructorships, so called in honor of MIT's most
distinguished mathematician in the 1920Sdd22Moore Instructors
weren't expected to join the permanent faculty. The idea was to
get a stream of talent that would act as a catalyst, firing up
MIT's humdrum atmosphere and attracting better students, the best
of whom now automatically went to the lvies and Chicago.     A331
Since he wouldn't have to live with them for long, or so he
thought, Martin wasn't scared of difficult personalities.
"Bochner said Nash was worth appointing. 'Don't worry about
anything!`" Martin recalleddd21 And Martin didn't. He came to
value Nash, not just as "a brilliant and
--------------------------------------------------------------332
creative young manea"b as an ally in his quest to make the
department great. He would come to particularly rely on Nash's
absolute intellectual honesty: "Vvlen Nash mentioned somebody [as
a potential hire], you didn't wonder if he was a crony or a
relative. If Nash said he was top flight, you didn't need much in
the way of outside references."
The most attractive figure at MIT from Nash's point of view was
Norbert Wiener. Wiener was, in some ways, an American John von
Neumann, a polymath of great originality who made stunning
contributions in pure mathematics up until the beginning of World
War 11 and then embarked on a second and equally astounding
career in applied mathematicsdd24 Like von Neumann, Wiener is
known to the public for his later work. He was, among other
things, the father of cybernetics, the application of mathematics
and engineering to communications and control problems.
Wiener was also famously eccentric. His appearance alone was
remarkable. His beard, Samuelson recalled after Wiener's death in
1964, was like "the Ancient Marincr's." 11 He puffed on fat
cigars. He waddled like a duck, a myopic
--------------------------------------------------------------333
parody of an absentminded professor. His extraordinary upbringing
at the hands of his father, Leo, was the subject of two popular
books, IA-MORE a Genius and IA-MORE a Mathematidan, the first of
which became a bestseller in the early 1950's. Prolific as he
was, Wiener generated as many anecdotes about himself as
theorems. He hardly seemed to know where he was. He would ask,
for example, "When we met, was I walking to the faculty club or
away from it? For in the latter case I've already had my
lunchdd016 He was notoriously insecure. If he encountered someone
he knew carrying a book under his arm, he would, as likely as
not, ask anxiously whether his name was in the bookdd17 Friends
and admirers traced this feature of his personality to his
obsessive and overbearing father, who once bragged that he could
turn a broomstick into a mathematician, and to Harvard's
anti-Semitism, which cost Wiener an appointment in Birkhoff's
department. As Samuelson said in a eulogy after Wiener's death:
"The exodus from Harvard dealt a lasting psychic trauma to
Norbert Wiener. It did not help that his father was a Harvard
professor ... or that Norbert's mother regarded his move as a
cruel comedown in life.""
--------------------------------------------------------------334
Wiener's colleagues at MIT knew that he suffered from periods of
manic excitability followed by severe depressions, constantly
threatened to resign, and sometimes spoke of suicide. "When he
was high he'd run all over MIT telling people his latest
theoremea"Zipporah "Fagi"Levinson, the wife of Norman Levinson,
recalled. "You couldn't stop himdd019At times, he would come to
the Levinsons' house, weeping, and say that he wished to     A334
kill himself 10 One of Wiener's everpresent fears was that he
would go mad; his brother Theo, as well as two nephews, suffered
from schizophrenia."
Perhaps because of his own psychological struggles, Wiener had an
acute empathy for other people's trials. "He was egotistical and
childish, but also very sensitive to the real needs of
othersea"Mrs. Levinson recalled." When a younger colleague was
writing a book but couldn't afford a typewriter, Wiener showed up
at his door unannounced with a Royal portable under his arm.
When Nash arrived at MIT in 195 1, Wiener embraced him
enthusiastically and encouraged Nash's growing interest in the
subject of fluid dynamics-an interest that eventually led Nash to
his
--------------------------------------------------------------335
most important work. For example, Nash sent Wiener a note in
November 1952, inviting him to a seminar Nash was to give on
"turbulence via statistical mechanics, collision functions,
etc.0"His postscript, saying, "I've found the smoothing effect in
definite form now," suggests that Nash talked about his research
with Wiener, something he did with almost no one else in the
department. Nash saw Wiener, a genius who was at once adulated
and isolated, as a kindred spirit and fellow exiledd14 He copied
some of Wiener's more extreme mannerisms, his own form of homage
to the older man."
But Nash was to become far closer to Norman Levinson, a
first-rate mathematician and a man of extraordinary character,
who would play a role in Nash's career similar to those of
Steenrod and Tucker at Princeton coma combination of sounding
board and father substitute. Levinson, then in his early forties,
was more enigmatic than Martin but far more accessible than
Wienerdd16 Wiry, of medium height, with craggy features, Levinson
was a fine teacher who rarely displayed the slightest facial
expression and never referred to his own accomplishments. He
suffered from hypochondria and from
--------------------------------------------------------------336
wide mood swings, long manic periods of intense creative activity
followed by months, sometimes years, of depression in which
nothing interested him. A former Communist like Martin, Levinson
would suffer doubly during the McCarthy years when he endured not
only notoriety and threats to his career as a mathematician, but
his teenage daughter's slide into mental illness.
17
Despite these burdens, Levinson was, and would long remain, by
far the most respected member of the department. Thoughtful,
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 judgments were constantly sought and carried
most weight, on everything from research to appointments.
His personal history was one of individual triumph over bleak
beginnings. Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, just before World War 1,
Levinson was the son of a shoe factory worker who earned eight
dollars a week and whose education consisted of attending a
yeshiva for a few years. His mother was illiterate. Despite a
childhood of desperate poverty and an education that         A336
consisted of attending rundown vocational
--------------------------------------------------------------337
ininschools, Levinson's brilliance was undeniable. He managed,
with the help of Wiener, who spotted his talent, to attend MIT
and, later, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he became a prot6ong6 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 met Levinson soon after he returned from
England, recalled in 1995. "He was highly opinionated and too
ignorant to know that he didn't know everything. But he'd plunge
in and make a good paper, despite the fact that he didn't know
the literature. Wiener ignored his rough edges."
Like many promising young Jewish mathematicians of his
generation, Levinson had difficulty getting an academic post when
he returned to the States, and it was Hardy who, while 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 professorship when Hardy, who at that time
was both an outspoken opponent of Nazi anti-Semitism and the most
--------------------------------------------------------------338
prominent member of the German mathematical society, went with
Wiener to the provost's office to protest. "Tell me, Mr. Bush, do
you think you're running an engineering school or a theological
seminary""he is supposed to have said. When the provost gave 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 admired, namely Levinson's
uncommon willingness to tackle new and difficult problems.
Levinson was an early pioneer in the theory of partial
138 A BEAUTIFUL MIND
differential equations, recognized by a 136cher Prize, and the
author of an important theorem in the quantum theory of
scattering 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 Hypothesis.`,, In many ways, Levinson was a role model
for Nash.
People considered him a had hoy- hut a great one. -
DONALD J NE-WMAN.
--------------------------------------------------------------339
1995
7h e Grea t Man
...
is colder, harder, less hesiWing, and without fear of opinion "he
#7cks the virtues thataccompany respectand 'espectahility, and
aitoe'ther everything that is the "virtue of the herd "Ifhe
cannot lead, he goesalone... He knows he is incommunicable:
hefinds it t7nessteless to he familiar. .
.
. "en not speaking to himself, he wears a mask. There is a
solitude within him that is inaccessible to praise or        A339
blame. -
FmEDR-ICH NmyzscHE,
The Will to Power
I IASH WAS
just twenty-three years old when he became an MIT instructor. He
was not only the youngest member of the faculty, but younger than
many of the graduate students. His boyish looks and adolescent
behavior won him nicknames like Li'l Abner and the Kid
Professor.`
By MIT standards of that time, the teaching duties of C. L. E.
Moore instructors were light. But
--------------------------------------------------------------340
Nash found them irksome nonetheless comz he did everything 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 how well
or poorly he performed in front of students. He'd advise other
instructors, "If you're at MIT, forget about teaching. Just do
research."`
Perhaps for this reason, Nash was mostly assigned required
courses for undergraduates. In the seven years of his teaching
career at MIT, he seems to have taught only three graduate
courses, all introductory, one in logic in his second year, one
in probability, and a third, in the fall of 1958, in game
theory.` Mostly, it seems, he taught different sections of
undergraduate calculus.
His lectures were closer to free association than exposition.
Once, he described how he planned to teach complex numbers to
freshmen: "Let's see ... I'd tell them i equals square root of
minus one. But I'd also tell them
--------------------------------------------------------------341
that it could be minus the square root of minus one. Then so how
would you decide which one. . . dis"He started to wander. Just
what freshmen needed, the listener said, in disgusted tones, in
1995. "He didn't care whether the students learned or not, made
outrageous demands, and talked about subjects that were either
irrelevant or far too advanceddd0bled He was a tough grader too.
At times his ideas about the classroom had more to do with
playing mind games than pedagogy. Robert Aumann, who later became
a distinguished game theoretician and was then a freshman at MIT,
described Nash's escapades in the classroom as "flamboyant"and
"mischievousdd"I Joseph Kohn, later the chairman of the Princeton
mathematics department, called him "a bit of a gamesterdd06
During the 1952 Stevenson-Eisenhower race, Nash was convinced,
quite rightly as it turned out, that Eisenhower would win. Most
of the students supported Stevenson. He made elaborate bets with
the students that were constructed so that he would win
regardless of who won the election. The very brightest students
were amused, but most were frightened away and soon the
better-informed students started to avoid his courses altogether.

In his first year at MIT, Nash taught an analysis course      342
for advanced undergraduates. The course was supposed to be an
introductory look at calculus in which students weren't just
learning manipulations but rather absolutely solid proofs of
statements and how to construct such proofs. Between the first
and second semesters of the yearlong course, the number of
students dwindled from about thirty to five.
Kohn recalled: "He gave a one-hour test. He banded out blue books
where you filled in your name and the course number on the cover.
When the bell rang, you were supposed to turn over the exam sheet
and start working on the test. There were four problems. Problem
number one was `What is your name?` The other three problems were
fairly hard. Since I knew by then how his mind worked, I made
sure to write next to number one, `My name is Joseph Kohn.`
People who assumed that writing their name on the cover was
enough got twenty-five points taken offdd"I
Putting classic unsolved problems on exams was another of Nash's
favorite tricks, Aumann recalled: "The students were supposed to
show that pi is an irrational number. Later, when Nash was
--------------------------------------------------------------343
upbraided by the chairman of the department for putting the
equivalent of Fermat's Last Theorem on a final, he responded by
saying that people have a mental picture that this is a difficult
problem. Maybe that's the stumbling block. Maybe, if people
didn't realize that the problem was `hard1'they could solve it."`
On another occasion, one of Nash's graders actually confronted
him after he put the following question on a test:
If you make up a bunch of fractions of pi 3.141592.... If you
start from the decimal point, take the first digit, and place
decimal point to the left, you get .1
Then take the next 2 digits .41 Then take the next 3 digits .592
And so on and so on. You get a sequence of fractions between 0
and 1. What are the limit points of this set of numbers? (A limit
point is a point such that in any open interval containing it,
however small, there are an infinite number of numbers from the
sequence.)`
The grader immediately realized that it was a question that
nobody had ever answered. The decimal expansion of pi isn't a
famous outstanding problem, but it's the kind of thing
mathematicians ask each other, not
--------------------------------------------------------------344
undergraduates. Only one fact has been proved, namely, that it
has to have at least one limit point. It was clear that the
students should know that there was at least one limit. But Nash
thought that he knew, intuitively, that every number between 0
and I should be a limit point. He felt strongly that he knew the
answer intuitively, which is of course quite different from
having a solid proof. "It was a sort of strange thing to
doea"said the grader, in 1996. Nash's propensity for tricks of
this kind was so well known that it became the occasion of a
small joke on him, George Whitehead, a topologist in the
department at the time, recalled in a conversation in 1995.10
Nash was teaching a large section of the same freshman calculus
course that several graduate students were also teaching. All the
sections had a prescribed and identical final and all the    A344
tests were graded together. A test, signed J. Forbes Hacker, Jr.,
with all wrong answers, came back, "hacker" being a
double-entendre referring both to Nash's favorite putdown, which
was "hack," and MIT slang for jokester. (It was hackers, for
example, who one night removed a car belonging to Donald Spencer,
who was briefly an instructor at MIT before the war, from its
parking
--------------------------------------------------------------345
space on Massachusetts Avenue, deconstructed it, and left it for
him to find when he walked into his classroom the next morning,
once again fully assembled.) On another occasion, messages
appeared on several blackboards around Building Two: THIS IS HATE
JOHN NASH DAY! his
Still, Nash could be charming to students he regarded as
mathematically talented, and such students found much to admire.
To a select few, often undergraduates, Nash made himself "very,
very available for chatting about mathematicsea"Barry Mazur, a
number theorist at Harvard who first encountered Nash during his
freshman year at MIT, recalled. "It was amazing what he was
willing to talk about. There was a sense of infinite time in
every conversation."
Once Mazur and Nash were chatting in the common room. Someone
mentioned a classical theorem by a disciple of Gauss, Peter
Gustave Lejeune Dirichlet, that states that there are an infinite
number of prime numbers in certain arithmetic progressions. "It's
the kind of thing that one just accepts or perhaps goes off and
looks up afterwardsea"Mazur said. Nash, however, jumped up, went
to the board, and "for hours and hours elegantly
--------------------------------------------------------------346
thought through the proof from first principles"for Mazur's
benefitdd12
Outside the classroom, Nash alternated between the sort of
behavior for which he was famous at Princeton -- pacing in
Building Two's cavernous hallways whistling Bach comand bouts of
sociability. By day, he spent very little time in the office
suite
that he shared with the other Moore Instructors. Mostly, he spent
his time in the mathematics common room coma far cry from the one
in Fine Hall, a ratty and nondescript lounge directly below the
instructors` offices, at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
The social atmosphere of the MIT common room resembled some of
the more raucous scenes from the cult movie If, about a British
public school that is taken over by its "boys." Nash imported the
Princeton practice of a regular tea hour to MIT, but not any of
its more genteel customs.""He wanted to be the quickestea"Isadore
M. Singer, a fellow Moore Instructor, recalled in 1994. "He was a
real competitor." 14
just as he had at Princeton, Nash liked jumping
--------------------------------------------------------------347
into a conversation, throwing out challenges and being
challenged. He liked solving problems.
Students and an occasional professor played games, including go,
chess, a great favorite of Wiener's despite lack of skill at the
gameea"and bridge. (Nash, Singer recalled, was hopeless at   A347
bridge. "It was absurd `"Singer said. "He had no sense of the
laws of probability in cards.0gg16 Many of the games, however,
were made up on the spur of the moment. One day a group made up
an index of eccentricity by which various department members were
ranked. Wiener, not Nash, drew the highest score. I I Another
time, everyone played a version of charades that involved drawing
abstract pictures representing people around the department. A
graduate student drew a highly elaborate picture of what appeared
to be a taxi. Nobody could guess who it was supposed to be. The
picture, it turned out, was meant to be a Nash,
the car manufactured in the 1940's and 1950's, and was supposed
to signify Nash the Hack, again, a reference to Nash's favorite
putdown of those he regarded as plodders."`
The crowd in the common room was dominated by a handful
--------------------------------------------------------------348
of fast-talking, wisecracking veterans of Stuyvesant High School
and the Bronx High School of Science math teams and the City
College "Math Table"- a once-famous table in City's cafeteria at
which an entire generation of math students, mostly working-class
Jews and immigrants, honed their skills in problem solving and
reparteedd19
It was a brasher, rougher crowd, less uptight and more tolerant
than the one in Fine Hall, and an audience more to Nash's liking.
Showing off wasn't regarded
as
a crime if you knew your stuff. Lack of social graces was
considered part and parcel of being real mathematicians. "Their
attitudes were famously nonbourgeois, exhibitionistic,
dissoluteea"Felix Browder recalled.`,` If anything, all of them
placed a certain premium on eccentricity and outrageousness,
although by today's standards what went for unconventional
behavior and manners was, by and large, mild comdepending on
certain turns of phrase, brands of humor, and little deviations
in dress. One fellow insisted on wearing pants with fly buttons
with a button or two
--------------------------------------------------------------349
undonedd"One graduate student recalled: "At that time we thought
of eccentricity and being good in math as going together. We were
all enjoying ourselves by being a little bit wild. We thought of
ourselves as taking advantage of being bright
143
by ignoring conventions we didn't like. We turned ourselves a
little bit into charactersdd011
In this circle, Nash learned to make a virtue of necessity,
styling himself selfconsciously as a "free thinkerdd"He announced
that he was an atheistdd"He created his own vocabularydd14 He
began conversations in midstream with "Let's take this
aspectdd"He referred to people as "humanoids." Nash picked up the
mannerisms of other eccentric geniuses. For example, Wiener, who
was terribly nearsighted, would keep one of his fingers in the
groove in the walls between the wall tiles and the plaster, as he
navigated his way hesitantly through the corridors. Nash did the
same thingdd"D. J. Newman condemned all music after Beethoven.
Nash would stalk into the music library and tell anyone      A349
who was listening to anything more modern, "That's junkdd016
Levinson, whose daughter suffered from manic depression, hated
psychiatrists. Nash
--------------------------------------------------------------350
adopted a similarly vehement stance against the
professiondd"Warren Ambrose detested conventional greetings like
"How are you""Nash followed suit."
Marvin Minsky, whom Nash had known during his final year in
Princeton and whom he regarded as the most intelligent
"humanoid"of all, recalled: "We shared a similarly cynical view
of the world. We'd think of a mathematical reason for why
something was the way it was. We thought of radical, mathematical
solutions to social problems. At one point, Nash suggested a
complete transfusion for something. If there was a problem, we
were good at finding a really ridiculously extreme solutiondd0211
One time he said that parents should "self-destruct," that is,
commit suicide, and hand over all their holdings to their
children. It would be not only convenient but principled, Nash
said, according to Herta Newman, the wife of Nash's friend Donald
Newmandd10 Another time he told a class of undergraduates that
American citizens' voting rights should be made proportional to
their income (or perhaps it was wealth)dd"In many ways Nash's
views were more suited to nineteenth-century England's elitist
political landscape than to the predominantly
--------------------------------------------------------------351
left-wing counterculture of the MIT math department of the
1950's.
Nevertheless, he adopted a touch of flamboyance about his dress.
He wore translucent white Dacron shirts sans undershirt, others
thought, to show off his powerful physique." He bought a camera
and spent much of his time browsing through photography
booksdd"Fora time, he read and talked a great deal about
experimenting with mind-altering drugs like heroin-although there
is no evidence that he ever tried anydd14 His growing
heterogeneity of interests and heterodoxy could, with hindsight,
be seen as the first overt signs of a growing alienation from
convention and society that would later evolve into a radical
sense of separateness and disconnection.
But, at the moment, these postures enhanced rather than detracted
from Nash's social appeal. Nash's status as an instructor and his
growing reputation as a mathematician brought him newfound
respect. He was now considered interesting
company. His arrogance was seen as evidence of his genius, and so
was his eccentricity, a source of both amusement and grudging
respect, the other side of the genius coin, as it were. Fagi
Levinson, the department's den mother, said in 1996: "For Nash
--------------------------------------------------------------352
to deviate from convention is not as shocking as you might think.
They were all prima donnas. If a mathematician was mediocre he
had to toe the line and be conventional. If he was good, anything
went."" Jerome Neuwirth, a graduate student at MIT, said, "When
your solution turns out to be right, we give you your due. We
give you a lot of leeway. Had Nash been less of a mathematician,
he wouldn't have gotten away with his nastiness."            A352
16
Donald Newman added, "People were annoyed with him because he was
flippant, but not really annoyed. They considered him a bad boy,
but a great one, a great golden boy."
37
The gang around Nash included Newman, aka D.J., a Harvard
graduate student who spent most of his time at MIT hanging out
with his old friends from City College and with Nash, because
"Harvard was too snooty."" Other members of the group included
Walter Weissblum, a brilliant sad sack, drunk, and hunchback with
a heart of gold, who never finished his degree; 19 Harry Gonshor,
who later became a professor at Rutgers, an
--------------------------------------------------------------353
oddball who wore Coke-bottle glasses, looked as if he were
floating on air, and once proved a theorem so that it could be
stated as "AFL equals CIO";
40
Gustave Solomon, the most humane of the group, later a coinventor
of the Reed-Solomon codebb41 Leopold "Poldy" Flatto, an
inveterate peoplewatcher and storytellerbb41 and, after 1952,
Jacob Leon Bricker, the group's Woody
Allendd41
Neuwirth, a latecomer to the group, said, "Who were we? What were
we trying to do? Every group has its own currency. Our only
currency is what we were thinking. Who's smart? Who's doing what?
What can you solve? How far did you get? It doesn't sound nice
but it was excitingdd044
Nash's closest equal, in brains, competitiveness, and general
superciliousness, was Newman. Newman was considered a genius and
the best problem solver of the groUpdd41 A big, brash, blond
swaggerer, Newman had the distinction, very impressive to Nash,
of being a three-time Putnam winner. He was already a husband and
father, with
--------------------------------------------------------------354
responsibilities that, however, did little to cramp his
flamboyant style. He drove a flashy white Thunderbird with red
leather seats that he liked to drag race along Memorial Drive in
the middle of the night. As an undergraduate at City College,
he'd been famous for stunts like turning up in the class of some
unfortunate mathematics professor bearing an enormous tree
branch, leaves and all, that he claimed was for a biology class.
Nash and Newman immediately recognized each other as kindred
spirits. "They loved to spark each otherea"Arthur Singer
recalleddd46 "They admired each other's sarcasmea"said Mattuck.
"It was all good-natured. But D.J. could make cracks much faster.
He had instant recall when it came to mathematics. People used to
say that D.J. could solve any problem that could be done in
twenty-four hours.
Newman didn't have the power of Nash's sustained concentration.
Nash could think about a problem for half a yeardd047
Newman went to a seminar given by Nash. "I sat in on some of
Nash's lecturesea"said Newman, who was intrigued rather than put
off. "It was different,
kind of exciting. He wandered, unlike most lecturers,         355
because he liked to explore a lot of things at once. It was kind
of nice.... We chewed each other outea"Newman recalled. "Nash and
I were friendly friendsdd041
Thanks to the acceptance of Newman and his friends, Nash acquired
a real social life. The crowd often ate lunch together in Walker
Memorial, but it also gathered after hours at various cheap
restaurants, coffee shops, and beer halls that were as plentiful
in 1950's Cambridge and Boston as they are today, places that
didn't mind if you nursed a beer all night and were willing to
write separate checksdd49 They included famous Boston restaurants
like Durgin Park, which served generous helpings of traditional
New England dishes, including a sinfully delicious roast beef and
Indian pudding; Jake Wirth, an old-style German establishment
with a mammoth oak bar; and the Wursthaus in Harvard Square.
Other favorites were Cronin's, Chez Dreyfus, and the Newbury
Steakhouse. The Hayes-Bickford and the Waldorf, which were both
Horn and Hardart-style coffee shops, open most of the night, were
also frequent gathering places. At other times,
--------------------------------------------------------------356
everybody would hang out at some graduate student's apartment, or
go to parties given by the Martins, Levinsons, and in the
mid-1950's, the Minskys.
Within his new circle, Nash strove to constantly underscore his
own uniqueness, superiority, and self-sufficiency. "I'm Nash with
a capital Nff"his whole manner shouted
.50
He was always saying that only one or two people in the
departmentWiener was always one of these -- were up to his
standard. His putdowns were legendary. "You're a childea"was a
favorite expression. "You don't know crap. How trivial! How
stupid! You'll never do anythingff"he would say."
He loved to perform. At parties, he acted rather than conversed.
Once, at the Minskys', Nash demanded that his listeners challenge
him with a difficult mathematical problem. He said, "I've had a
few drinks. Are my thinking powers stronger or weaker on drink?""
He was not above dissembling slightly to wow an audiencedd"He
would pout if he was bested in an argumentdd14 And he hated being
challenged by someone he considered to be an inferior. One day in
the common
--------------------------------------------------------------357
room, a group of students was talking about a famous World War 11
logistics puzzle, the "Jeep" problem.
15
The essence of the jeep problem is that you want to cross the
two-thousand-milewide Sahara desert but the Jeep's gas tank holds
only enough gas to travel two hundred miles. The only way to
cross the desert is to follow a two-steps-forward, one-step-back
strategy: to load up the jeep with cans of gasoline, drive, say,
one hundred miles, drop off the cans, and go back to the starting
point. Then you get
more cans of gas, go one hundred miles, unload some and use some
to top off the gas in the tank, go another one hundred miles, and
go back, picking up some more gasoline. The question is, how many
gallons would be needed?                                     A357
There is no optimal solution to the problem, as it turns out.
Everybody was proposing solutions. Nash threw out a number.
Nash's grader that term, Seymour Haber, proposed a number half as
big. Nash contemptuously dismissed Haber's solution. When Haber
insisted that he prove it, Nash said, "My solution's much
better."
--------------------------------------------------------------358
Haber recounted: "I didn't see it. I insisted that he prove it.
He didn't want to. He said it was obvious. I still wouldn't
accept his assertion. So he did the calculation. He turned out to
be mostly right, but he was extremely annoyed with me. He was
angry for my having forced him to do this grungy work when it was
perfectly clear all along what the answer was. He was angry with
me for some period afterward."
Nor was he above putting the audience down. A typical example: at
lunch one day, a graduate student was describing an axiomatic
approach to a problem outlined by one of his professors. Nash
fairly exploded, "Don't give me all that crap! Tell me how you'd
solve the problem. You haven't learned anything. All these
concepts don't mean a thing.""
Nash's putdowns of other mathematicians earned him the sobriquet
"Gnashdd"Nash responded, "G obviously stands for genius. In fact,
there are few geniuses these days here at MIT. Me, of course, and
also Norbert Wiener. Even Norbert may no longer be a genius, but
there is evidence that he once wasdd"Af that, he referred to Gnu
(Newman) and C-squared (Andrew
--------------------------------------------------------------359
Gleason, a young Harvard professor who had just solved Hilbert's
fifth problemgg.17
When John McCarthy, whom Nash knew from Princeton, gave a seminar
in the department, Nash pulled him aside afterward and said,
"There are too many journals. There are too many trashy papers
being published. There are too many guys doing research. Only a
few of us should be in research. The rest of them should be in
sin x"-a snide reference to the tables at the back of high-school
trigonometry books."
Nash flaunted his social snobbery, a legacy of his Bluefield
upbringing. He implied that he came from old moneydd19 He would
sniff wine at a party and say, "This is an adequate Chiantidd060
Nowhere was his snobbery more evident than in his reaction to
being "a non-Jew in a definitely Jewish atmospheredd061 Later,
when Nash became paranoid and embraced all sorts of strange
delusions, he wrote letters to Newman and others addressed to
"Jewboy," became obsessed with the state of Israel, and talked
about "Krypto-Zionist conspiracies."
61
But in the early 1950's, his attitude was merely
--------------------------------------------------------------360
one of social superiority. He frequently told Newman that he
looked "too Jewish." 61 Like Groucho Marx, he was inclined not to
admire any club that accepted him. Nash displayed a contempt for
people and things he considered beneath him. As Fred Brauer,
another instructor at MIT, put it forty years later, "That
covered a lot of territorydd064                              A360
RAND, Summer 1952
ONE
AFTERNOON-DURING
Nash's second summer in Santa Monica, he and Harold N. Shapiro,
another mathematician from RAND, were swimming in the surf off
Santa Monica Beach just south of the pier.` The ocean was fairly
rough. Below the breakwater, Santa Monica Beach was a narrow and
steep strip of sand with breakers that were usually six to ten
feet high. It was a favorite of body surfers.

Nash and Shapiro were far from shore when they were caught in a
powerful current that swept them farther out. Both men were
strong swimmers. Nash was "built like a Greek god," Shapiro
recalled, and he, too, was sturdy and muscular. But Shapiro
remembers being dragged under the waves, briefly
--------------------------------------------------------------361
overpowered by the current, and very frightened. Nash seemed to
be struggling as well. "It was hard work getting back to shore,"
Shapiro said. When the two young men finally reached the beach,
they threw themselves on the sand, exhausted and breathing
heavily. Shapiro recalled lying there, thinking how lucky they
were not to have drowned. To his amazement, however, Nash jumped
to his feet after a moment or two and announced he was going back
into the water. I wonder if that was an accidentea"Nash said in a
calm and detached tone. "I think I'll go back in and see."

At the beginning of that second summer, Nash had driven
cross-country from Bluefield to Santa Monica in a rusty old
Dodge. He and John Milnor, who was by now a graduate student at
Princeton, made the trip together, though Milnor drove his own
car.` Traveling with them were Nash's younger sister Martha and
Ruth Hincks, a journalism major at the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill, who joined them at the last minute.`
They met in Chapel Hill, then drove on to Bluefield. Hincks
remembers being warned not to let slip that Martha would be
sharing the apartment with Milnor as well as Nash. She recalled
in 1997 that this secretiveness struck her
--------------------------------------------------------------362
as strange. As they started out, Ruth drove with Nash, Martha
with Milnor. Ruth was struck by Nash's complete indifference to
her. "I was slim, attractive, intelligentea"she recalled in 1997.
Nash "never even noticed that I was thereea"she said. She was
also struck by the seemingly distant relationship between Nash
and Milnor. "They just sort of stood around. They could have met
the day before. They never referred to shared experiences. They
didn't seem to really know each otherdd"Even the relationship
between brother and sister seemed disa little standoffish, not
affectionate at allea"said Ruth. "I don't think I saw any
affection from anybody on that trip."
They traveled on U.S. 40, which took them through Kansas and
Nebraskaddbled They stopped once for a day in Grand Lakes,
Colorado, where they all went horseback riding, and also in Salt
Lake City, where they visited the Mormon Temple, The men put the
young women in charge of divvying up all the motel,          A362
restaurant, and gas bills. All should have been fine for these
young people, privileged as few were, in 1952, to be traveling
cross-country on their own. Yet before the trip was over, Nash
and Ruth had quarreled, and Martha, who had been riding with
--------------------------------------------------------------363
Milnor, was forced, reluctantly, to ride with her older brother
for the remainder of the journey.`
It started as a fine adventure. Martha had just graduated from
Chapel Hill, and had traveled very little before
.6
Tall and striking like her brother, Martha was extremely
intelligent. In spite of a fierce determination not to be
regarded as an egghead and an oddball, Martha had won a
Pepsi-Cola scholarship by beating every boy at Beaver High on the
SAT's and had received invitations to apply to Radcliffe, Smith,
and other top women's schools. Her father, however, had turned
down the scholarship on her behalf, saying that the family could
afford tuition at a nearby school, and Martha wound up at St.
Mary's, a junior college attended mostly by well-to-do southern
girls who brought fur coats with them, rode horses, and were
themselves being groomed not for the job but for the marriage
market. After graduating from St. Mary's, she went on to the
University of North Carolina, where she completed a teaching
degree.
John had persuaded his parents that it would be good for
--------------------------------------------------------------364
Martha to spend a summer in Santa Monica, suggesting that he
could get more work done if Martha kept house for him
.7
Martha, who had never been away from home except at college, was
eager to go. Once the plans were made, John also made no secret
of his hope that his sister and John Milnor would take an
interest in each other.
It was Nash who had proposed that they all travel together.
Milnor and Nash, of course, had known each other since Milnor was
a freshman at Princeton four years earlier. Though he had not yet
completed his dissertation, Milnor had already been asked by
Princeton to join its faculty. Nash confessed to Martha that he
was jealous of Milnor's abilities, but he was clearly also
charmed by Milnor's selfeffacing personality, his brilliantly
lucid mind, and the younger man's lanky good looks.
Ruth said her good-byes as soon as the quartet arrived in Santa
Monica. Martha, Nash, and Milnor rented a small furnished
apartment at the top of a rambling Spanish-style villa on
Georgina Avenue, a stately street in the old
--------------------------------------------------------------365
section of Santa Monica and ten minutes' walk via Palisades Park
from RAND.` Nobody did much cooking or housekeeping. A guest who
had been invited for lunch said: "The place
hadn't been cleaned comever. There were dust balls and dirty
dishes. After looking around -- they obviously hadn't prepared a
meal -- I decided to ask for eggs. John pushed the remnants of a
previously fried egg aside in the frying pan. 'Very nice people,`
I thought to myselfdd09 Martha got a job in a bakery. She    A365
hardly saw her two roommates, who seemed to spend most of their
waking hours inside the RAND headquarters. Martha tried to visit
their offices one day but was barred by the guards because she
had no security clearance. 10 She and Milnor went out to dinner
once in the first week or two, but despite their many hours
together in the car, Milnor was uneasy and painfully tongue-tied,
and it became clear to Martha that no romance was in the offing."
The two men worked mostly on their own. Milnor wrote a lovely
paper called "Games Against Nature.0"Nash dabbled with games that
could be played using a computerdd"He was, by this time,
--------------------------------------------------------------366
chiefly concerned with mathematical problems that arise in the
study of fluid dynamics. A paper on war games was merely a
half-hearted effort, designed to justify his employment at RAND
and to be hastily drafted before he returned to Cambridge at the
beginning of September.
14
But Nash and Milnor did collaborate on one project, an experiment
on bargaining involving hired subjects, that was to become,
unexpectedly, a much-cited classicdd"The experiment, designed
with two researchers from the University of Michigan who were
also at RAND for the summer, anticipated by several decades the
now-thriving field of experimental economics.
The RAND experiments grew more or less directly out of the habit
of playing games that the mathematicians indulged in their spare
time. Inventing new games and trying them out, always with the
inventors as subjects, had been a popular pastime at Princeton.
Many of the players had, like Nash, only recently outgrown
boyhood passions for chemistry and electricity experiments. The
idea of recording the play to see whether people played the way
the theory predicted was already a bit of a tradition at
--------------------------------------------------------------367
RAND, inaugurated by the famous Prisoner's Dilemma experiment.
Martha was astonished to learn that the volunteers were earning
fifty dollars a day "to play games."
16
The experiment, which was conducted over a two-day period, was
designed to test how well different theories of coalitions and
bargaining held up when real people were making the
decisionsdd"Von Neumann and Morgenstern, with their interest in
games with many players, focused on coalitions, groups of people
who act in unison. They argued that rational players would
calculate the benefits of joining every possible coalition and
choose the best one comt is, the one that was most advantageous
to them comwhether they were business executives intent on
collusion or workers who wanted to join a union.
Nash, Milnor, and the other researchers hired eight subjects,
college students and housewives. They devised different games,
mostly with four rotating players, one with as many as seven. The
game mimicked the general, "r-person"game of von Neumann's
theory. Subjects were told they could win cash by forming coali-
tions, and the specific amounts that would be awarded

to each possible coalition. To be eligible to win, however,   368
the coalition partners had to commit in advance to a given
division of the winnings.
According to A] Roth, a leading experimental economist, the
experiment yielded two insights that proved highly influential."
For one thing, it drew attention to information possessed by
participants: If the same players play the game repeatedly, the
authors concluded, players tend to "regard a run of plays as a
single play
of
a more complicated game." Second, like the Prisoner's Dilemma
experiment devised by Melvin Dresher and Merrill Flood in 1950,
it showed that players' decisions were often motivated by
concerns about fairness. In particular, in situations in which
neither player had a privileged position, players typically opted
to "split the difference." For the designers of the experiment,
however, the results merely cast doubt on the predictive power of
game theory and undermined whatever confidence they still had in
the subject. Milnor was particularly disillusioned. 19 Though he
continued at RAND
as a
consultant for another decade, he lost interest in
--------------------------------------------------------------369
mathematical models of social interaction, concluding that they
were not likely to evolve to a useful or intellectually
satisfying stage in the foreseeable future. The strong
assumptions of rationality on which both the work of von Neumann
and Nash were constructed struck him as particularly fatal. After
Nash won the Nobel Prize in 1994, Milnor wrote an essay on Nash's
mathematical work in which he essentially adopted the widespread
view among pure mathematicians that Nash's work on game theory
was trivial compared with his subsequent work in pure
mathematics. In the essay, Milnor writes:
As with any theory which constructs a mathematical model for some
real-life problem, we must ask how realistic the model is, Does
it help us to understand the real world? Does it make predictions
which can be tested? ...
First let us ask about the realism of the underlying model. The
hypothesis is that all of the players are rational, that they
understand the precise rules of the game, and that they have
complete information about the objectives of all of the other
players. Clearly, this is seldom completely true.
One point which should particularly be noticed is the
--------------------------------------------------------------370
linearity hypothesis in Nash's theorem. This is a direct
application of the von Neumann-Morgenstern theory of numerical
utility-, the claim that it is possible to measure the relative
desirability of different possible outcomes by a real-valued
function which is linear with respect to probabilities.... My own
belief is that this is quite reasonable as a normative theory,
but that it may not be realistic as a descriptive theory.
Evidently, Nash's theory was not a finished answer to the problem
of understanding competitive situations. In fact, it should be
emphasized that no simple mathematical theory can provide a
complete answer, since the psychology of the players and     A370
the mechanism of their interaction may be crucial to a more
precise understandingdd10
Nevertheless, decades later, economists, differing with Milnor,
came to regard
this "failure"of an experiment as a very worthwhile one. Casual
as the experiment was in one sense, it became a model for a new
method of economic research, one that had never before been tried
in the two hundred years since Adam Smith dreamed up the
Invisible Hand. The feeling was that even if the
--------------------------------------------------------------371
experiments weren't sophisticated enough to show how people's
brains work, watching the way people played games could draw
researchers' attention to elements of interaction comsch as
signaling or implicit threats comt couldn't be derived
axiomatically."
By the time the experiment was run the relationship between Nash
and Milnor had become strained, and Milnor had moved out of the
Georgina Avenue apartment. Milnor says now that Nash made a
sexual overture toward him. "I was very naive and very
homophobicea"said Milnor. "It wasn't the kind of thing people
talked abthen
dis022
But what Nash felt toward Milnor may have been something close to
love. A dozen years later, in a letter to Milnor, Nash wrote:
"Concerning love, I know a conjugation: amo, amas, amat, amamus,
amatis, amant. Perhaps amas is also the imperative, love! Perhaps
one must be very masculine to use the imperative
dis021
Spring 1953
Now, the thing I think would interest the committee ver ygreatly,
ifyou could possibly explain to them
...
--------------------------------------------------------------372
Doctor... howyou can account for what would seem to be an
abnormally Jarge percentage ofcommunistsat MIT?- ROBERT L.
Kuationzic, Counsel, HUAC, April 22,1953
TE
COLD
WAR-PROMISED to be the sugar daddy of the MIT mathematics
department, but McCarthyism -- which blamed the setbacks in that
war on sinister conspiracies and
domestic subversion
comthreatened to devour it.
While Nash and his graduate student friends were shooting each
other down and playing games in the mathematics common room, FBI
investigators were fanning out around Cambridge, rifling through
trash cans, placing individuals under surveillance, and
questioning neighbors, colleagues, students, and even childrendd1
Their targets, as Nash and everyone else at MIT would learn in
early
1953, included the chairman and the deputy chairman of the MIT
mathematics department, as well as a tenured full professor of
mathematics, Dirk Struik-all three one-time
members, indeed, leading members, of the Cambridge cell of    373
the Communist Party. All three were subpoenaed by the House
Un-American Activities Committee.` It was a state of siege and
everyone in the mathematics department felt the threat.
At the time, Nash was no doubt far more preoccupied with the
draft comn to mention growing complications of his personal life
comthan with the possible repercussions for himself of the
persecution of his benefactors. Nevertheless, the whole episode
was a warning that the world he and other mathematicians
inhabited was an extremely fragile one. A congressional committee
could destroy your career, just as your draft board could send
you halfway around the world.
The whole thing had begun as a farce.` McCarthy's original list
of communists, announced in February 1950, was studded with
academics, including the father of Nash's friend Lloyd Shapley,
Harvard astronomy professor Harlow Shapley, whom McCarthy
incorrectly identified to reporters as "Howard Shipley,
astrologerdd"B as the red hunt gathered momentum, the entire
scientific commu-
Reds
--------------------------------------------------------------374
nity felt vulnerable. Princeton's Solomon Lefsehetz would be
identified as a possible communist sympathizer by an
investigative bodyddbled Within a year, Robert Oppenheimer, head
of the Manhattan Project, one of the most revered scientists in
America and the director of the Institute for Advanced Study,
would be humiliated by the McCarthyites.
When the subpoenas were issued, nobody knew how MIT would handle
the matter. Other universities had responded with immediate
firings and suspensions.` "McCarthyism was a big threat to these
schoolsea"Zipporah Levinson, Norman Levinson's widow, recalled.
"During the war the government had started pouring money into
them. The threat was that the research money would dry up. It was
a bread-and-butter issue."` Martin and Levinson were certain that
they were about to lose their jobs and wind up blacklisted for
good, like so many others. Levinson talked about becoming a
plumber and specializing in the repair of furnaces. The
investigators had their eye on the three Browder boys comsons of
former Communist Party head Earl Browder, who had all studied or
were studying mathematics at MIT and were scholarship recipients,
as
--------------------------------------------------------------375
welldd7
"MIT was turned topsy-turvyea"Mrs. Levinson recalled. "The
faculty debated and debated how to prove that MIT was patriotic.
There was strong pressure to name names." I As it turned out,
Karl Compton, the president of the university and an outspoken
liberal who was a supporter of the Chinese revolution and a
critic of Chiang Kai-shek, may have felt that he himself would
soon be subpoenaed. He hired a white-shoe Boston law firm,
Choate, Hall and Steward, to defend Martin, Levinson, and the
others for a minimal feedd9 By April, when Martin and Levinson
were forced to testify,
The Tech
was running daily stories and anti-McCarthy sentiment was    A375
running high on campus."
There is no evidence that the FBI ever questioned Nash or any
other students or faculty in the department, or asked for
depositions, in an effort to establish a link between Levinson's
and Martin's Communist Party membership and classified defense
research coma link that probably never existed, given that both
left the party soon after the end of the war. The graduate
students and junior faculty in the
--------------------------------------------------------------376
department stood on the sidelines and watched lives and careers
ruined and homes, even car insurance, lost. "By that time, young
people had prospects, jobs, optimismea"Mrs. Levinson recalled.
"The younger people -- Nash's group -- didn't want to be too
friendly. They were scared. They distanced themselvesdd"I I
Martin and several others named their former associates. Norman
Levinson refused to name anyone who had not been previously
named. "Ted and Izzy Amadur hemmed and hawed. Norman knew that
Ted Martin and Izzy would cooperate. They spilled all the names.
Norman said he'd talk freely about the party but that he wouldn't
name names. The lawyer told Norman, no you don't have to say any
names. He'd cooperate, but he wouldn't give any namesdd011 Martin
gave a pathetic, frightened performance. Levinson's testimony, by
contrast, demonstrated the qualities of intellect and character
that made him such a force in the mathematics community. In a
series of forceful and eloquent answers to direct questioning, he
managed at one and the same time to defend the youthful idealism
that led
him into the party, attack the intellectual poverty of communism,
and, implicitly, call into question the
--------------------------------------------------------------377
committee's assumption that communism was a threat to the nation.
He spoke out against the hounding of former party members and
asked the committee to take a stand against the blacklisting of
Browder's oldest son, Felix, who had finished his Ph.D. and was
unable to obtain an academic post.
Thanks to MIT's support and the compromises they struck, Levinson
and the others kept their jobs. But the whole dispiriting affair,
which had been preceded by months of harassment and threats, left
deep scars on everyone involved. Martin, in particular, was
shattered and deeply depressed, and was unable, nearly forty-five
years later, to talk about itdd"Levinson's younger daughter, a
student in junior high school, suffered a breakdown and was
diagnosed with manic depression. Levinson and his wife blamed it
partly on her being harassed by the FBI. 14 And those on the
periphery, ostensibly unaffected, learned a lesson, namely that
the world they so very much took for granted was dangerously
fragile and vulnerable to forces beyond its control.
Nash took no part in the heated discussions among some of the
graduate students over the morality of the mathematicians'
decision to cooperate with the government." Any discussion of
morality raised for


him the specter of hypocrisy. But the angry, frightening,     378
turbulent time would supply him with some of the prosecutory
demons that came to haunt him laterdd16
There are two kinds ofmathematical contributions. work lhat
important to the history of mathematics and work tbat simply a
triumph of the human spirit -
PA uL I CoHEN,
1996
IN
THE SPRING OF
1953, Paul Halmos, a mathematician at the University of Chicago,
received the following letter from his old friend Warren Ambrose,
a colleague of Nash's:
There's no significant news from here, as always. Martin is
appointing John Nash to an Assistant Professorship (not the Nash
at Illinois, the one out of Princeton by Steenrod) and I'm pretty
annoyed at that. Nash is a childish bright guy who wants to be
"basically originalea"wh I suppose is fine for those who have
some basic originality in them. He also makes a damned fool of
himself in various ways contrary to this philosophy. He recently
heard of the unsolved
--------------------------------------------------------------379
problem about imbedding a Riemannian manifold isometrically in
Euclidean space, felt that this was his sort of thing, provided
the problem were sufficiently worthwhile to justify his efforts;
so he proceeded to write to everyone in the math society to check
on that, was told that it probably was, and proceeded to announce
that he had solved it, modulo details, and told Mackey he would
like to talk about it at the Harvard colloquium. Meanwhile he
went to Levinson to inquire about a differential equation that
intervened and Levinson says it is a system of partial
differential equations and if he could only [get] to the
essentially simpler analog of a single ordinary differential
equation it would be a damned good paper-and Nash had only the
vaguest notions about the whole thing. So it is generally
conceded he is getting nowhere and making an even bigger ass of
himself than he has been previously supposed by those with less
insight than myself. But we've got him and saved ourselves the
possibility of having gotten a real mathematician. He's a bright
guy but conceited as Hell, childish as Wiener, hasty as X,
obstreperous as Y, for arbitrary X and Y I
Ambrose had every reason to be both skeptical and
--------------------------------------------------------------380
annoyed.
Ambrose was a moody, intense, somewhat frustrated mathematician
in his late thirties, full, as his letter indicates, of black
humor.` He was a radical and nonconformist. He married three
times. He gave a lecture on "Why I am an atheist." He once tried
to defend some left-wing demonstrators against police in
Argentina comand got himself beaten up and jailed for his
efforts. He was also a jazz fanatic, a personal friend of Charlie
Parker, and a fine trumpet player.` Handsome, solidly built, with
a boxer's broken nose-the consequence of an accident in an
elevator! -- he was one of the most popular members of the
department. He and Nash clashed-from the start.              A380
Ambrose's manner was calculated to give an impression of
stupidity: "I'm a simple man, I can't understand thisdd"Robert
Aumann recalled: "Ambrose came to class one day with one shoelace
tied and the other untied. `Did you know your right shoelace is
untied?` we asked. `Oh, my God; he said, 'I tied the left one and
thought the other must be tied by considerations of symmetry.`
114
--------------------------------------------------------------381
The older faculty in the department mostly ignored Nash's
putdowns and jibes. Ambrose did not. Soon a tit-for-tat rivalry
was under way. Ambrose was famous, among other things, for
detail. His blackboard notes were so dense that rather than
attempt the impossible task of copying them, one of his
assistants used to photograph them.` Nash, who disliked
laborious, step-by-step expositions, found much to mock. When
Ambrose wrote what Nash considered an ugly argument on the
blackboard during a seminar, Nash would mutter, "Hack, Hackea"f
the back of the room.`
Nash made Ambrose the target of several pranks. "Seminar on the
REAL mathematicsff"read a sign that Nash posted one day. "The
seminar will meet weekly Thursdays at 2 Pddm. in the Common
Room." Thursday at 2:00 Pddm. was the hour that Ambrose taught
his graduate course in analysis.` On another occasion, after
Ambrose delivered a lecture at the Harvard mathematics
colloquium, Nash arranged to have a large bouquet of red roses
delivered to the podium as if Ambrose were a ballerina taking her
bows.`
Ambrose needled back. He wrote "Fuck
--------------------------------------------------------------382
Myf"on the "To D"list that Nash kept hanging over his desk on a
clipboarddd9 It was he who nicknamed Nash "Gnash" for constantly
making belittling remarks about other mathematicians. 10 And,
during a discussion in the common room, after one of Nash's
diatribes about hacks and drones, Ambrose said disgustedly, "If
you're so good, why don't you solve the embedding problem for
manifolds?"-a notoriously difficult problem that had been around
since it was posed by Riernarmdd11 So Nash did.
Two years later at the University of Chicago, Nash began a
lecture describing his first really big theorem by saying, "I did
this because of a bet.0"Nash's opening statement spoke volumes
about who he was. He was a mathematician who viewed mathematics
not as a grand scheme, but as a collection of challenging
problems. In the taxonomy of mathematicians, there are problem
solvers and theoreticians, and, by temperament, Nash belonged to
the first group, He was not a game theorist,
157
analyst, algebraist, geometer, topologist, or mathematical
physicist. But he zeroed in on areas in these fields where
essentially nobody had
--------------------------------------------------------------383
achieved anything. The thing was to find an interesting question
that he could say something about.
Before taking on Ambrose's challenge, Nash wanted to be certain
that solving the problem would cover him with glory. He      A383
not only quizzed various experts on the problem's importance,
but, according to Felix Browder, another Moore Instructor,
claimed to have proved the result long before he actually
haddd"When a mathematician at Harvard confronted Nash, recalled
Browder, "Nash explained that he wanted to find out whether it
was worth working on."
14
"The discussion of manifolds was everywhereea"said Joseph Kohn in
1995, gesturing to the air around him. "The precise question that
Ambrose asked Nash in the common room one day was the following:
Is it possible to embed any Riemannian manifold in a Euclidean
space?"
15
It's a "deep philosophical question"cccerning the foundations of
geometry that virtually every mathematician comf Riemann and
Hilbert to Elie-Joseph Cartan and Hermann Weyl comworking in the
field of differential geometry for the
--------------------------------------------------------------384
past century bad asked himself." The question, first posed
explicitly by Ludwig Schlifli in the 1870's, had evolved
naturally from a progression of other questions that had been
posed and partly answered beginning in the mid-nineteenth
century." First mathematicians studied ordinary curves, then
surfaces, and finally, thanks to Riemann, a sickly German genius
and one of the great figures of nineteenth-century mathematics,
geometric objects in higher dimensions. Riemann discovered
examples of manifolds inside Euclidean spaces. But in the early
1950's interest shifted to manifolds partly because of the large
role that distorted space and time relationships had in
Einstein's theory of relativity.
Nash's own description of the embedding problem in his 1995 Nobel
autobiography hints at the reason he wished to make sure that
solving the problem would be worth the effort: "This problem,
although classical, was not much talked about as an outstanding
problem. It was not like, for example, the four-color
conjecturedd"I I
Embedding involves portraying a geometric object as-or, a bit
more precisely, making it a subset of-some space in some
dimension. Take the
--------------------------------------------------------------385
surface of a balloon. You can't put it on a blackboard, which is
a two-dimensional space. But you can make it a subset of spaces
of three or more dimensions. Now take a slightly more complicated
object, say a Klein bottle. A Mein bottle looks like a tin can
whose lid and bottom have been removed and whose top has been
stretched around and reconnected through the side to the bottom.
If you think about it, it's obvious that if you try that in
three-dimensional space, the thing intersects itself. That's bad
from a mathematical point of view because the neighborhood in the
immediate vicinity of the intersection looks weird and irregular,
and attempts to
calculate various attributes like distance or rates of change in
that part of the object tend to blow up. But put the same Klein
bottle into a space of four dimensions and the thing no      A385
longer intersects itself Like a ball embedded in three-space, a
Klein bottle in four-space becomes a perfectly well-behaved
manifold.
Nash's theorem stated that any kind of surface that embodied a
special notion of smoothness can actually be embedded in
Euclidean space. He showed that you could fold the manifold like
a silk
--------------------------------------------------------------386
handkerchief, without distorting it. Nobody would have expected
Nash's theorem to be true. In fact, everyone would have expected
it to be false. "It showed incredible originalityea"said Mikhail
Gromov, the geometer whose book
Partial
Differential Relations
builds on Nash's work. He went on:
Many of us have the power to develop existing ideas. We follow
paths prepared by others. But most of us could never produce
anything comparable to what Nash produced. It's like lightning
striking. Psychologically the barrier he broke is absolutely
fantastic. He has completely changed the perspective on partial
differential equations. There has been some tendency in recent
decades to move from harmony to chaos. Nash says chaos is just
around the corner. 19
John Conway, the Princeton mathematician who discovered surreal
numbers
and invented the game of Life, called Nash's result "one of the
most impottant pieces of mathematical analysis in this
century.""`
It was also, one must add, a deliberate jab at then-fashionable
approaches to Riemannian
--------------------------------------------------------------387
manifolds, just as Nash's approach to the theory of games was a
direct challenge to von Neumann's. Ambrose, for example, was
himself involved in a highly abstract and conceptual description
of such manifolds at the time. As Jargen Moser, a young German
mathematician who came to know Nash well in the mid-1950's, put
it, "Nash didn't like that style of mathematics at all. He was
out to show that this, to his mind, exotic approach was
completely unnecessary since any such manifold was simply a
submanifold of a high dimensional Euclidean space.""
Nash's more important achievement may have been the powerful
technique he invented to obtain his result. In order to prove his
theorem, Nash had to confront a seemingly insurmountable
obstacle, solving a certain set of partial differential equations
that were impossible to solve with existing methods.
That obstacle cropped up in many mathematical and physical
problems. It was the difficulty that Levinson, according to
Ambrose's letter, pointed out to Nash, and it is a difficulty
that crops up in many, many problems -- in particular, nonlinear
problemsdd"Typically, in solving an equation, the thing that is
given is some function, and one finds


estimates of derivatives of a solution in terms of            388
derivatives of the given function. Nash's solution was remarkable
in that the
a priori
estimates lost derivatives. Nobody knew how to deal with such
equations. Nash invented a novel iterative method -- a procedure
for making a series of educated guesses -- for finding roots of
equations, and combined it with a technique for smoothing to
counteract the loss of derivatives." Geometry
159
Newman described Nash as a "very poetic, different kind of
tbinkerdd014 In
this instance, Nash used differential calculus, not geometric
pictures or algebraic manipulations, methods that were classical
outgrowths of nineteenth-century calculus. The technique is now
referred to as the Nash-Moser theorem, although there is no
dispute that Nash was its originatordd"Jfirgen Moser was to show
how Nash's technique could be modified and applied to celestial
mechanics comthe movement of planets comespecially for
establishing the stability of periodic orbitsdd16 Nash solved the
problem in two steps. He
--------------------------------------------------------------389
discovered that one could embed a Riemannian manifold in a
three-dimensional space if one ignored smoothnessdd17 One had, so
to speak, to crumple it up. It was a remarkable result, a strange
and interesting result, but a mathematical curiosity, or so it
seemed.`,, Mathematicians were interested in embedding without
wrinkles, embedding in which the smoothness of the manifold could
be preserved.
In his autobiographical essay, Nash wrote: So as it happened, as
soon as I heard in conversation at MIT about the question of
embeddability being open I began to study it. The first break led
to a curious result about the embeddability being realizable in
surprisingly low-dimensional ambient spaces provided that one
would accept that the embedding would have only limited
smoothness. And later, with "heavy analysisea"the problem was
solved in terms of embedding with a more proper degree of
smoothnessdd19 Nash presented his initial, "curious"result at a
seminar in Princeton, most likely in the spring of 1953, at
around the same time that Ambrose wrote his scathifig letter to
Halmos. Emil Artin was in the audience. He made no secret of his
doubts.
--------------------------------------------------------------390
"Well, that's all well and good, but what about the embedding
theorem""said Artin. "You'll never get it."
"I'll get it next weekea"Nash shot back." One night, possibly en
route to this very talk, Nash was hurtling down the Merritt
Parkwaydd"Poldy Flatto was riding with him as far as the Bronx.
Flatto, like all the other graduate students, knew that Nash was
working on the embedding problem. Most likely to get Nash's goat
and have the pleasure of watching his reaction, he mentioned that
Jacob Schwartz, a brilliant young mathematician at Yale whom Nash
knew slightly, was also working on the problem.
Nash became quite agitated. He gripped the steering wheel and
almost shouted at Flatto, asking whether he had meant to     A390
say that Schwartz had solved the problem. "I didn't say
thatea"Flatto corrected. "I said I heard he was working on it."
"Working on it""Nash replied, his whole body now the picture of
relaxation. "Well, then there's nothing to worry about. He
doesn't have the insights I havedd"Schwartz was indeed working on
the same problem. Later, after Nash had
produced his solution, Schwartz wrote a book
--------------------------------------------------------------391
on the subject of implicit-function theorems. He recalled in
1996:
1 got half the idea independently, but I couldn't get the other
half. It's easy to see an approximate statement to the effect
that not every surface can be exactly embedded, but that you can
come arbitrarily close. I got that idea and I was able to produce
the proof of the easy half in a day. But then I realized that
there was a technical problem. I worked on it for a month and
couldn't see any way to make headway. I ran into an absolute
stone wall. I didn't know what to do. Nash worked on that problem
for two years with a sort of ferocious, fantastic tenacity until
he broke through it." Week after week, Nash would turn up in
Levinson's office, much as he had in Spencer's at Princeton. He
would describe to Levinson what he had done and Levinson would
show him why it didn't work. Isadore Singer, a fellow Moore
instructor, recalled:
He'd show the solutions to Levinson. The first few times he was
dead wrong. But he didn't give up. As he saw the problem get
harder and harder, he applied himself more, and more and more. He
was motivated just to show everybody how good he was, sure, but
on the
--------------------------------------------------------------392
other hand he didn't give up even when the problem turned out to
be much harder than expected. He put more and more of himself
into it."
There is no way of knowing what enables one man to crack a big
problem while another man, also brilliant, fails. Some geniuses
have been sprinters who have solved problems quickly. Nash was a
long-distance runner. If Nash defied von Neumann in his approach
to the theory of games, he now took on the received wisdom of
nearly a century. He went into a classical domain where everybody
believed that they understood what was possible and not possible.
"It took enormous courage to attack these problems," said Paul
Cohen, a mathematician at Stanford University and a Fields
medalistdd14 His tolerance for solitude, great confidence in his
own intuition, indifference to criticism-all detectable at a
young age but now prominent and impermeable features of his
personality comserved him well. He was a hard worker by habit. He
worked mostly at night in his MIT office --
from ten in the evening until
3:00 A.M.
- and on weekends as well, with, as one observer said, "no
references but his own mind"and his "supreme


selfconfidencedd"Schwartz called it "the ability to           393
continue punching the wall until the stone breaks."
161
The most eloquent description of Nash's single-minded attack on
the problem comes from Moser: The difficulty [that Levinson had
pointed out], to anyone in his right mind, would have stopped
them cold and caused them to abandon the problem. But Nash was
different. If he had a hunch, conventional criticisms didn't stop
him. He had no background knowledge. It was totally uncanny.
Nobody could understand how somebody like that could do it. He
was the only person I ever saw with that kind of power, just
brute mental power."
The editors of the
Annals of Mathematics
hardly knew what to make of Nash's manuscript when it landed on
their desks at the end of October 1954. It hardly had the look of
a mathematics paper. It was as thick as a book, printed by hand
rather than typed, and chaotic, It made use of concepts and
terminology more familiar to engineers than to mathematicians. So
they sent it to a mathematician at Brown University, Herbert
--------------------------------------------------------------394
Federer, an Austrian-born refugee from Nazism and a pioneer in
surface area theory, who, although only thirty-four, already had
a reputation for high standards, superb taste, and an unusual
willingness to tackle difficult manuscripts. 16
Mathematics is often described, quite rightly, as the most
solitary of endeavors. But when a serious mathematician announces
that he has found the solution to an important problem, at least
one other serious mathematician, and sometimes several, as a
matter of longstanding tradition that goes back hundreds of
years, will set aside his own work for weeks and months at a
time, as one former collaborator of Federer's put it, "to make a
go of it and straighten everything
oUtdd017
Nash's manuscript presented Federer with a sensationally
complicated puzzle and he attacked the task with relish.
The collaboration between author and referee took months. A large
correspondence, many telephone conversations, and numerous drafts
ensued. Nash did not submit the revised version of the paper
until nearly the end of the following summer. His acknowledgment
--------------------------------------------------------------395
to Federer was, by Nash's standards, effusive: "I am profoundly
indebted to H. Federer, to whom may be traced most of the
improvement over the first chaotic formulation of this work.""
Armand Bore], who was a visiting professor at Chicago when Nash
gave a lecture on his embedding theorem, remembers the audience's
shocked reaction. "Nobody believed his proof at firstea"he
recalled in 1995. "People were very skeptical. It k looked like a
[beguiling] idea. But when there's no technique, you are
skeptical. You dream about a vision. Usually you're missing
something. People did not chal-
1tionge him publicly, but they talked privatelydd019
(Characteristically, Nash's report to' his parents merely said
"talks went well.0gg40
Gian-Carlo Rota, professor of mathematics and philosophy     A395
at MIT, confirmed Borel's account. "One of the great experts on
the subject told me that if one of his graduate students had
proposed such an outlandish idea he'd throw him out of his
officedd041
The result was so unexpected, and Nash's methods
--------------------------------------------------------------396
so novel, that even the experts had tremendous difficulty
understanding what he had done. Nash used to leave drafts lying
around the MIT common roomdd41 A former MIT graduate student
recalls a long and confused discussion between Ambrose, Singer,
and Masatake Kuranishi (a mathematician at Columbia University
who later applied Nash's result) in which each one tried to
explain Nash's result to the other, without much successdd43
Jack Schwartz recalled:
Nash's solution was not just novel, but very mysterious, a
mysterious set of weird inequalities that all came together. In
my explication of it I sort of looked at what happened and could
generalize and give an abstract form and realize it was
applicable to situations other than the specific one he treated.
But I didn't quite get to the bottom of it eidd44 Later, Heinz
Hopf, professor of mathematics in Zurich and a past president of
the International Mathematical Union, "a great man with a small
build, friendly, radiating a warm glow, who knew everything about
differential geometry," gave a talk on Nash's embedding theorem
in New Yorkdd41 Usually Hopfs lectures were
--------------------------------------------------------------397
models of crystalline clarity. Moser, who was in the audience,
recalled: "So we thought, `NOW we'll understand what Nash did.`
He was naturally skeptical. He would have been an important
validator of Nash's work. But as the lecture went on, my God,
Hopf was befuddled himself. He couldn't convey a complete
picture. He was completely overwhelmeddd046
Several years later, Jargen Moser tried to get Nash to explain
how he had overcome the difficulties that Levinson had originally
pointed out. "I did not learn so much from him. When he talked,
he was vague, hand waving, `You have to control this. You have to
watch out for that.` You couldn't follow him. But his written
paper was complete and correCtdd047
Federer not only edited Nash's paper to make it more accessible,
but also was the first to convince the mathematical community
that Nash's theorem was indeed correct. Martin's surprise
proposal, in the early part of 1953, to offer Nash a permanent
faculty position set off a storm of controversy among the
eighteen-member mathe-were matics
faCU-LTYDD41
Levinson and Wiener were among Nash's strongest
--------------------------------------------------------------398
supporters. But others, like Warren Ambrose and George Whitehead,
the distinguished topolob gist, were opposed. Moore
Instructorships weren't meant to lead to tenure-trAk positions.
More to the point, Nash had made plenty of enemies and few
friends, in
163
his first year and a half His disdainful manner toward his   A398
colleagues and his poor record as a teacher rubbed many the wrong
way.
Mostly, however, Nash's opponents were of the opinion that he
hadn't proved he could produce. Whitehead recalled, "He talked
big. Some of us were not sure he could live up to his claimsdd049
Ambrose, not surprisingly, felt similarly, Even Nash's champions
could not have been completely certain. Flatto remembered one
occasion on which Nash came to Levinson's office to ask Levinson
whether he'd read a draft of his embedding paper. Levinson said,
"To tell you the truth I don't have enough background in this
area to pass judgment."",
When Nash finally succeeded, Ambrose did what a fine
mathematician and sterling human being would do. His applause was
as loud as or louder than anyone
--------------------------------------------------------------399
else's. The bantering became friendlier and, among other things,
Ambrose took to telling his musical friends that Nash's whistling
was the purest, most beautiful tone he had ever heard
.51
PART TWO
Separate Lives
Nash was leadingall these separate lives Completely separate
lives
comARTHUR MA-NVCK,
1997
ALL
THROUGH HIS CHILDHOOD,
adolescence, and brilliant student career, Nash had seemed
largely to live inside his own head, immune to the emotional
forces that bind people together. His overriding interest was in
patterns, not people, and his greatest need was making sense of
the chaos within and without by em ploying, to the largest
possible extent, the resources of his own powerful, fearless,
fertile mind. His apparent lack of ordinary human needs was, if
anything, a matter of pride and satisfaction to him, confirming
his own uniqueness. He thought of himself as a rationalist, a
free thinker, a sort of Spock of the starship
--------------------------------------------------------------400
Enterprise.
But now, as he entered early adulthood, this unfettered persona
was shown to be partly a fiction or at least partly superseded.
In those first years at MIT, he discovered that he had some of
the same wishes as others. The cerebral, playful, calculating,
and episodic connections that had once sufficed no longer served.
In five short years, between the ages of twenty-four and
twenty-nine, Nash became emotionally involved with at least three
other men. He acquired and then abandoned a secret mistress who
bore his child. And he courted -- or rather was courted by -- a
woman who became his wife. As these initial intimate connections
multiplied and became ever-present elements in his consciousness,
Nash's formerly solitary but coherent existence became at once
richer and more discontinuous, separate and parallel existences
that reflected an emerging adult but a fragmented and
contradictory self. The others on whom he now depended       A400
occupied different compartments of his life and often, for long
periods, knew nothing of one another or of the nature of the
others' relation to Nash. Only Nash was in the know. His life
resembled a play in which successive scenes are acted by only two
characters.
--------------------------------------------------------------401
One character is in all of them while the second changes from
scene to scene. The second character seems no longer to exist
when he disappears from the boards.
More than a decade later, when he was already ill, Nash himself
provided a metaphor for his life during the MIT years, a metaphor
that he couched in his first language, the language of
mathematics: B squared plus RTF equals 0, a "very personal"
equation Nash included in a 1968 postcard that begins, "Dear
Mattuck, Thinking 168 A BEAUTIFUL MIND
that you will understand this concept better than most I wish to
explain The equation represents a three-dimensional hyperspace,
which has a singularity at the origin, in four-dimensional space.
Nash is the singularity, the special point, and the other
variables are people who affected him -- in this instance, men
with whom he had friendships or relationships.` Inevitably, the
accretion of significant relationships with others brings with it
demands for integration comthe necessity of having to choose.
Nash had little desire to choose one emotional connection over
another. By not choosing, he could avoid, or at least minimize,
both dependence and demands.
--------------------------------------------------------------402
To satisfy his own emotional needs for connectedness meant he
inevitably made others look to him to satisfy theirs. Yet while
he was preoccupied with the effect of others on him, he mostly
ignored -- indeed, seemed unable to grasp -- his effect on
others. He had in fact no more sense of "the Other"than does a
very young child. He wished the others to be satisfied with his
genius-1 thought I was such a great mathematician," he was to say
ruefully, looking back at this period comand, of course, to some
extent they were satisfied. But when people inevitably wanted or
needed more he found the strains unbearable.
Santa Monica, Summer 1952
Away from contact with a few specisl sorts ofindividuals Ism
lost, lost completely in the wildemess... so, so, so, i6 been a
h3rd life in many ways.
comJOHN FoRBE's NASH, JR.,
1965
AFTER
JOHN NASH LOST EVERYTHING- family, career, the ability to think
about mathematics comhe confided in a letter to his sister Martha
that only three individuals in his life had ever brought him any
--------------------------------------------------------------403
real happiness: three "special sorts of individuals"with whom he
had formed "special friendships."`
Had Martha seen the Beatles' film
A Hard Dqy Night?
"They seem very colorful and amusingea"he wrote. "Of course they
are much younger like the sort of person I've                A403
mentioned.... I feel often as if I were similar to the girls that
love the Beatles so wildly since they seem so attractive and
amusing to me."`
Nash's first loves were one-sided and unrequited. "Nash was
always forming intense friendships with men that had a romantic
qualityea"Donald Newman observed in 1996. "He was very
adolescent, always with the boys."` Some were inclined to see
Nash's infatuations as "experimentsea"or simple expressions of
his immaturity coma view that he may well have held himself. "He
played around with it because he liked to play around. He was
very experimental, very try-outishea"said Newman in 1996. "Mostly
he just kisseddd0bled
Newman, who liked to joke about his past and future female
conquests,` had firsthand knowledge because Nash was, for a time,
infatuated with him-with predictable
--------------------------------------------------------------404
results. "He used to talk about how Donald looked all the
timeea"Mrs. Newman said in 1996.6 Newman recalled: "He tried
fiddling around with me. I was driving my car when he came on to
medd"D.J. and Nash were cruising around in Newman's white
Thunderbird when Nash kissed him on the mouth. D.J. just laughed
it offdd7
Nash's first experience of mutual attraction com"special
friendshipsea"z he called them-occurred in Santa Monica.` It was
the very end of the summer of 1952,
after Milnor had moved out and Martha had flown back home. The
encounter must have been fleeting, coming in the last days of
August, just before he was due to leave for Boston, and very
furtive. But it was nonetheless decisive because for the first
time he found not rejection but reciprocity. Thus it was the
first real step out of his extreme emotional isolation and the
world of relationships that were purely imaginary, a first taste
of intimacy, not entirely happy, no doubt, but suggestive of
hitherto unsuspected satisfactions.
The only traces of Nash's friendship with Ervin Thorson that
remain are his description of him as a
--------------------------------------------------------------405
"special"friend in his 1965 letter and a series of elliptical
references to Tin letters in the late 1960'sdd9 Few if any of
Nash's acquaintances met him; Martha recalled a friend of Nash's
who once spent the night on the couch of their Georgina Avenue
apartment, but not his name. 10 Thorson, who died in 1992, was
thirty years old in 1952.11 He was a native Californian of
Scandinavian extraction. Nash described him to Martha as an
aerospace engineer, but he may in fact have been an applied
mathematician. He had been a meteorologist in the Army Air Corps
during the war. Afterward, he earned a master's degree in
mathematics at UCLA and went to Douglas Aircraft in 1951, just a
few years after Douglas had spun off its RandD division to form
the RAND Corporationdd12 At that time, Douglas was mapping the
future of interplanetary travel for the Pentagon, and Thorson,
who eventually led a research team, was very likely involved in
these efforts." His great passion, conceived twenty years before
the United States launched                                   A405
Viking,
was the dream of exploring Mars, his sister Nelda Troutman
recalled in 1997.
--------------------------------------------------------------406
Thorson was, his sister said, "very high strong, not a social
person at all, very bright, knew a lot, very very academic."
14
Nash could easily have met him -- given the close ties between
Douglas and RAND, which was also heavily involved in studies of
space exploration comat a talk or seminar, or perhaps even at one
of the parties that John Williams, the head of RAND's mathematics
department, gave.
If Thorson, who never married, was a homosexual, his surviving
sister did not know itdd"With his family, at any rate, he was
unusually closemouthed, not just about his work, which was highly
classified, but about all aspects of his personal
life. 16
Given the mounting pressure to root out homosexuals in the
defense industry during the McCarthy era, Thorson would have had
to practice great discretion in any case; his career at Douglas
was to last for another fifteen years." When he abruptly resigned
from Douglas in 1968, he apparently did so at the age of
fortyseven because he feared dying. Several of his colleagues had
--------------------------------------------------------------407
recently died of heart attacks and Thorson, who had some sort of
mild heart condition, decided he couldn't cope with the stress
and overwork anymore. He moved back to his hometown of Pomona and
became a virtual recluse except for an active involvement in the
Lutheran church, living with his parents for the next twenty-five
years until his death.
Whether Nash and Thorson saw each other again when Nash returned
A Special Friendship
171
to Santa Monica for a third summer two years later or on one of
his trips to Santa Monica during his illness in the early and
mid-1960's is not known. But Nash continued to think of Thorson
and to refer to him obliquely until at least
1968.
These mathematicians are very exclusive. They occupya very high
terrain, from which they look down on everyone else. That makes
their relationships with women quite problematic. -- ZIPPORAH
LEVINSON, 1995
ASH WAS BACK in Boston in his old quarters by Labor Day. Number
407 Beacon Street was
--------------------------------------------------------------408
an imposing brick row house built before the turn of the century
facing the Charles.` Its current owner, Mrs. Austin Grant, was
the widow of a Back Bay physician. She liked to point out her
home's opulent features to her lodgers, such as the carriage room
where its original owners once waited for their horsedrawn
carriages to be brought around. And she often bemoaned the
neighborhood's decline. "Don't leave your bags on the street
while you come in; they might not be there when you come out
againea"she said to Nash the day he moved in.                A408
Nash occupied one of the front bedrooms, a large, comfortably
furnished room with a fireplace. Lindsay Russell, a young
engineer who had recently graduated from MIT, lived next door.
Mrs. Grant regularly took Russell aside to remark on Nash's
idiosyncrasies. Nash acquired a huge set of barbells and began
lifting weights. When Nash made the dining-room chandelier, which
hung directly below his bedroom, vibrate with his exertions, Mrs.
Grant would say, "What does he think this is? A gymnasium""Nash's
mail also received comment, particularly the postcards from his
mother expressing the
--------------------------------------------------------------409
hope, as Russell recalled, that "in addition to the pursuit of
mathematics and other intellectual pursuits, he would make
friends and engage in social activities."
With one single exception, however, Nash never had any visitors.
Russell remembers once waking up in the middle of the night.
There was a sound coming from Nash's room. It was a giggle. The
giggle of a woman.
The pretty, dark-haired nurse who admitted Nash to the hospital
on the second Thursday in September was named Eleanor.` He was
due to have some varicose veins removed I and seemed awfully
nervous -- and young, more like a student than a professorddbled
Eleanor knew his doctor to be a notorious incompetent.` And a
drunk. She was curious how an MIT professor had wound up with a
quack like that. Nash told her that he'd chosen the doctor at
random by closing his eyes and running his 173
fingers down the list of physicians in the lobby. She felt, she
recalled, rather protective of him. Nash was on the ward for only
a couple of days. Eleanor thought he was cute and sort of sweet,
but when he left, she hardly expected to see him again.
--------------------------------------------------------------410
Somehow or other, they bumped into each other on the street not
long afterward. It was a Saturday afternoon and Eleanor was on
her way to meet a friend to buy herself a good winter coat. "I
didn't chase him. He chased me. He kept pestering meea"Eleanor
recalled, "I wound up going shopping with
hiMdd06
They walked over to Jay's Department Store together. Nash
followed her up to the coat department, which was on the second
floor. He kept staring at her, not saying much, waiting for her
to choose a coat. She started to enjoy herself "John was very
attractiveea"Eleanor recalled, laughing. "When I saw him, I
thought he was something specialdd"She began pointing to the ones
she wanted to try on, and with elaborate courtesy he held out
each coat for her to slip into. She thought she liked a purple
one best. Nash started clowning around. He pretended he was her
tailor, flung himself on his knees before her, loudly made
believe he was measuring her coat for alterations comand
generally made a fool of himself Embarrassed, Eleanor blushed,
protested, and tried to hush him up. "Get up quickff"she
whispered. Secretly, however, she was quite thrilled.


At twenty-nine, Eleanor was an attractive, hardworking,       411
tenderhearted woman. A friend of Nash's later described her as
"dark and pretty, quite shy, a good person"of "ordinary
intelligenceea"with "simple manners"and "a very peculiar way of
speakingdd07 By that the friend meant that her accent was pure
New England. Life hadn't been very kind to her. She'd grown up in
Jamaica Plain, a dreary blue-collar section of Boston.` She'd had
a hardscrabble childhood, a harsh mother, and the burden, far too
heavy for a young girl, of caring for a younger half-brother. She
missed a great deal of school as a result. She was, on the whole,
grateful to be able to take up a profession, practical nursing,
that she enjoyed and that provided her with steady work. Her
mother died of tuberculosis when Eleanor was eighteen. Her early
experiences endowed her with a soft heart. She had a deep
appreciation, which stayed with her all her life, for what it was
like to be poor and vulnerable. It brought out a tenderness in
her, toward patients, neighbors, other people's children, and
stray animals. She was the kind of woman who, later in life,
would literally give coats to strangers and invite people who had
nowhere else to stay into her homedd9
--------------------------------------------------------------412
Shy and lacking confidence, Eleanor also tended to be suspicious
and guarded, especially around men. She said, in an interview, "I
wasn't a bad girl. I didn't run around with a lot of men. In
fact, I was really good. I was a little afraid of men. I didn't
want to be involved with them sexually. I thought it was kind of
disgustingdd010 But Nash disarmed her from the start. Yes, he was
an MIT professor, yes, he came from an upper-class sort of
background, yes, he did top-secret work for the government. But
he was also very young, five years Eleanor's junior, and
there was a sweetness about him, a lack of guile. She sensed,
moreover, that he was, if anything, less experienced than she
was.
After that Saturday afternoon, Nash took her out for cheap meals
and drove her around in his beat-up car. He talked about himself,
his work, the department, his friends comendlessly. He hardly
asked her anything about herself, something that relieved rather
than distressed her. She wasn't eager to share the rather
dispiriting details of her modest background, particularly as
Nash hinted that his own ancestry was rather distinguished. He
pressed her to let him come up to her apartment. She wouldn't let
him at first. She didn't want to seem easy. But
--------------------------------------------------------------413
she finally agreed to go to his place. She found him eager,
ardent, but not frightening.
That Nash, who had preferred dancing with chairs to dancing with
girls as an adolescent and who had given the pretty Ruth Hincks
not so much as a real glance, progressed so swiftly and had so
suddenly and at that particular moment found his way into a
woman7's arms suggests either love at first sight or some
resolution "to take the plungedd"The encounter with Thorson might
have provided the impetus. Nash may have been looking to repeat a
loving experience, or he may have been looking for confirmation
of his own "masculinitydd"On a number of occasions he asked
Eleanor to provide him with steroids. "There were always     A413
big bottles of stuff around the places I worked as a nurseea"said
Eleanordd"Alth she later said that she never acceded to Nash's
requests, she believed that "he delved into drugs"hoping that
they "would make him more manly.0"He wasn't proving his interest
in women to the world, however; he kept his liaison with Eleanor
a deep dark secret for years, even while he displayed his
infatuation with various men more or less in public.
Caught up as he was with teaching, seminars, and work on his
embedding problem that fall, Nash nonetheless
--------------------------------------------------------------414
managed to see Eleanor frequently. He confided in her. He enjoyed
being alone with her. He liked going over to her place and having
her cook him dinner. She cooked very well. She fussed over him.
Most of all, she was womanly, full of warmth and artless
affection. For Nash, who had never even known a woman other than
his mother and sister, it was a novel experience.
As for the gulf between their educations and social statuses,
what more time-, honored formula for romance and eventual
marriage than Eliza Doolittle meeti Professor Higgins? For
Eleanor, Nash was a chance for a life she could not possibly have
achieved on her own; for Nash, she was the prospect of retaining,
to put it bluntly, the upper hand. It was a compelling fantasy
and a highly practical arrangement rolled into one. And the same
thing went for the difference in temperaments. Matches between
egocentric and childish men and self-abnegating and maternal
women abound in the history of genius. Nash was looking for
emotional partners who were more interested in giving than
receiving, and Eleanor, as her entire life testified, was very
much that sort.
Nash thought about introducing Eleanor to his mathematical
friends and about taking her around to one of the
--------------------------------------------------------------415
department parties. But he decided against
it. The fact that nobody at MIT knew that Eleanor existed made
the affair even more delicious.
By election day in early November, Eleanor strongly suspected
that she was pregnant. On Thanksgiving, when she invited Nash to
come to her place, she was absolutely certain, having missed a
second period by then.
Nash seemed, oddly enough, more pleased than panicked." He seemed
proud of fathering a child. In fact, he made it clear that he
found the notion of progeny quite attractive. (Later, when such
things became fashionable, he talked about joining a sperm bank
for geniuses in California.)
14
He hoped that the baby would be a boy. He wanted the baby to be
called John. He did not, however, say anything about marriage,
Eleanor's future, or, for that matter, how she and the baby would
manage. Eleanor hardly knew what to make of his reaction. She had
hoped, of course, that he would see the pregnancy
as a
crisis to be solved by an offer of marriage. When

this was not forthcoming, she did her best to hide her        416
disappointment from him. She comforted herself with the thought
that he was, after all, a remarkable young man. She told herself
that, of course, he loved her and would do the right thing "in
the end." In any case, she found that the idea of having a baby
made her feel quite sentimental. The subject of an abortion --
illegal but available if one had the money comnever came up.
Before long, however, the relationship between the lovers lost
its playful and lighthearted quality. That winter, Eleanor was
often tense and tired. She fretted a great deal about the
symptoms of pregnancy and the long hours at the hospital. Nash's
mind was, more often than not, elsewhere. Soon, he and Eleanor
were engaged in a tug of war that occasionally turned quite ugly.
When Eleanor irritated him with her complaints, Nash would needle
her. He called her stupid and ignorant. He made fun of her
pronunciation. He reminded her that she was five years older.
Mostly, however, he made fun of her desire to marry him. An MIT
professor, he would say, needed a woman who was his intellectual
equal. "He was always putting me down," she
--------------------------------------------------------------417
recalled. "He was always making me feel inferior."
15
She, in turn, began to resent what she called his superior airs
and lack of sensitivity. Their evenings together frequently
degenerated into nasty spats. Eleanor, a friend of Nash's later
reported, once complained that Nash had pushed her down a flight
of stairs."
But there were also tender moments comwhen, for example, Nash
told her that he liked the way she looked with her big belly
comand Eleanor's feelings about Nash were, on the whole, loving.
She was convinced that he loved her and would do right by the
baby, whom he seemed to be looking forward to with great
eagerness. She still recalled that period of their relationship
as "beautiful."
17
She excused his
cruelty by telling herself that it was occasional, that "he
didn't know how to livedd"She put it down to his having achieved
extraordinary success at too young an age. "That can be
overwhelmingea"she later said." In the late spring when she could
no longer work, Eleanor moved into a home for unwed mothers.
Around that
--------------------------------------------------------------418
time, Nash finally introduced her to one of his friends from MIT,
a graduate student. 19 Eleanor took this as an encouraging sign.
John David Stier was born on June 19, 1953, six days after Nash's
twenty-fifth birthday. Nash rushed to the hospital and was
greatly excited when Eleanor presented him with their sondd10 He
stayed as long as the nurses would let him and came back at every
opportunity. But he did not offer to put his name on his son's
birth certificateea"and he did not offer to pay for the baby's
delivery."
Mother and son came home to an apartment Nash had moved to on
Park Drive. It wasn't a happy homecoming. Nash wouldn't buy any
baby clothes, Eleanor recalled. "He didn't want us to        A418
stay," she said years later. Eleanor finally managed to find a
live-in position with an employer who would let her keep her
infant with herdd"Despite the employer's insistence on "no male
visitorsea"Nash came over frequently. "He wanted to be around him
all the timeea"Eleanor recalleddd14 But he still did not offer to
marry Eleanor or to support her, although his professor's salary
and frugal habits surely
--------------------------------------------------------------419
would have made that possible.
His visits eventually resulted in Eleanor's being fireddd"The
simultaneous loss of her job and her living arrangements created
an immediate crisis. With Nash still unwilling to care for her
and the baby, Eleanor was finally forced to place John David in
foster caredd26
Like some hapless heroine of a Victorian melodrama, Eleanor left
her baby with a series of families, one in Rhode Island, another
in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and, finally, at an orphanage whose
sentimental name, the New England Home for Little Wanderers, only
underscored the Dickensian realities into which she and her son
were plungeddd"Founded during the Civil War, the home was on the
southern outskirts of Boston, across the Charles River from the
Veterans' Hospital, a good hour by bus from her apartment in
Brookline. Eleanor visited her son on Saturdays and Sundays. John
Stier remembers standing in the stairwell landing there, peering
out of the window, feeling a terrible loneliness and
homesicknessdd21 Sometimes she brought him back to her apartment
where she kept a large supply of toys and baby booksdd19
Being separated from the baby nearly drove Eleanor
--------------------------------------------------------------420
mad. More than anything that had gone on before, it made her feel
real bitterness toward Nash, who, she believed, left all the
anguish and the worry to her and gave no sign that he understood,
even remotely, what such a separation might mean for a mother or
her child. "I should have been home to take care of himea"Eleanor
said in 1995.ea"ful worried. [Nash] never worried.""
Yet the affair continued. They visited the baby, wherever he was,
on Sundays. Eleanor came over to Nash's apartment and cooked and,
when he demanded it, cleaned for him. Nash also went around to
her place for meals." He continued to oscillate between sweetness
and outbursts of cruelty. He continued to keep his affair with
Eleanor under wraps, told no one at first except Jack Bricker,
who was enjoined to keep the secret. "He never told anyone about
us," said Eleanor, still unable to fathom his behaviordd"Most of
the MIT mathematics community, in fact, did not learn of the
existence of his first family until years later.
When John David was a year old, Nash introduced Eleanor to
another friend in the department, Arthur Mattuck, without,
however, revealing the baby's existencedd"He and Eleanor
sometimes had
--------------------------------------------------------------421
Mattuck, who seemed to like Eleanor, over to dinner. They told
Mattuck afterward that they always had a good laugh after he left
because Mattuck never noticed all the baby things around the
apartment. It was, to say the least, a strange state of      A421
affairs.
Or was it? Eleanor was in love with Nash. "People told me never
to see him again `"said she. "It's better if you have a normal
man. Not one who's all puffed up by his own importance. One of my
friends said that you didn't see a thing in his face. It was I
ike a dead person. I didn't think so, though."
14
She mused many years later: "Did I love him? I wouldn't have gone
with someone I didn't love. He was awkward. His awkwardness
seemed standoffish. But ... he could be very sweet. He was very
attractive in a way. Love is foolish."" As late as 19 5 5 and 19
56, after Nash introduced Mattuck to Eleanor, Eleanor's attitude
toward Nash was "adoringdd"Mattuck recalled: "Eleanor realized
Nash was a total egoist, but she was dazzled by his brilliance.
He thought he was a genius. She was sleeping with one of the
--------------------------------------------------------------422
smartest men in America. Did he love her? She didn't know. She
didn't ask. In those days, it wasn't 'Talk to me! If you slept
with a man, you assumed he loved yoUdd016
Eleanor also continued to hope that Nash would marry her, if only
for the sake of their son. Nash wasn't, she was sure, seeing
another woman. Nash's failure to disappear from her life, despite
his tantrums and complaints about her, must have seemed to
Eleanor powerful evidence that he did, after all, love her, and
would ultimately come around. How else to explain her
passivity-her unhappy acceptance, but acceptance nonetheless, of
his refusal to pay for her and the baby's support comuntil it
was, as it were, too late, until a rival appeared on the scene?
She might have threatened him with exposure, or with a lawsuit,
but, because she believed he would marry her eventually, she
feared alienating him and thus ruining her chances for good. It
was only much later, in 1956, after Eleanor discovered that Nash
was having an affair with an MIT physics student and concluded
that he intended to marry the girl compossibly even before Nash
himself reached that decision -- that she took more aggressive
action.
Nash's behavior is a bit more mysterious. Why
--------------------------------------------------------------423
did he keep coming around, even though he had reached the
conclusion that Eleanor wasn't good enough for him or his social
circle? Perhaps he simply hadn't made up his mind. In the late
summer of 1954, for example, he was carrying a photograph of
Eleanor and John
David in his wallet, and he told at least one person, "This is
the woman I plan to marry and our son."
17
Perhaps he felt that the decision to have the child was strictly
Eleanor's. Quite possibly, Eleanor's passivity in the face of his
own bad behavior might have signaled to him that she was content
to be his mistress and resigned to living apart from her child.
Perhaps each, by his or her actions, misled the other. Vhether
Nash ever intended to marry Eleanor is a matter of dispute.
Arthur Mattuck believes he did, but that he was talked out of it
by Bricker.`,, Bricker's recollection differs radically.     A423
He remembers having tried to persuade Nash but said that "Nash's
mind was made updd019 We aren't likely to learn which account is
the more accurate. Perhaps both were, at different points in
time. Nash didn't marry Eleanor, despite his stated
--------------------------------------------------------------424
intentions on at least one occasion.
One likely reason was Nash's snobbery, the roots of which went
back to his Bluefield upbringing. Not for him a wife, however
adoring, who pronounced words incorrectly, whose manners were
simple, and whose sense of social inferiority would have made it
difficult for her to mingle comfortably with the other wives in
the Cambridge mathematical community. Unconventional as he was,
Nash's obsession with class and surface propriety were as strong
as his father's. This certainly was Eleanor's perception, and
while that perception was no doubt colored by resentment, it
seems accurate.
It wasn't only social snobbery, though. Nash didn't believe that
Eleanor was educated enough to be a good mother to his children.
His own mother was a schoolteacher who devoted a great deal of
time to seeing that her children spoke grammatically, after all.
Moreover, he may simply have found Eleanor boring, a thesis that
Arthur Mattuck put forward and that gains some credence from the
fact that Nash ultimately married a young woman who never cooked
but possessed a degree in physics and career ambitions. Eleanor
said as much: "He wanted to marry a real intellectual girl. He
wanted to marry somebody
--------------------------------------------------------------425
in the same capacity as he
wasdd040
Vvtever went through Nash's mind regarding marriage in the four
years that Eleanor was his mistress, he did at one point make a
proposal that suggested that he had made up his mind he wouldn't
marry her.
Nash suggested to Eleanor that she give John David up for
adoption. He more or less told her openly that John David would
be better off if she gave him up. "He wanted to have John
adoptedea"Eleanor later said bitterly. "`We'd always know where
he was,` he'd saydd041
It was a cold-blooded suggestion, and it all but killed any
remaining love Eleanor felt for Nash. One only hopes that among
Nash's considerations in putting it forward -- apart from
eliminating any financial responsibility he might face for his
child, which prompted Eleanor to say that Nash "wanted everything
for nothing"-
179
might have been a genuine belief that John David's chances in
life would be greater with some middle-class couple than with his
single, working mother.
--------------------------------------------------------------426
"Eveyybody wanted himea"Eleanor recalled. "Some people even
offered me a lot of money to let them have him. It was
frightening. There were these wealthy people who were taking care
of John David. They were going to move to California. If they'd
gone to California, I would never have seen him againdd041   A426
For the first six years of John David's life, during which time
the little boy was shifted from home to home, father and son saw
each other from time to time. One photograph, taken in what
appears to be a city park, of the two-year-old with his long face
framed by a woolen hat with funny flaps, standing tall like a
little soldier, hand in hand with his sweet-faced,
girlish-looking mother, bareheaded, wearing a trim woolen coat,
smiling into the eyes of the camera held, no doubt, by her ]over,
evokes the flavor of these brief visits. "She shouldn't have had
a baby, she shouldn't have been so gullibleea"John Stier later
said
'41
but somehow, looking at the evidence of that scene, it is
impossible for him, or anyone else, to deny the feeling that this
little trio, out on a Sunday outing, was indeed a family in every
sense but a legal one. Nash displayed a rather curious
inconsistency in his
--------------------------------------------------------------427
attitude and behavior toward his son, At the time of his birth,
he had reacted in neither of the ways one might have expected of
a young man confronted with the pregnancy of a woman with whom he
has recently begun sleeping, eschewing both the high road that
would have led to a shotgun wedding, as well as the more commonly
elected low road of flat-out denying his paternity and simply
vanishing from his girlfriend's life.
He doubtless behaved selfishly, even callously. His son and
others later attributed his acknowledgment of paternity and
desire to maintain a bond, even while failing to protect his
child from poverty and periodic separation from his mother, to a
pure narcissism. But even if this is partly true, it is natural
to conclude, that Nash, like the rest of us, needed to love and
to be loved, and that a tiny, helpless infant, his son, drew him
irresistibly.
In 1959, when Nash suddenly disappeared from John David's life
altogether, a badly wrapped, broken-up package arrived one day
containing
a smashed
but beautifully made wooden airplane, "a lovely thing," as John
David later recalled. "There was no return address, or note or
--------------------------------------------------------------428
anything, but I knew it was from my fatherdd014 I
1ASH MET JACK BRICKER
in the fall of 1952 in the MIT common room. Bricker, a first-year
graduate student from New York, knew Newman and some of the
others from City College's math table and quickly became one of
the regulars in the common room)
just two years Nash's junior, Bricker was immediately dazzled by
Nash. He was "mesmerized,0"hypnotizedea"and "enamoredea"a few of
the words contemporaries used to describe his reaction to Nash.
Bricker "was overwhelmed by Nash's smartness "Mattuck said in
1997. "Nash was the smartest person he'd ever met. He worshiped
Nash's intellect."` It wasn't only Nash's intellect, though. It
was everything else too: the southern breeding, Princeton
pedigree, good looks, and selfconfidence. Bricker, by        A428
contrast, was short, skinny, full of angst.` He had grown up poor
in Brooklyn; he still dressed badly, was often broke, and fretted
over his lack of experience with girls. Although he was
undeniably bright comthe logician Emil Post considered him the
best mathematician in his class at
--------------------------------------------------------------429
City comhis self-doubt bordered on the pathological. "There's no
hope"and "It's useless" were his most-oftenused expressions. Yet
he was endearing in his own way. His sense of humor comdark,
self-deprecating, very New York comwas always on tap even when he
was depressed, which was much of the time. People liked talking
to him because he was interested, acute, and responsive. Awkward
as he was, he had a way of putting others at their ease. He was,
as Gus Solomon once described him, "the world's greatest
audience."
Perhaps for this reason, Bricker caught Nash's eye. Nash, usually
so disdainful of lesser minds, made a point of getting Bricker
off by himself. Bricker liked to play Lasker coma board game
named after a chess champion that became popular in the late
1940's comand Nash started playing with him. "We became Lasker
partnersea"said
Bricker in 1997. "That's how we got to know each otherdd0bled
Soon they were taking long, aimless rides in Nash's Studebaker,
with Nash behind the wheel, playing with the back of Bricker's
neck as he drove. I They became friends comand then more than
friends. Donald Newman and the rest of the MIT crowd
--------------------------------------------------------------430
watched Nash and Bricker with amused tolerance and concluded that
the two were having a romancedd6 "They were importantly
interested in each otherea"Newman said; they made no secret of
Ja Ck
their affection, kissing in front of other peop] Cdd7
"Bricker hero-worshiped Johnea"Eleanor recalled. "He was always
hanging around. They were always patting each other."` Nash
himself, in his 1965 letter, described his relationship with
Bricker as one of three "special friendships"in his lifedd9 The
special friendship with Bricker lasted, on and off, for nearly
five years until Nash married.
Once Nash had told Herta Newman, Donald's wife, that he realized
"there was something that happened between people that he didn't
experience.0"What was missing from Nash's life, to a singular
degree, was what the biographer of another genius called "the
strong force that binds people together." Now he knew what that
was.
It was this sense of vital connection that Nash referred to in
his letter to Martha when it dawned on him that away from special
sorts of individuals, the Brickers in his life, young men who
were "colorful,0"amusingea"and
--------------------------------------------------------------431
"attractive," he was "lost, lost, lost completely in the
wilderness ... condemned to a hard hard hard life in many
waysdd011
The experience of loving and being loved subtly altered Nash's
perception of himself and the possibilities open to him.     A431
He was no longer an observer in the game of life, but an active
participant. He was no longer a thinking machine whose sole joys
were cerebral. Yet his was not a passionate nature. Love, though
thrilling, did not suddenly banish detachment, irony, and the
desire for autonomy, but merely served to modulate them. Nor did
it banish other compelling imperatives such as his desire for
fatherhood and family. Nash did not think of himself as a
homosexual. Alfred Kinsey's report on the sexual behavior of
white American men was published, amid great publicity, in 1948
when Nash was a graduate student at Princeton, and Nash was no
doubt aware of its conclusion that a large fraction of
heterosexual men had, at one time or another, same-sex
relationships." Besides, he was ambitious, and he wished to
succeed on societys terms. He carried on as before. Even as his
emotional involvement with Bricker grew, be continued
--------------------------------------------------------------432
to see Eleanor and continued to weigh the pros and cons of
marrying her.
The relationship between Nash and Bricker was not an especially
happy one. Nash revealed more of his private self to Bricker than
he had to any human being. But each act of self-exposure
stimulated a defensive, self-protective reaction. Nash wrapped
himself, as be later wrote to Martha with considerable regret, in
the mantle of his own superiority to Bricker, the mantle of "the
great mathematician."
14
He took to belittling Bricker just as he belittled Eleanor. "He
was beautifully sweet one moment and very bitter the
nextea"Bricker recalled in 1997.11
For most of that first year, Bricker was completely unaware of
Eleanor's existence, like everyone else at MIT, At the end of the
spring term, Nash finally let Bricker in on his secret, telling
him in somewhat melodramatic tones, "I have a mistressdd"Nash
even engineered a meeting between the two, Bricker recalled, just
weeks before Eleanor was due to give birth.
The revelation of a competitor for Nash's affections
--------------------------------------------------------------433
produced more strains. Among other things, Bricker grew
increasingly disturbed by, and critical of, Nash's treatment of
Eleanor, he later said. He, Eleanor, and Nash would have dinner
together in Nash's apartment, and Bricker became a frequent
witness to what he later called Nash's "mean streak" and temper
tantrums. When Bricker tried to intervene Nash would lash out at
him. To make things even more difficult, Eleanor began turning to
Bricker for sympathy and advice. She would call him to complain
about Nash's treatment of her.
Nash could indulge in jealousy himself. Jerome Neuwirth had
dinner with Nash and Bricker and some other mathematicians in
Boston in early August 1956. Neuwirth, a graduate student, had
arrived at MIT that day and was particularly pleased to see
Bricker, whom he knew from City. He recalled the evening vividly:
"They weren't embracing, but they were always looking at each
other. Nash was very hostile. He kept throwing angry looks at me.
He couldn't stand anyone talking to Bricker."                A433
16
The relationship with Nash "was a very disturbing
thing"ffBricker, said Neuwirth. "Bricker
--------------------------------------------------------------434
didn't know what to do. He was having a terrible timedd"Mrs.
Neuwirth advised him to see a psychiatrist.
And the very thing that had attracted him so powerfully in the
first place, Nash's genius, only heightened Bricker's sense of
inadequacy. That first year, Bricker managed to perform
reasonably well in his courses. But later he was hardly able to
work." He dropped courses. He finally managed to pass his
preliminary exams in November 1954, but his ability to
concentrate on his courses had all but evaporated at that point.
However, he waited until February 1957, by which time Nash was
away on sabbatical, before dropping out of graduate school and
relinquishing his dream of becoming an academic. Nash's game was
just too painful to play any longer.
They saw each other for the last time in 1967 in Los Angeles,
where Bricker was working in private industry. By that time
Bricker was married, and Nash was terribly ill. "He was very
wildea"recalled Bricker in 1997. "He sent me a lot of letters.
They were pretty disturbing.""
Only one postcard, unsigned and dated August 3, 1967,
surviveddd19 The only message
--------------------------------------------------------------435
is "No to No"and presumably came after Bricker had told Nash
"Nodd"Af that, Nash's constant references to Bricker suggest both
Bricker's importance comBricker is always B to some power, 2 or
22- and Nash's resentment. "Dear Mattuckine, It has obviously
been Mr. B who has caused me the largest personal injury," he
wrote to Mattuck in 1968.11 But even then, there are sad notes of
regret. "All along since 1967 I've been afraid to write to
Bricker except in an indirect fashion. As yet this trouble
persists however the reasons why change. There is a feeling of
impropriety, etc."
Jack
183
Traces of past affection, however, remained. In 1997, by which
time Bricker
himself was ill and in virtual isolation, his first questions
were "How is Nash? Is he better?0"B he was unwilling to talk much
about his past relationship with Nash. "I don't want to discuss
it furtherea"he said."
Pdd4ND, Summer 1954
INETEEN FIFTY-FOUR
--------------------------------------------------------------436
was to be Nash's last summer at RAND.` After an episode that
captured some of the most vicious currents of an increasingly
paranoid and intolerant era, RAND abruptly withdrew Nash's
security clearance, canceled his consulting contract, and
effectively banned him from the select community of Cold War
intellectuals.
That August,
The Evening Outlook                                          A436
was full of the Senate's censure of Joe McCarthy, the polio
epidemic in the Malibu Bay area, and the news that LA's noxious
smog resulted from the chemical action of sunshine on auto
exhaUS-TDD2
Meanwhile, a heat wave drew tens of thousands of Angelenos to the
Santa Monica beaches.` Nash, too, was drawn to the beachddbled He
spent hours at a time walking on the sand or along the promenade
in Palisades Park, watching the bodybuilders on Muscle Beach, the
crowds on the pier, the surfers nearby. He rarely swam. He
preferred to watch and ruminate. Quite often he would still be
walking past midnight.
One morning at the very end of the month, the head of
--------------------------------------------------------------437
RAND's security detail got a call from the Santa Monica police
station,` which, as it happened, wasn't far from RAND's new
headquarters on the far side of Main. It seemed that two cops in
vice, one decoy and one arresting officer named John Otto
Mattsonea6 had picked up a young guy in a men's bathroom in
Palisades Park in the very early morning. He had been arrested,
charged with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor, and releaseddd7
The man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, claimed that he
was a mathematician employed by RAND. Was he?
The RAND lieutenant immediately confirmed that Nash was indeed a
RAND employee. He took down the details of the arrest, thanked
the cop for the backchannel heads-up, and, as soon as he'd hung
up the phone, practically ran down the hall to the office of
Richard Best, RAND's manager of security.
Best was a tall, good-looking Navy man who had survived the
baffle of Midway only to suffer a prolonged and nearly fatal bout
of tuberculosisdd8 After his discharge, he wound up at RAND soon
after RAND had moved to Fourth and Broadway and was assigned to
the "front office"
--------------------------------------------------------------438
where RAND's handful of top executives was clustered. Discreet
and capable, Best had an easy manner that made him popular both
with his bosses and with RAND's rank and file. His first
assignment was to set up RAND's library, but he quickly adopted
the role of general factotum and troubleshooter. In 1953, after
the new Eisenhower security guidelines were issuedea9 Best
somewhat reluctantly agreed to accept the job of security
manager. He disliked the McCarthy hysteria over spies and
security leaks and thought all the poking around in individuals'
private lives was nasty and not altogether necessary. But he felt
he owed RAND, which had kept him on after he suffered a relapse
of his illness, and he recognized that RAND couldn't afford any
public-relations disasters.
Best listened carefully, but what was going to happen next was
clear. Nash had a top-secret security clearancedd10 He'd been
picked up in a "police trapdd011 He'd have to go. Best was a
Truman liberal who didn't like the McCarthy witch hunts, and he
couldn't understand what would make a young cop join a "dirty
detail like vice." But he was responsible for enforcing the new
security guidelines and the guidelines specifically forbade
anyone suspected of homosexual activity to hold a security    439
clearance. Criminal conduct and "sexual perversion" were both
grounds for denying or canceling a clearancedd"Vulnerability to
blackmail-which was thought to apply to all homosexuals
regardless of whether they were open or not and, indeed, any
behavior hinting at a "reckless nature indicating poor
judgment"-were also grounds."
In its early days, RAND had been rather nonchalant about security
matters. It hired Nancy Nimitz, the admiral's daughter, even
though she had gone to too many communist front meetings at
Radcliffe and Harvard to have a prayer of working for the CIA as
she had wished.
14
It had done its best to defend the mathematician Richard Bellman,
a flamboyant character who not only had a wife who had been in
the Communist Party but had somehow managed to befriend a cousin
of the Rosenbergs on an airplane flight." One of its top
mathematicians in the late 1940's and the author of a book on
game theory that is still cited was J C. C. McKinsey, an open
bomosexualdd16 But McKinsey was one of the first
--------------------------------------------------------------440
victims of the increasingly suspicious and intolerant attitude.
No matter that McKinsey was completely open about his homosexual
lifestyle and that his research was highly theoretical, thus
making him an unlikely target for blackmail. McKinsey was forced
to leave RANDDD"The de facto prohibition against homosexuals and
suspected homosexuals was so strong, then and later, that the
director of the national security program testified in 1972 that
"it was conceivable that an ongoing [sic] homosexual might be
granted a security clearance, but that he could riot think of a
single case where it had been granted"in the two decades since he
had been 1in his job." backslash Nash's arrest was a crisis that
had to be dealt with on the spot. Best told Williams the bad
news. Williams was genuinely regretful though not especially
shocked. Best recalls Williams as being "very open, very relaxed,
but appalled that such a valuable researcher as Nash would be
lost to RANDDD"Williams told Best
that Nash was "a nut, an eccentricea"b an extraordinary
mathematician, one of the most brilliant he had encountered. But
he did not question for a minute that Nash would have to go.
--------------------------------------------------------------441
Nash was not the first RAND employee to be caught in one of the
Santa Monica police traps. Muscle Beach, between the Santa Monica
pier and the little beach community of Venice, was a magnet for
bodybuilders and the biggest homosexual pickup scene in the
Malibu bay areadd19 In the early 1950's, the Santa Monica police
were running regular undercover operations to entrap homosexuals
with the aim of driving them out of town. "One cop follows a guy
into the head and makes a remark. If he's accepted, a second cop
comes in and arrests him," explained Best. The police rarely
stopped at the arrest itself but, in an act of special
vindictiveness, almost always notified the man's employerdd10 "We
lost five or six people to police programs over a period of
several yearsea"said Best.
Normally the department head, in this case Williams, would   A441
fire the employee personally. However, Best and his boss, Steve
Jeffries, went around to Nash's office and confronted him with
the bad news themselves." Nash, for a change, was at his desk. He
did not ask what they were doing there but just stared at them.
The two men closed the door and said they had something to
discuss. Best's manner was
--------------------------------------------------------------442
unthreatening but direct and he proceeded calmly. RAND would be
forced immediately to suspend Nash's Air Force clearancedd"The
Air Force would be notifieddd"And -- this was the bottom line --
Nash's consulting arrangement with RAND was over for good.
"You're too rich for our blood, Johnea"he concluded.
Best was nonplussed by Nash's reaction. Nash did not appear
shaken or embarrassed, as Best had anticipated. Indeed, he seemed
to be having trouble believing that Best and Jeffries were
serious. "Nash didn't take it all that hard," said Best. "He
denied that he had been trying to pick up the cop and tended to
scoff at the notion that he could be a homosexual. "I'm not a
homosexualea"Best quotes Nash as saying. "I like women." He then
did something that puzzled Best and shocked him a little. "He
pulled a picture out of his wallet and showed us a picture of a
woman and a little boy. `Here's the woman I'm going to marry and
our son.`"
Best ignored the picture. He asked Nash what he'd been doing in
Palisades Park at
2:00 A.m.
Nash responded by saying that he had merely been
--------------------------------------------------------------443
engaging in an experiment. The phrase Nash kept repeating was
something to the effect that he was "merely observing behavioral
characteristics."
24
Best recalled retorting, "But John, the police picked you up. You
were found doing such and so." Best repeated what he knew of the
police report in detail. Recalling the incident in 1996, Best
said: "Nash was charged with `indecent exposure! That's going
into a public head., and making a come-on to another man. That
means taking out your penis and masturbating. That's the
come-ondd"Best made it clear that it didn't really matter whether
the cops were telling the truth or not. "The very act of charging
you malks it impossible for you to continue hereea"he told Nash.
Jeffries and Best told Nash that he would have to leave his
office right away.
The Arrest
187
They escorted him from the building. They would clear out his
desk and send his personal papers and belongings, they said. It
was all done very politely, with no hint of vindictiveness. Nash
had the option of working in quarantine, the preclearance room
located just beyond the
--------------------------------------------------------------444
main lobby. Or, if he preferred, he could finish up whatever he
was working on at home. What was Nash's reaction? Due to leave
Santa Monica in another week or so anyway, he did not        A444
decamp immediately, though Best doesn't remember whether he
returned to the RAND building. "He left in a week or two weeks.
Not helterskelterea"Best recalled. Mat was going through Nash's
mind in that interval? Was he angry? Depressed? Frightened? Was
he thinking of approaching Williams or Mood with his version of
events? Did he try to have RAND's decision reversed? Generally,
of course, people did not. Fearful of scandal an d aware of the
contempt with which any hint of homosexuality was viewed, people
in Nash's shoes were usually only too happy to slink away without
a murmur of protest.
In the end, Nash did what he had learned to do in less extreme
circumstances. He acted, weirdly, as if nothipg had happened. He
played the role of observer of his own drama, as if it were all a
game or some intriguing experiment in human behavior, focusing
neither on the emotions of people around him nor on his own, but
on moves and countermoves. In his first postcard home that
--------------------------------------------------------------445
September, he described comwith remarkable detachment comanother
kind of storm: "The hurricane was a fascinating experience.0"At
some point he told his parents he'd had trouble with his RAND
security clearance, blaming it on the fact that his mentor at
MIT, Norman Levinson, was a former communist who had been hauled
before HUAC that year.
Meanwhile, the highly efficient RAND machinery ground on. Best
said: "We withdrew his clearances and notified the Air Force of
the charges that had been madedd"RAND negotiated with the Santa
Monica police, who wound up dropping the charge in return for
RAND's assurance that Nash had been fired and was leaving the
state for good. According to Best, such deals were typical. In
any case, the arrest did not make The Evening Outlook
and any record of it has long since been expunged from police
files and court records. Alexander Mood didn't try to keep the
arrest a secret comt was impossible given Nash's sudden eviction
from his office comb he concocted a cover story to the effect
that Nash had simply been strolling in Palisades Park trying to
solve a mathematical problem when he was picked up. "He
--------------------------------------------------------------446
told the officers he was just thinking and ... they finally
learned that what he had told them was trueea"Mood said laterdd16
Most RAND employees learned nothing different. It was after all
close to Nash's normal departure date in any case. But his name
was abruptly crossed off the list of consultantsdd"Nash never
bothered to deny the arrest." And Lloyd Shapley and others in the
math division learned about it because Nash had called Shapley
from the police station to bail him oudd19 Shapley later told
another mathematician that Nash had been playing some kind of
game."` In any case, with so many mathematicians shuffling back
and forth between RAND, Princeton, and
other universities, news of the arrest soon leaked back to
Princeton and MITEA"ADDING to Nash's already considerable
reputation for quirkiness, if not downright instability.
Nobody protested his treatment. He was not the easiest person to
sympathize with, and few people, even in the mathematical
community, questioned the government's attitude toward       A446
homosexuals. Homophobia was, after all, widespread in a society
increasingly paranoid and fearful of nonconformity of any kind.
Williams, true to form, used the
--------------------------------------------------------------447
incident in one of his homilies on managing mathematicians. In a
memorandum to the mathematics division, written a year or two
later, he asked the rhetorical question: "What can mathematicians
do to hurt us""One of his examples was alluded to only with a
phrase com"He could get arrested for solicitationdd"Williams's
punch line, however, was "the worst thing a mathematician could
do to RAND is to leave.
32
Although Nash appeared unscathed, the arrest was a turning point
in his life. Aloof, ambitious, coolly indifferent to others as he
often appeared, Nash was by no means a true loner. Living in a
tolerant ivory tower, he had been lulled into believing that he
could do as he liked. Now he learned, in a particularly brutal
fashion, that the emotional connections he sought threatened to
destroy all else that he valued his freedom, his career, his
reputation, success on society's terms. Contradictory imperatives
can engender tremendous fear. And fear can be subtly destructive.
An individual's vulnerability to schizophrenia, researchers now
believe, lies in his genes. But psychological stresses are
thought
--------------------------------------------------------------448
to be catalysts. Psychologist Irving 1. Gottesman at the
University of Virginia, whose studies of twins helped discredit
the old Freudian theories of schizophrenia, puts it this way:
"Each case is different, with a different mix of genetic and
psychological factors. Certain events are definite stressors, but
it's not famine or war. It's idiosyncratic. It's things that get
to the soul and self-identity and expectations of oneself.0"R
than a single trauma, a string of events from childhood through
young adulthood produces strains that mount like straws on the
proverbial camel's back. "It's things that build up, things that
lead to a lot of brooding' "says Nikki Erlenmeyer-Kimling, a
professor of genetics and development at Columbia Universitydd14
Like the effects of the teasing he endured in childhood and
adolescence, the damage from his arrest would only become
apparent with time.
The arrest preceded the onset of Nash's illness by more than four
years. Stories of other mathematicians who were caught up in the
meanness and bigotry of those times illustrate how
disequilibrating being harassed and humiliated can be. J. C. C.
McKinsey
--------------------------------------------------------------449
committed suicide in 1953 within two years of being fired by
RANDDD15 Alan Turing, the mathematical genius who cracked the
Nazi submarine code, was arrested, tried, and convicted under
Britain's anti-homosexual statutes in 1952; he committed suicide
in the summer of 1954 by taking a bite of a cyanidelaced apple in
his laboratorydd36 Others, less well known, less obviously
brutalized,
The Arrest                                                   A449
189
had breakdowns that led to their giving up mathematics and living
on the margins of society.
The biggest shock to Nash may not have been the arrest itself,
but the subsequent expulsion from RAND. His initial reaction
after Best confronted him suggests that he simply assumed
Williams would overlook the incident. He was after all, one of
RAND's resident geniuses. But like McKinsey, Turing, and others,
Nash learned that life was more precarious, and he was more
vulnerable, than he had previously imagined coma dangerous
lesson.
HAVING
She had this steely determination. I liked it. I found it very
interesting. She
--------------------------------------------------------------450
always
had some agenda, some goal, -- EmmA DucHANE,
1997
RETURNED TO
Cambridge in an anxious, uneasy frame of mind that made the dull
task of preparing his lectures even more impossible than usual,
Nash escaped to the music library almost every afternoon.` The
library, on the first floor of Charles Hayden Memorial, had an
impressive collection of classical recordings and soundproofed,
private cubicles where one could sit and play records, surrounded
by deep-blue walls that made one feel as if one were floating in
water.` Nash would go into one of these and listen to either Bach
or Mozart for hours on end.
On his way into the library he would stop at the desk to exchange
a few bantering remarks with the music librarians-a mode of
interaction that kept people at a distance, much as in the games
he liked to play. On one of the first afternoons, he was
surprised to see a young woman who had been his student the
previous year standing behind the librarian's desk. He had
encountered her in the library from time to time before, but now
it seemed
--------------------------------------------------------------451
she was actually working there. She too had seemed a bit startled
when she saw him come in, but had given him a sweet smile and had
greeted him by name. When he walked away from her he felt her
eyes following him.
There was only a handful of coeds at MIT at the time, and the
twenty-1one-year-old Alicia Larde glowed like a hothouse orchid
in this otherwise drab, barrackslike environment. Delicate and
feminine, with pale skin and dark eyes, she exuded both innocence
and glamour, a fetching shyness as well as a definite sense of
self-possession, polish, and elegance.` Always perfectly groomed,
she wore her short black hair like Elizabeth Taylor's in
Butter6enceld 8,
was almost always seen in very full skirts cinched tightly around
her tiny waist and very, very high heelsddbled She carried
herself like a little queen. The student newspaper,
The Tech,
once included a reference to her beautiful ankles in the     A451
annual feature on MIT coeds.` She was bright, vivacious, playful,
and talkative comoccasionally sarcastic and often very sharp
compopular with the
--------------------------------------------------------------452
"little boys," as she called the male students, and mad about
191
movies.
6
Her origins were exotic. One of her friends described her as "an
El Salvadoran princess with a sense of noblesse oblige
dis07
The Lardes were, in fact, an aristocratic clandd"Their origins,
like those of all the families which composed Central America's
elite, were European, primarily French. Eloi Martin Larde, a wine
grower in Champagne, escaped from France during the revolution
and settled in Baton Rouge. His son Florentin Larde moved to
Central America, first to Guatemala, and ultimately to San
Salvador, where he, his wife, and son Jorge became hoteliers and,
eventually, owners of a large cotton-growing hacienda.
The Larde men were handsome and the women exceptionally
beautiful. A photograph of Alicia's father, Carlos Larde Arthes,
and his nine siblings, taken a few days after their mother's
death in 1911, might have
--------------------------------------------------------------453
been of the Romanovs. The family's history had romantic
overtones. Alicia's uncle Enrique believed himself to be the
bastard son of one of the Austrian Hapsburgs, Archduke Rudolf.
Family legend also included a link with an aristocratic French
family, the Bourdonsdd9 The Lardes, mostly doctors, professors,
lawyers, and writers, belonged to the intelligentsia rather than
the landed oligarchy that dominated El Salvador's indigo and
coffee economy. But they mingled with presidents and generals
and, in Carlos Larde's generation, were prominent in public life.
They were well educated, spoke French and English as well as
Spanish, and traveled widely. Their interests ran to artistic and
literary subjects as well as science and philosophy.
Carlos Larde got his medical training in El Salvador but spent
several years studying abroad, in America and France, among other
placesdd10 His early career had been full of promise: He held a
number of public posts, including that of head of El Salvador's
Red Cross and, before World War 11, was chairman of a League of
Nations committee. Once he served as
--------------------------------------------------------------454
El Salvador's consul in San Francisco. His second wife, Alicia
Lopez Harrison, came from a wealthy, socially prominent family;
Alicia's maternal grandmother was the wife of an English
diplomat. Mrs. Larde was not only beautiful but also warm, a
wonderful cook, a charming hostess, and a popular aunt with her
nieces and nephews. I I Alicia, or Lichi, as her family called
her, was born on New Year's Day, 1933, in San Salvador. She was
the second of Carlos and Alicia's children. Her brother Rolando,
five years older, was eventually confined to an institution. A
half-brother from her father's first marriage lived with them as
well. Treated as an only child by her doting older           A454
parents, Lichi was by all accounts a lovely child, with blonde
ringlets. She grew up, amidst aunts, uncles, cousins, and
servants, in a lovely villa near the center of the capital.
The idyll ended abruptly a year before the end of World War 11,
when Alicia was eleven. In 1944, in the midst of a yearlong
popular insurrection against dictator Hernandez Martinezea12
Alicia's uncle Enrique had suddenly left for Atlanta with his
wife and five
--------------------------------------------------------------455
young children one night, in the middle of bomb blasts, in a
station wagon draped with a white sheet to signal their civilian
status. Carlos Larde followed him not long afterward, leaving his
wife, daughter, and two sons behind temporarily. He joined his
brother in Atlanta, but then moved on to Biloxi, Mississippi, on
the Gulf of Mexico, where he obtained a position as a staff
doctor at a veterans' hospital. Some weeks later, Mrs. Larde and
Alicia joined him, after making the long journey by train through
Mexico and stopping in Atlanta to visit Enrique and his family."
What motivated Carlos Larde to follow his brother to the United
States at age forty-six isn't entirely clear. Possibly he feared
the outbreak of a full-scale civil war. Possibly he saw a chance
to revive his medical career, having apparently suffered a series
of professional setbacks. But very likely a major reason for
emigrating comandthe one given Alicia by her parents-was his
health. Carlos Larde was suffering from a number of increasingly
debilitating physical ailments, among them a severe stomach
ulcer, and working as a doctor in the United States would give
--------------------------------------------------------------456
him access to top-notch medical care. Whatever the reason, the
move turned out to be permanent. Enrique went back to El Salvador
after a few years, but Carlos Larde was to remain in this country
until his death in 1962. Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Larde stayed
for another decade after her husband's death.
Hot, dank, slightly seedy, Biloxi lay sprawled on that shallow,
murky stretch of the gulf between Mobile and New Orleans, among
its barrier islands and river mouthsdd14 It was known for shrimp
fishing, illegal gambling, and being a favorite wintering place
for Chicago mobsters. Rationing made day-to-day life difficult.
Carlos was often exhausted and ill and Alicia's mother was
plainly distressed by their new surroundings and terribly
homesick. Later, the mother of a friend of Alicia's would
describe Mrs. Larde as a "very sad, very stoical person." Alicia
learned English quickly and easily but suffered pangs of
dislocation and isolation on top of the ordinary anxieties of
early adolescence. It was not a happy time. For consolation, she
turned to schoolwork and the movies.
The Lardes did not stay in Biloxi for long. Less than a year
after the war ended, they followed
--------------------------------------------------------------457
Enrique's family to New York, where Enrique took a job as an
interpreter at the United Nations. Once again, Alicia and her
mother lived with Enrique's family until Carlos found a position
at the Pollak Hospital for Chest Diseases in Jersey City and a
house for them to live in. Alicia commuted to Prospect       A457
High School, a Catholic school in Brooklyn. Alicia wasn't to stay
trapped in the lower-middle-class environs of Prospect High for
long. At the beginning of her sophomore year, the Lardes enrolled
her at the Marymount School, an exclusive Catholic girls' school
in New York.
Marymount, which was operated by one of the oldest European
orders, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, occupied three adjacent
Beaux Arts mansions, on the southeast corner of Eighty-fourth
Street and Fifth Avenue, directly across from the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and Central Park. It was another world. The student
body, mostly day pupils from the surrounding Upper East Side,
were from New York's Catholic elite." Many of the girls were
daughters of celebrities like Joe DiMaggio,
--------------------------------------------------------------458
193
Jackie Gleason, Paul Whiteman, and Pablo Casals. Alicia's best
friends there included the daughter of an Italian count. Tuition
was several times what most private universities charged at the
time, easily equivalent, once inflation is taken into account, to
$15,000 today. Admission was based strictly on families' social
standing; the El Salvadoran ambassador wrote Alicia's letter of
reference, attesting to the Larde family's social positiondd16
The school's atmosphere, appropriately to girls being groomed to
become wives of Catholic leadersea"was cosmopolitan and
cultureddd17 The girls' uniforms included stylish blazers and
black high heels. Parents insisted that the school "keep up the
social end of thingsdd"Alicia took riding and tennis lessons in
Central Park, played basketball, helped out on plays and
musicals, and went to parties. She went to her senior prom, and
afterward to the Stork Club, with her friend Chicky Gallagher's
brother."
She looked, on graduation day, just like the other girls, only
more beautiful, wrapped in the same
--------------------------------------------------------------459
white tulle and cradling the same three dozen long-stemmed roses,
like a debutante before a coming-out ball. Much, however,
separated Alicia from her wealthy schoolmates. Outwardly she was
gay, charming, unruffled, and compliant, but her appearance
veiled a keen intelligence, an outsider's ambition, and what a
future friend called steely determination. Self-controlled and
reluctant to confide her real feelings to anyone, a legacy of her
Latin upbringing, she hid a great deal from view. As a woman who
got to know Alicia several years later said, "You have to keep
the times in mind, Women dissembled then. Alicia behaved like a
fifties ditz, but that doesn't mean she was one. She was
flirtatious but she was saying quite serious things. She always
had some agenda, some goaldd019 As a child, she'd dreamed of
becoming a modern-day Marie Curiedd"Alicia was twelve years old
when she huddled with her father near the radio in their Biloxi
apartment and listened with him to the broadcast about
Hiroshima." It was for her, as for so many scientifically
inclined youngsters, a defining moment. Within weeks, the
Japanese surrender and the War Department's revelation of the
three hidden "atomic"cities in the southwestern desert       A459
turned
--------------------------------------------------------------460
anonymous men like Oppenheimer and Teller into public heroes.
Instantly, the image of the "nuclear physicist"seized the popular
imagination the same way that "rocket scientist"did
after Sputnik.
Alicia, already showing signs of her father's talent and interest
in scientific subjects, knew what she wanted to be. "The world
was physics. It was what kids with a talent for, and interest in,
math and science aspired to," a fellow physics major at MIT said
in 1997. "To Carlos Larde it was the top, and it was for Alicia
too.""
Her aptitude for mathematics and science had long been evident
and became more so at Marymount. By the late 1940's, the school
was already something more than a fancy finishing school. It had
always had an exceptionally well-trained faculty, Jay and
religious, but during Alicia's tenure the school was run by a
forceful young Irish graduate of the London School of Economics
-- Sister Raymond -- who was not only an ardent Keynesian, but a
gifted educator determined to raise the educational standards of
the place. Sister Raymond improved the caliber of stu-
dents by introducing scholarships and gave more
--------------------------------------------------------------461
intellectual heft to the school's curriculum by adding serious
science and mathematics courses. Alicia had a choice between a
classical education emphasizing the arts and languages and one
focusing on science and mathematics. She was one of the few girls
who chose the latter and, as a consequence, took biology,
chemistry, and physics as well as three years' worth of
mathematics, often in tiny classes of two or three girls. Sister
Raymond recalled her as a gifted and willing student: "Very
intelligent. Not too pushy. Very very interested in her
studies.""
By her senior year, Alicia was quite definite about wanting to
pursue a career in science. "I wanted a career, so I wanted to
study something definiteea"she sddd14 Carlos Larde, who was
delighted by his daughter's ambitions, wrote an eloquent and
touching letter to Sister Raymond urging her to make every effort
to help Alicia realize her dream of becoming a nuclear scientist
by helping her gain admission to a first-rate technical
university." Alicia was accepted at MIT, one of only seventeen
women and two female physics majors in the class of 1955.16
--------------------------------------------------------------462
The Lardes were no less thrilled than Alicia. Carlos Larde, who
had studied at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins,
particularly appreciated what an MIT degree would mean, but he
drew the line at her going off to a virtually all-male
engineering school on her own. Alicia's mother, it was decided,
would accompany Alicia in order to watch over and take care of
her." Besides the natural protectiveness toward a precious
daughter, the arrangement may have reflected a wish on the part
of Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Larde to escape her ailing, difficult
husband. Alicia's friends at MIT were struck, later, by the fact
that mother and daughter never referred to Carlos Larde      A462
and that he never came to visitdd"In any event, in the late
summer of 19 5 1, the two women rented a tiny furnished apartment
in Boston19 not far from Beacon Street where John Nash had just
found a room, across the river from MIT and not far from the
Harvard Bridge.
It was marvelous being an MIT coed in the early 1950's, an era
famous for its celebration of mothers and dumb blondes, because
the coeds were so special and had, as it were, the best of both
worlds: it was serious,
--------------------------------------------------------------463
but there were lots of men. There were girls who wore cocktail
dresses and high heels while dissecting rats in the labdd10 A
date wasn't going dancing and sipping Manhattans, it was going to
a lecture and out to coffee afterward, or maybe having a boy take
you to his parents' house and showing you, through a telescope,
everything Galileo had seen. Alicia was to tell her girlfriends
that being there made her feel like a "Queen Beedd"X was also a
chance to meet, finally, other women who didn't think that having
brains and ambitions was a major liability. "We were a
self-selected group of fairly strong womenea"said Joyce Davis, a
native New Yorker and the only other female physics major in the
class of 1955. "We had our own culture. It wasn't
normal American female culture, the `you can't be as good as the
boys` culture, which we were always trying to escape. And it
wasn't the MIT boys' culture either.""
Alicia spent most of her time with the other coeds either at the
dorm or on the campus. She studied with the other girls in the
Cheney room, the coed lounge, ate breakfast and lunch with her
friends at Pritchett lounge every day, and generally was up for
whatever the girls
--------------------------------------------------------------464
felt like doing, whether it was playing basketball or organizing
a charity fair." She attended a great many concerts and plays,
thanks to the coeds' wealthy patroness, a Mrs. McCormick, who
showered them with tickets and even paid for them to take taxis
across the Harvard Bridge in winter.
MIT's academic program was brutally demanding, especially for
physics majors. Class schedules were heavy, spread over six days,
and consisted mostly of required courses. All the girls lived in
healthy fear of flunking out. Alicia, who had sailed through her
science and math courses at Marymount on native ability, found
that this was no longer enough. Much to her dismay, she had to
struggle to maintain a C average (which was a respectable
performance in those days before grade inflation turned a C into
a subaverage mark). "You either had to buckle down or accept just
getting byea"said Joyce, Alicia's best friend. "Alicia never
really buckled down.""
Alicia's ambition survived her freshman year intact, despite a
fair amount of teasing, especially in her chemistry class, from
boys and instructors who were sure that she would not make the
--------------------------------------------------------------465
cut. In a letter to Joyce, in the summer of 1952, Alicia wrote:
Dear Joyce,
By this time you must be wondering whether I'm dead, dying   A465
or have mearly [sic] been kidnaped judging from the amount of
communication you have received from me; the sad truth of course
is my laziness. Except for one week that I went to Canada with
Betty Sabin and her parents I have spent the Summer working as a
sales girl in a small store (I hate to say 5 plus 10) behind the
ribbon counter; I have done all but strangled the customers with
"our" fine products. But life hasn't been all tears (I hate to
think of my report card) we have fortunately moved to a new
apartment half a block away from Kenmore Square. And so I will be
able to walk home with you (the dorm is only about a block and
1h
away).
By now you must be beginning to believe the malicious rumors that
I bribe my English teachers; not to mention the grammar and the
spelling is atrocious (get me!). My report card was the same as
last term with the unhappy exception of a B in English;
--------------------------------------------------------------466
my cum. is still above 3 though; .02 above that is. I'm unhappy
that we won't be in the same section this year but c'est la vie!
I wanted to take French instead of German in order to make my
life easier but I'm not sure I can because of my hope for a Ph.D.
in physics ... remember all
I
was going to study this summer? Well, I've gotten to page 17 of
the Physics book and that's all; I am however many movies wiser.
Give my regards to your mother and answer soon (do as I say not
as I do)
.14
A profile, a look, a voice can capture a heart in no time at all.
Alicia gave away hers in the space of a single calculus lecturc.
She was sitting, her best friend Joyce beside her, in the front
row of M 3 5 1, Advanced Calculus for Engineers, a course
required of all physics majors. John Nash arrived late wearing a
haughty and bored expression. Without so much as a glance or a
word to the assembled, he closed all the windows, flipped open
his copy of Hildebrand, and embarked on a lackluster
--------------------------------------------------------------467
exposition of the properties of ordinary differential equations.
It was mid-September, Indian summer weather, and as Nash droned
on, the room got quite hot. First one, then several students
interrupted Nash to complain and to ask that he let them open the
windows. Nash, who had obviously shut the windows to prevent any
outside noise distracting anyone, ignored them. "He was so
wrapped up in himself that he wouldn't pay attention to what we
wanted. His attitude plainly said, `Shut up and take notes,`
"Joyce recalleddd"At that point, Alicia jumped up from her seat,
ran over to the windows in her high heels, and opened them one
after another, each time with a toss of her head. On her way back
to her seat, she looked straight at Nash, as if daring him to
reverse her action. He did not.
Joyce thought Nash an indifferent lecturer and insensitive
besides. "He presented the material but that was it. He was sort
of colddd"Joyce transferred out of the section after the first
class, but Alicia surprised her by staying. "She thought     A467
he looked like Rock Hudson", said Joyce.
To see Nash through Alicia's eyes during their first encounters
as student and professor conveys much about the
--------------------------------------------------------------468
elementary force that was to bind her to him. In MIT's
intellectual hierarchy-where "mathematics was the highest thing,"
as Joyce was to say-Nash was the closest thing to royaltydd16 It
was his good looks, however, that made Alicia's heart beat
faster. "A genius with a penis. Isn't that what we all want""an
actress once quipped, and the quip captures the combination of
brains, status, and sex appeal that made Nash so irresistible.
Herta Newman, Donald's wife, said the same thing in less bald
terms: "He was going to be famous. He was also cutedd017 Emma
Duchane, a physics major two years behind Alicia at MIT, said,
"Alicia thought he was gorgeous. She thought he had beautiful
legs.0"Nash wasn't scruffy like many of the mathematicians. He
was always neatly combed, pressed, and shined. His haughty manner
and cool indifference only confirmed his desirability. His name,
two monosyllables that advertised his Anglo-Saxon ancestry, added
to his appeal. "He was very, very good-looking;` Alicia later
said. "Very intelligent. It was a little bit of a hero worship
thingdd019
Nash took no notice of her, but Alicia was quite prepared to woo
him. All that
--------------------------------------------------------------469
year, she would seek him out. "Come with me to the music library,
Joyceea"or, "Come with me to Walker Memorial. I want to see
Nashdd040 "She set her cap for himea"Joyce recalled. "She had a
campaign going."
Her grades suffered. She got two Ds and for the first time in her
MIT career her grade point average slipped below a C. The
following April, Joyce wrote to her parents: "Alicia is still not
doing to [sic] well since she is in LOVE. She goes around with a
faraway expression on her facedd041
When the calculus course was over, Alicia got a job in Nash's
favorite haunt, the music library. It is a measure of her
lovesickness that she found it a far more interesting place to
work than Lincoln Laboratories, where she also had a job. "Work
here isn't very stimulating; what I do mostly is count 'tracks`
seen thru a microscopeea"she wrote to Joyce during the summer. "I
only work 15 hrs a week here but what tires me out is the
overtime; I keep seeing the little monsters every time I close my
eyes. Music librarjproves more interesting, so far several
strange
--------------------------------------------------------------470
boys ha ve tried to pick me
up.
"42
Alicia was still playing the field, but with less enthusiasm than
her letter to Joyce implied: "A few more weeks now and I expect
to be seeing `blondie` again. It seems peculiar but I feel so
indifferent about him now."
She continued this letter a few weeks later:
I am writing in the music library now (obviously).           A470
Something funny J"J happened to me here the other day. A boy I
know came to talk to me while one of the ones I am out "gunning"
for was sitting out there; or so I thought. In order to seem
attractive to the one out there I began pouring on the charm"on
my little friend; then in my loudest possible voice I announced
my working hours in the ML; they must have heard me over the
radio. Well, the persecuted one seemed to be getting the idea
while I became bolder and bolder. Finally he came over. Then,
boy, was I mortified. The moral of the story is "wear
glassesdd"Needless to say he wasn't the "one."
Nash, of course, was at RAND most of that summer. When Nash
started coming around the library again that fall,
--------------------------------------------------------------471
Alicia engaged him in conversation and studied him as minutely as
any fan studies his or her favorite star. She found out that he
played chess. She found out that he was a science fiction fan.
She made it her business to learn chess and, in addition to her
job in the library, she took to sitting in the science library
near the science fiction collection. "My activities besides the
music library include the science library where I read science
fiction (John likes it)ea"she wrote to Joyce. Despite Alicia
Larde's crush, which seemed to have erased the earnest student of
science, she was playing a serious game. Her romantic dreams of
becoming a famous scientist herself hadn't survived the harsh
reality test provided by MIT. As she put it later, "I was no
Einstein
dis041
Pragmatically, she recognized that marriage to an illustrious man
might also satisfy her ambitions. Nash seemed to fit the bill.
198 A BEAUTIFUL MIND
"John could give her a lot of things she didn't haveea"observed
John Moore, a mathematician who fell in love with Alicia some
years later.
44
--------------------------------------------------------------472
Sadly, the romantic girl whose favorite song was "Lady of Spain"
would most agonizingly disappear in just a few years.
ASH STARTED
to make occasional references to "the music librarian"in his
conversations with Mattuckdd1 He was at a crossroads. The dangers
of his sexual experiments had become suddenly, devastatingly
obvious. Marriage was a possible answer and he had, at his most
frightened, almost convinced himself that he would marry Eleanor.
Now that he was back in Boston and seeing her again, however, he
could not bring himself to take any practical steps in that
direction. Alicia came along at the right moment. Moreover, Nash
liked what he saw. The son of a beautiful mother
would
be drawn by the classical symmetry of Alicia's features and the
slenderness of her frame. Alicia's aristocratic lineage and
social ease appealed to his own sense of superiority. The effect
of her intelligence on him should not be underestimated. Nash was
easily bored. He found her interesting company, liked the fact
that she set her own compass, and was amused by her          A472
flashes of sarcasm
--------------------------------------------------------------473
and irreverence.
It was part of Nash's genius to choose a woman who would prove so
essential to his survival. He took her willingness to pursue him,
to make every effort, not merely as flattery, to which he was no
less immune than the next man, but as a sign that she was
prepared to take him as he was. He saw her determination to have
him as a real key to her character, suggesting that she knew what
she was getting and expected nothing more.
They shared a good deal. Both were close to their mothers. Both
had emotionally distant but intellectually stimulating fathers.
Both had grown up in households where intellectual achievement
and social status, rather than emotional intimacy, were the coin
of the realm. Both, on account of their intellectual precocity,
had somewhat delayed adolescences. Both felt that they were, in
different ways, outsiders and compensated for this by seeking
status for themselves. There was a coolness, a calculation, that
guided their actions.
Nonetheless, the progress of the courtship was slow. Nash finally
asked Alicia out during the spring. In July 1955 she wrote to
Joyce that they were seeing each other "on and offdd"I She said
that he had
--------------------------------------------------------------474
introduced her to his parents some three weeks earlier. But she
made it clear that they were not sexually intimate. The
significance of his having introduced her to his parents, given
his mother's chronic concern
over Nash's social life, wasn't clear. Alicia, who must have
taken it as a hopeful sign, did not admit to taking it that way.
I've been making slight progress with JFN but can't tell just yet
if it's significant. I don't think he's really too interested but
more or less can take me or leave me. About 3 weeks ago I met his
parents who'd come up to visit him for a week. I've been seeing
him on and off and last Saturday we went to the beach together
comI had fimdd3 Alicia hinted at one reason why Nash remained
lukewarm: "He still thinks I'm too innocent but has now
condescended to accept me as is and just let my `sweet innocent
little self develop."
And in her own mind, Alicia was still playing the field, though
it was clear that she was distracting herself and hoping in the
process to pique Nash's interest. I've picked up a few admirers
this summer including that junior that Marolyn was talking about.
I keep refusing dates with him but he doesn't seem
--------------------------------------------------------------475
to get the idea and just follows me around, so far he has written
a couple of cute poems that I'm keeping as suveniers (sic]. I
realize that I'm sounding quite egocentric with all this but not
much else has been happening.
Whether because of preoccupation with Nash or simply because of a
waning interest in physics, Alicia failed to graduate with her
class. She had to stay on to make up a number of courses. But the
shock of not graduating on time, and the unpleasant business of
having to admit this to her father, did little to refocus    A475
her attention on her studies. She says in the letter to Joyce
that she is making up M39 but that "so far I'm up to page 10 in
Hildebrand."
Nash and Alicia saw more of each other in the fall. He took her
to a math party. Then another. And out to the Newmans` house or
to Marvin Minsky's. "Let's go Minskify," he would say to a
groupddbled Sometimes they double-dated with one of Alicia's
friends. On those occasions, he almost ignored her once they had
arrived and the introductions were made, going off to join the
circle of men
talking about
mathematics. Sometimes Alicia would stand at the edge of the
circle listening to Nash say things like "Who are
--------------------------------------------------------------476
the great geniuses: Wiener, Levinson, and me. But I think maybe
I'm the best." Other times she found herself among
mathematicians' wives talking about their children. There was no
flirtation, no going off in a corner to hold hands, but in fact
the relationship was more intoxicating for those reasons. The
other women treated her with the deference accorded to the genius
consort, which made Alicia feel rather smug. As for Nash, he
could not help but be aware that the other men, impressed and
surprised, envied him this adoring, gorgeous creature.
Other times they would go out for lunch, usually with someone
else. Bricker often joined them, and also Emma Duchane. Bricker
recalled Alicia as "very
The Courtship
bright"and "quite sarcasticdd"I Emma recalled, "She was not
deferential at all. She never stopped talking.
"6
True, Nash was not especially nice to Alicia. Among other things,
he called her unflattering nicknames, including "Leech," a nasty
play on her childhood nickname, Lichidd1 He never paid for her
meals, dividing every restaurant check down to the penny. "He was
not infatuated with herea"Emma
--------------------------------------------------------------477
recalled in 1996. "He was infatuated with himself"I
To Nash, Alicia was part of the background, charming and
decorative. He treated her the way other mathematicians treated
their women. But Alicia wasn't looking for companionship either.
Later Emma said: "We wanted intellectual thrills. When my
boyfriend told me e to the pi times i equals negative 1, 1 was
thrilled. I felt the absolute joy of the ideadd"Nash was no less
fun to be with than the other mathematicians,
A February 1956 letter from Alicia to a friend doesn't mention
Nash at all. But at the end of that month Alicia's mother would
move to Washington (Carlos Larde had gotten a position at
Glendale Hospital in Maryland), a move that Alicia anticipated
with some glee.
It was probably sometime that spring that Nash and Alicia began
sleeping together, at the end of those evenings in company where
they barely exchanged three words. Nash was still involved with
both Bricker and Eleanor. Indeed, he may have continued, even at
this late date, to think of Eleanor as his likely wife.      A477
Alicia and John were in bed one evening when his doorbell
rangdd10 John answered the door.
--------------------------------------------------------------478
It was not Arthur Mattuck, who sometimes dropped by unannounced.
It was Eleanor, indeed, an angry and shaken Eleanor. She said
nothing but walked right past Nash into the apartment. She acted
as if she'd come to talk things out with him.
When she realized Nash was not alone, she began shrieking and
crying and threatening until finally she had cried herself out
and Nash drove her home. Alicia, meanwhile, white-faced, left.
The next day, Nash went into Arthur Mattuck's office, told him
the story, grabbed his head with both hands, and moaned,
genuinely pained, over and over, "My perfect little world is
ruined, my perfect little world is ruined."
Eleanor called Alicia and told her that she was stealing another
woman's man. She told her about John David. She told her that
Nash was planning to marry her and that she, Alicia, was wasting
her time. Alicia invited Eleanor to her apartment for a meeting.
Eleanor came; Alicia was waiting with a bottle of red wine. "She
tried to get me drunkea"Eleanor recalled. "She wanted to see what
I was like. We talked about Johndd011
And, having met her, and realizing that Eleanor was an LPN, that
she was practically thirty, that the affair
--------------------------------------------------------------479
had been going on for nearly three years, Alicia
concluded that it wasn't going anywhere. She was not shocked. Men
had mistresses, they even had children by them, but they married
women of their own class. Of that she felt quite confident.
Eleanor had called her up to complain. Alicia was pleased. She
took it as a sign that, as her friend Emma said, "she was
beginning to matterdd011
Nash was due for a sabbatical the following year. He had won one
of the new Sloan Fellowships, prestigious three-year research
grants that would let the recipients spend at least one year away
from teaching and, for that matter, away from Cambridge." He
could go where he liked. He was, perhaps unreasonably, still
worried about the draft, as he had confided to Tucker in a letter
a year earlier. 14 He decided to spend that year at the Institute
for Advanced Study." He was beginning to think seriously about
various problems in quantum theory and thought that a year at the
institute might stimulate his thinking. Alicia meanwhile
complained in a letter to Joyce that February that she was "just
vegetatingdd"She mentioned a vague desire (which she did not say
was connected with Nash) "to get a job in New York instead of
--------------------------------------------------------------480
staying on at the Institute [MIT] to attend graduate school."
16
At the end of the spring term, Nash took Alicia to the math
department picnic in Boston. The picnics were always held during
reading week and often on the commons. Wiener came, as did all
the graduate students. It was an unusually warm day, and Nash was
in high spirits. Nash did something curious that engraved itself
on the memories of another instructor, Nesmith Ankeny and his
wife, Barbara. It was, of course, Nash's notion of a joke.   A480
He wished to show everyone that he was the master of this
gorgeous young woman, and that she was his slave. At one point,
late in the afternoon, he threw Alicia to the ground and placed
his foot on her neckdd17
But despite this display of machismo and possessiveness, Nash
left Cambridge in June without suggesting marriage or even that
she move to New York.
Indeed, at the start of that summer, in June, another friend of
Alicia's described Alicia as being in Cambridge and "in an
unbelievable state of depression, due to a certain instructor at
--------------------------------------------------------------481
MIT."
18
Summer 1956
ASH LEFT CAMBRIDGE
for Seattle in mid4une with the light heart of a man making a
temporary escape from a tangle of personal and professional
dilemmas.` Travel always lifted his spirits and this trip was no
exception. The month-long summer institute at the University of
Washington was exactly what he wanted. A top-notch crowd of
mathematicians working in differential geometry would be there:
Ambrose, Bott, Singer, as well as Louis Nirenberg and Hassler
Whitney. Nash expected that his embedding work would make him one
of the centers of attention. And he was looking forward to
hearing Busemann's seminar on the state of Soviet mathematics
because everyone knew that the Russians were doing great things,
but the authorities were no longer allowing even abstracts of
their mathematics articles to be translated into English.

The signal event of the summer institute turned out to be the
surprise announcement, within a day or two of the start of the
meetings, of Milnor's proof of the existence of exotic
spheresdd2;For the
--------------------------------------------------------------482
mathematicians gathered there, it had the same electrifying
effect as the announcement of a solution of Fermat's Last Theorem
by Andrew Wiles of Princeton University four decades later. It
stole Nash's thunder.

Nash reacted to the news of Milnor's triumph with a display of
adolescent petulance.` The mathematicians were all camping out in
a student dormitory and eating their meals in the cafeteria. Nash
protested by grabbing gigantic portions. Once he demolished a
pile of bread. Another time, he threw a glass of milk at a
cashier. And on one occasion, during a sailboat outing, he got
into a shoving match with another mathematician.

Nash didn't immediately recognize Amasa Forrester, who looked
like a shaggy bespectacled bear with the hint of a double chin, a
haphazardly shaven face, and glasses, and who even walked like a
bear with a slightly forward-leaning gait, when
the latter buttonholed him after a talk
.4
Forrester had to remind Nash that they'd been at Princeton   A482
together, Forrester having been a first-year graduate student
during Nash's final year. After they starting talking, however,
Nash remembered
--------------------------------------------------------------483
Forrester as a Steenrod student who was always holding court in
the Fine Hall common room, waving a water pistol around.
Despite his somewhat unprepossessing appearance, Forrester had
interesting things to say. He was fast, aggressive, and seemed to
know everything about everything that came up in their
conversation. Forrester explained some of the details of Milnor's
work to Nash. They also talked, then and later, about Nash's
embedding papers, which Forrester appeared to know quite well.
Forrester invited Nash to come to see his living quarters, moored
on Lake Union, between Lake Washington and Puget Sound in
downtown Seattle. To Nash, Forrester was "a different sort."` He
would later refer to Forrester, who went by the name Amasa, in
the same terms that he used when he compared Thorson and Bricker
to the Beatles com"young,0"colorful,0"amusing," and
"attractive"-someone who made him feel like "the girls who love
the Beatles so wildly."
There was much to draw them together. Forrester, who had just
turned thirty, was as brash and brilliant as Nash .6
He'd had a stellar graduate-school career. Steenrod, who was on
his dissertation committee, had
--------------------------------------------------------------484
given him spectacular references. He was disorganized and sloppy
but he had a photographic memory and wide-ranging interests. He
hadn't done much since arriving in Seattle in 1954 and, indeed,
hadn't been able to publish his dissertation because it turned
out to contain a substantive flaw, but he was still full of
enthusiasm, or at least so it seemed to Nash. He shared Nash's
predilection for insult and one-upmanshipat Princeton he'd been
referred to as King of the Common Room for that reason-and was
given to sweeping judgments of the kind Nash admired. Once, for
example, when a listener tried to question him after a talk, he
responded by claiming, "It's easier to predict what
mathematicians will be talking about fifty years from now than
what they'll be interested in next year."` His obvious
eccentricity made him seem like a kindred spirit. This was a
young man who had once managed to get himself permanently banned
from the dining rooms of the Graduate College by Sir Hugh Taylor,
the dean, for having deliberately broken dishes and crockery in
the breakfast room. And his relationship with his mother was
fodder for all kinds of stories. Former friends recall that a
family record of worldly success and an overbearing mother both
--------------------------------------------------------------485
weighed heavily on him. Arthur Mattuck, who was at Princeton with
Forrester, recalled: "`Amasy, Amasy, Amasy!` his mother would
say. `Oh, mom, you know how much I love you; Amasa would coo back
in a falsetto."`
Forrester was also openly homosexual. It's unlikely that his
graduate-school
professors or Sir Hugh were aware of this, but "he was fairly
open about his homosexuality at Princeton and everybody at   A485
the Graduate College knewea"said John Isbell, a professor of
mathematics at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a
fellow graduate student at Princeton." Initially, Forrester had
been quite circumspect with his colleagues at the University of
Washington, but by the time Nash ran into him-perhaps because
things were beginning to loosen up even in Seattle comhe had
concluded that he no longer had to pretend to be what he was not.
Robert Vaught, a retired logician at the University of California
at Berkeley, shared a house with Forrester during their first
year as instructors in Seattle. He recalled:
It wasn't that he "discovered" his homosexuality
--------------------------------------------------------------486
then. It was very difficult for homosexuals then. In those days
people thought the best thing to do was to get rid of it by some
act of will. He sort of decided that he had to be a homosexual.
Sometime during his third year in Seattle he bought himself a
houseboat-there was a far-outgroup living on the waterfront-and
gradually he began to let people know about his homosexuality. 10
Nash always found the people who could give him what he needed.
Forrester was the kind of smart, verbal, quick-witted man Nash
was frequently attracted to. Forrester was also emotionally
available. Under his eccentric, sometimes brash and loud exterior
Forrester was an exceptionally sweet man. "Kind and gentle, much
loved by his studentsea"was the description given by Albert
Nijenhuis, another of Forrester's colleagues." Forrester also had
an unusual capacity for connecting with troubled individuals.
When Vaught, who, as a student, had endured repeated
hospitalizations for episodes of mania and depression, first came
to Seattle, Forrester was amazingly kind. Vaught recalled: "He
was a
very fine
man. I was a manic-depressive long before lithium came along. He
was very helpful to me.
--------------------------------------------------------------487
Amasa encouraged me to find a psychiatrist in Seattle. I could
talk to him.0"In his first year at Seattle, Forrester "adopted" a
mentally ill graduate student-a computer genius who had suffered
some kind of psychotic breakdown-and tried to care for him,
recalled John Walter, a mathematician at the University of
Illinois who shared the house with Vaught and Forrester. "It was
one of his projects.""
It would have been obvious to Forrester that Nash, arrogant and
aloof as be might appear, would respond to his sympathetic
interest. "Amasa was pretty sharp. He would have seen through the
veilea"said Walter.
14
Nash and Forrester hardly had much time to spend together-
Nash was in Seattle P
only a month. Although Nash referred to Forrester, either by name
or simply by the letter F, in letters until the early 1970's,
there is no evidence to suggest that Nash and Forrester
corresponded regularly or saw much of each other in subsequent
years. Forrester stayed very much on Nash's mind, however. Eleven
years later, on a pilgrimage that took                       A487
--------------------------------------------------------------488
him to Los Angeles and San Francisco, Nash spent nearly a month
in Seattle."
Forrester was still living in his houseboat with dozens of cats
for company and was by then almost entirely cut off from his
former mathematical friendsdd16 He had never lived up to his
early promise, had been denied tenure, and had left the
University of Washington in 1961. He worked briefly at Boeing and
later at the giant Atomic Energy Commission plant in Hanford,
Washington, before dropping out of the mathematical community in
the mid-1970's. Later, he made his living tutoring and, on one
occasion, acting as a live-in tutor for some children on a ranch.
Nijenhuis, who ran into him a final time at a mathematics
congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1974, recalled that
Forrester had told him that he'd worked as a goatherd. For years
he would drop by the mathematics and physics library, looking
progressively more seedy and disheveled. He died in 1991. This
once-promising mathematician did not even merit an obituary in
the
Seattle Times.
If, for Nash, Forrester's was the road not taken,
--------------------------------------------------------------489
one would have to argue that Nash, on this occasion, was
perceptive about human beings.
Nash knew immediately that something was wrong when someone
fetched him from the dormitory. The Nashes communicated
exclusively by letter and postcard. A long-distance telephone
call indicated that something was amiss."
John Sr. was on the line. He sounded unnaturally grave. Nash's
first thought was that he was calling with some bad news about
his mother or sister, but he heard anger rather than sorrow or
anxiety in his father's voice.
Eleanor Stier had contacted them and revealed the existence of
their grandson, John Sr. said. The shock was enormous.
"Don't come home;` John Sr. told him sternly. "Go right to Boston
and make this right. Marry the girl."
Nash was too stunned to argue. The secret he was so anxious to
keep from his parents was out. There was nothing to be done now.
He agreed not to come to Roanoke. In a postcard dated July 12, he
wrote his parents that he was "thinking of going back to
BeanTowndd011
Nash did go back to Boston in mid-July and
--------------------------------------------------------------490
stayed for two weeks. He spent most of his time either with
Bricker or working in his office late nights. 19 He turned to
Bricker for advice on what to do about Eleanor. She had hired a
lawyer. She wanted regular child support payments. The attorney,
Nash found out, was threatening to go to the university. Nash, as
Bricker recalled in 1997, was inclined to refuse to pay. Bricker,
as usual, found himself in the middle. Eleanor had been calling
him regularly. She was devastated by Nash's abandonment and
bitter over his refusal to
Seattle
207                                                          A490
support their son. Bricker remonstrated with Nash. "He didn't
want to pay child support. I told him, This is terrible. This is
your son. If nothing else, do it for your own future. If the
university got wind of this itll ruin your career. You owe it to
herdd021 Nash, to Bricker's surprise, agreed to pay.
1956-57
ALTHOUGH
NASH WAS TO SPEND
the year at the Institute for Advanced Study, he
--------------------------------------------------------------491
decided to live in New York instead of Princeton.` Within a day
or two of coming to the city in late August, he found an
unfurnished apartment on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village
just south of Washington Square Park, a street lined with jazz
clubs, Italian caf6's, and secondhand book shops. The apartment
was a typical railroad flat, small, dingy, and suffused with
smells of his neighbors' cooking. Nash bought a few pieces of
used furniture from a local junk dealer and sent his parents a
postcard proclaiming a sentiment that they would be sure to
approve, namely, that he'd rather save money than live
luxuriously.`
But his reasons for choosing a five-story walk-up in downtown New
York over a spartan flat on Einstein Drive in quasirural
Princeton were more romantic than practical. The towering scale
of the city, with its frenetic rhythms, ever-present crowds, and
round-the-clock activity -- "the wild electric beauty of New
York"I seemed wonderful to him, always had, from the first time
Shapley and Shubik had invited him, when all three were living in
the Graduate College at Princeton, to come up for a weekend.
After he'd moved to Boston, he
--------------------------------------------------------------492
had seized every opportunity to return, sometimes staying with
the Minskyseabled just to reexperience that sensation of
simultaneous connectedness and anonymity. The bohemian enclave
around Washington Square had long been a magnet for those who
were sexually and spiritually unconventional, and Nash too was
attracted to its crooked streets, Old World charm, and implied
promise of freedom.
If the decision to move to Bleecker Street meant that Nash was
toying with adopting a different sort of life from the one he had
hitherto imagined for himself, it was not to be. John Sr. and
Virginia announced that they too were coming to New York.` John
Sr. had some business to transact for the Appalachian. Nash
feared that they would confront him again on the subject of
Eleanor. But the Nashes were even more preoccupied with the
precarious state of John Srdd`s health at that moment. When Nash
met them at the McAlpin Hotel, a few blocks from Penn Station, he
tried to demonstrate that he was a loyal son by urging his
father, several times in
the course of the evening, to consult a specialist in New York.
He told his father he ought to consider an operation.` It was the
last time Nash saw his father. In early September, John Sr.
suffered a
massive heart attackdd7 Virginia had a difficult time         493
reaching Nash, who had no telephone. By the time she got a
message to him, his father was already dead. Thereafter, he would
think of fall as a season of "misfortunes."`
John Sr., who was sixty-four at the time of his death, had been
ill on and off all year. That Easter Sunday he had been feeling
too unwell to go to Martha and Charlie's house for dinner (Martha
had married in the spring of 1954). And in late summer when he
and Virginia were in New York, he suffered from a spell of
weakness and nausea in the hoteldd9 The news of his father's
death shocked Nash. He couldn't fathom its suddenness, its
finality. He was convinced that the death had not been
inevitable, might have been prevented if only John Sr. had gotten
better medical care, if only ... 10
Nash rushed to Bluefield to attend the funeral, which was held at
Christ Episcopal Church on September 14, two days after John Sr.
died."
There was no outpouring of grief, no sign that Nash's unnatural
calm was shakendd"B the death of his father produced another
fissure in the foundation of
--------------------------------------------------------------494
Nash's perfect little world." The loss of a parent before one has
really stepped fully into one's own adult life in the same role
is a one-two punch comlosing the father and having to step into
the father's shoes.
There was, for starters, a newfound sense of responsibility for
Virginia's welfare. It may not have signified much in practical
terms, given that Martha lived in Roanoke and, as the female
offspring, would have been expected to look after Virginia, but
emotionally Nash was now in the hot seat. Suddenly, his mother's
wishes regarding him, in particular her intense desire that he
adopt what she regarded as a "normal" life -- that is, that he
marry -- weighed more heavily on him than at any time since he
had left home for college. For Nash this dilemma comand it was a
dilemma, as his father's shoes were not exactly the ones that he
felt prepared to step into -- was compounded by the particular
circumstances of the summer. Nash's misbehavior with regard to
Eleanor and John David lay between him and Virginia. The thought
that he had hastened his father's death must have occurred to
him. Or, if it didn't-and this is certainly possible given Nash's
inability to imagine how his actions affected other people
--------------------------------------------------------------495
the thought surely occurred to Virginia, who may have
communicated it, indirectly or directly, to Nash. Virginia was
not just grief-stricken but deeply angry. She wrote Eleanor a
letter accusing her of causing her husband's death. It is quite
possible that she said something similar to her son, or implied
as much."
Such guilt would be a heavy burden to bear. More likely, it was
not just the feeling of guilt, but also the more potent threat of
losing his mother's love on the heels of the actual loss of his
father, that would have placed tremendous pressure on Nash to
act. Virginia felt that Nash was duty bound to legitimize his
relationship to his son. John Sr. had an abhorrence of scandal
and a strong belief in doing one's duty. Whether, by the     A495
time of her husband's death, Virginia still persisted in the
demand that Nash marry Eleanor isn't clear. It may be that her
contact with Eleanor comincluding the evidence of Eleanor's
lower-class origins, her lack of education, or her threats to
make trouble for Nash --
convinced her that even a temporary marriage was out of the
question. She may have feared that Eleanor would never agree to a
divorce. Or simply, she may have realized that she had no way of
forcing Nash to do something
--------------------------------------------------------------496
that he did not wish to do.
If Virginia reacted so to Nash's mistress and illegitimate son,
how might she react to the far more disturbing facts of Nash's
liaisons with other men? As a practical matter, the likelihood of
her ever finding out about the arrest seemed negligible. Yet that
too must have crossed Nash's mind. His confidence that he could
keep his secret lives completely separate and keep his parents in
the dark as well was jolted by Eleanor's betrayal. He must have
felt on his neck the hot breath of other potential discoveries.
In addition to commuting to the Institute in Princeton, Nash was
spending a good deal of time at New York University, whose campus
began a block north of Bleecker Street, at the Courant Institute
of Mathematical Sciences. One afternoon, very soon after his
father's funeral, Nash stopped at the desk of the beautiful
Natasha Artin, the wife of Emil Artin and one of Richard
Courant's assistants. A famously gorgeous creature, Natasha had a
doctorate from the University of Berlin, where she'd been a
student of Artin's before they married. Everyone knew that she
was the latest object of Couranfs infatuation. Nash liked to chat
with her on his way up
--------------------------------------------------------------497
to tea.
"I wonder how easy it is to get a divorce in New Jersey," he said
out of the blue one day to herdd14 Natasha immediately took this
for a declaration that he intended to get married. She found it
quite typical of Nash to investigate the exit doors even as he
was hovering near the entrance.
On another occasion, Nash gave a lecture at Chicago and had
dinner afterward with Leo Goodman, a mathematician he knew from
the graduate-school days in Princeton. He told Goodman that he
thought Alicia would make a fine wife. Why? Because she watched
so much television. That meant, he felt, that she wouldn't
require much attention from himdd"The exchange brings to mind
Eleanor's oft-repeated remark about Nash: "he always wanted
something for nothing."
Alicia has insisted that she cannot remember when Nash proposed
or whether he did so in person or by letterdd"They simply had an
understanding, she said. But Alicia's actions that fall belie her
later account. After Nash had left Cambridge in June, Alicia
stayed on, desperately unhappy. All this suggests the opposite of
any understanding."


Alicia's letter to Joyce Davis on October 23, 1956, does      498
not mention Nash at all. Presumably, if they'd gotten formally
engaged by that date, Alicia would have announced the fact to
Joyce.
As you might know I've been looking for a job in New York and had
applied to several places. At first I was afraid things might
prove difficult but so far I've already had offers from
Brookhaven, as a junior physicist with the reactor group, and
from the Nuclear Development Corporation of America also in the
reactor field. I'm accepting the latter at $450 per month. I'm
told I might get $500 some other place but I think N.D.C. offers
good experience and I've always wanted to do nuclear physics
specifically."
It's possible that Alicia would have left school and gotten a job
regardless of the state of her relationship with Nash. She was
increasingly unenthusiastic about attending graduate school. "I'm
tired of the studying and procrastinating routine. ... All I know
is I want to 'Live.`" Since she had gone to high school in New
York, it would have been natural for her to think of returning
--------------------------------------------------------------499
there to work. But Alicia herself said later that she moved to
New York on Nash's account. She may have gone there in the hopes
of renewing her relationship with him. She may have gone at his
express invitation.
Alicia moved into the Barbizon Hotel, the legendary hotel for
young women that is the setting of Sylvia Plath's fifties novel
The Belljar.
References were required to obtain lodging there. And the rooms,
tiny and white with metal beds, were only for sleeping, Alicia
complained in a PS to Joycedd18 "This hotel-the Amazon-was for
women onlyea"writes Plath, who spent the summer of 1952 in
residence, "and they were mostly girls my age with wealthy
parents who wanted to be sure their daughters would be living
where men couldn't get at them and deceive them; and they were
all going to posh secretarial schools like Katy Gibbs, where they
had to wear hats and stockings and gloves to class, or ... simply
hanging around in New York waiting to get married to some career
man or otherdd019
Whether or not Alicia came to New York as Nash's fianc6ence at
the end of October, she
--------------------------------------------------------------500
visited Nash's family in Roanoke that Thanksgivingdd20 Nash did
not give her a ring, however. He had some idea, typically odd and
pennypinching, that he wanted to buy one in Antwerp, directly
from a diamond wholesalerdd21 Virginia found Alicia charming and
dignified and was impressed by Alicia's obvious devotion to Nash,
but at the same time she thought her quite different from the
sort of girl she had imagined for her son's bride
.21
She thought the relationship between the two strange. Alicia was
a physicist who talked about her
job at a nuclear reactor company and displayed no interest in
anything domestic, a young woman completely out of Virginia's
ken. While Virginia and Martha busied themselves in the kitchen,
Alicia and Nash spent most of Thanksgiving Day sitting on    A500
the floor of Virginia's living room poring over stock quotations.
Martha's reaction was similar to her mother's. (At Virginia's
insistence, and thinking it might turn Alicia's head in the right
direction, Martha took Alicia shopping in Roanoke one afternoon
to buy a hat.)
The wedding took place on an unexpectedly
--------------------------------------------------------------501
mild, gray February morning in Washington, D.C., at St. John's,
the yellow-and-white Episcopal church across Pennsylvania Avenue
from the White House." Nash, by then an atheist, balked at a
Catholic ceremony. He would have been happy to get married in
city hall. Alicia wanted an elegant, formal affair. It was a
small wedding. There were no mathematicians or old school friends
present, only immediate family, Charlie, his brother-in-law, whom
Nash hardly knew, was best man. Martha was matron of honor. Bride
and groom were both late, having been held up at the portrait
photographers. Nash and Alicia drove to Atlantic City for a
weekend honeymoon on the way back to New York. It wasn't a
success. Alicia hadn't been feeling well, Nash wrote in a
postcard to his motherdd14
In April, two months later, Alicia and Nash threw a party to
celebrate their marriage. They were living in a sublet apartment
on the Upper East Side, around the corner from Bloomingdale's.
About twenty people came, mostly mathematicians from Courant and
the Institute for Advanced Study and several of Alicia's cousins,
including Odette
--------------------------------------------------------------502
and Enrique. "They seemed very happyea"Enrique Larde later
recalled. "It was a great apartment. They were just showing off
their new marriage. He looked very handsome. It seemed very
romanticdd025
PART THREE
A
Slow Fire
and Washington Square
1956-57
Mathematical ideas originate in empirics... But, once they are so
conceived, the subject begins to live .7 peculiar life ofits own
and is better compared to a creative one, governedalm entirely hy
aesthetical motivations... As a mathematical discipline ttavels,
orafter much `bsliact" inbreeding, [it] is in danger of
degeneration.... whenever this stige is reached, the only remedy
seems to me to be the rejuvenating return to the source. the
reinjection ofmore or less directly empirical ideas comJoHN
voation NE-UMANN
TE
INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, nestled on Princeton's fringes on
what had been a farm, was
--------------------------------------------------------------503
a scholar's dream. It was bordered by woods and the
Delaware-Raritan Canal, its lawns were immaculate, and one of its
streets was Einstein Drive. It was also blessedly free of
students. The atmosphere in the Fuld Hall common room resembled
that of a venerable men's club, with its newspaper racks     A503
and mingled scents of leather and pipe tobacco; its doors were
never locked and its lights burned far into the night.
In 1956, the Institute's permanent faculty were not many more
than a dozen mathematicians and theoretical physicists.` They
were, however, outnumbered sixfold by a host of distinguished
temporary visitors from around the globe, prompting Oppenheimer
to call it "an intellectual hoteldd"I For young researchers, the
Institute was a golden opportunity to escape the onerous demands
of teaching and administration, and, indeed, the tasks of
everyday life. Everything was provided the visitor: an apartment
less than a few hundred yards from an office, an unending round
of seminars, lectures, and, for those so inclined, parties where
the booze was plentiful and where one could glimpse Lefschetz
balancing a martini glass in an artificial hand, or witness a
very drunk French mathematician
--------------------------------------------------------------504
displaying his mountaineering skills by rope-climbing up and over
the fireplace mantel.`
Some found the idyllic setting, carefully designed to remove all
impediments to creativity, vaguely disquieting. Paul Cohen, a
mathematician at Stanford Univer-
sity, remarked, "it was such a great place that you had to stay
at least two years. It took one year just to learn how to work
under such ideal conditionsdd114 By 1956, Einstein was dead,
Gbdel was no longer active, and von Neumann lay dying in
Bethesda. Oppenheimer was still director, but much humbled by the
McCarthyite inquisitions and increasingly isolated. As one
mathematician said, "The Institute had become pure, very puredd"I
Cathleen Morawetz, later president of the American Mathematical
Society, put it more bluntly: "The Institute was known to be
about the dullest place you could finddd06
By contrast, the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at
New York University was "the national capital of applied
mathematical analysisea"z
Fortune
--------------------------------------------------------------505
magazine was soon to inform its readers.` Just a few years old
and vibrant with energy, Courant occupied a nineteenth-century
loft less than a block to the east of Washington Square in a
neighborhood that, despite the university's growing presence, was
still dominated by small manufacturing concerns. Indeed, Courant
initially shared the premises comwith its fire escapes and creaky
old-fashioned freight elevator comwitha number of hat
factoriesdd8 Financing for the institute had come from the Atomic
Energy Commission, which had been hunting for a home for its
giant Univac 4 computer. At the time, this great mass of vacuum
tubes, with its armed guard, occupied 25 Waverly Placedd9
The institute was the creation of one of mathematics' great
entrepreneurs, Richard Courant, a German Jewish professor of
mathematics who had been driven out of Gbttingen in the
mid-1930's by the Nazis." Short, rotund, autocratic, and
irrepressible, Courant was famous for his fascination with the
rich and powerful, his penchant for falling in love with his
female "assistants;` and his unerring eye for young          A505
mathematical talent. When Courant arrived in 1937, New York
University had no
--------------------------------------------------------------506
mathematics worth speaking of. Undaunted, Courant immediately set
about raising funds. His own stellar reputation, the
anti-Semitism of the American educational establishment, and New
York's "deep reservoir of talent `was enabled him to attract
brilliant students, most of them New York City Jews who were shut
out of the Harvards and Princetons. I I The advent of World War
11 brought more money and more students, and by the mid-1950's,
when the institute was formally founded, it was already rivaling
more established mathematical centers like Princeton and
Cambridge." Its young stars included Peter Lax and his wife,
Anneli, Cathleen Synge Morawetz, Jargen Moser, and Louis
Nirenberg, and among its stellar visitors were Lars Hbrmander, a
future Fields medalist, and Shlomo Sternberg, who would soon move
to Harvard. The Courant Institute was practically on Nash's
doorstep and, given its lively atmosphere, it was not surprising
that Nash was soon spending at least as much time there as at the
Institute for Advanced Study. At first Nash would stop by for an
hour or two before driving down to Princeton, but he soon found
himself staying the whole day." He never
--------------------------------------------------------------507
came too early, for he liked to sleep late after
Olden Lane and Washington Square
217
working into the wee hours at the university librarydd14 But he
was almost always there for teatime in the lounge on the
building's penultimate floor." As for the Courant crowd, a
friendly, open group with little taste for the competitiveness of
MIT or the snobbery of the Institute, it was happy to have him.
Tilla Weinstein, a mathematician at Rutgers, who recalled that
Nash liked to pace around on one of the building's fire escapes,
said, "He was just a delight. There was a wit and humor about him
that was thoroughly unstandard. There was a wonderful playful
quality, a lightnessdd011 Cathleen Morawetz, the daughter of John
Synge, Nash's professor at Carnegie, assumed Nash was just
another postdoctoral fellow and found him "very charming an
attractive fellow,0"a lively conversationalistdd011 Hbrmander
recalled his first impressions: "He wore a serious expression.
Then he'd break out into a sudden smile. He was an
enthusiastdd"Is Peter Lax, who had spent the war at Los Alamos,
was
--------------------------------------------------------------508
interested in Nash's research and "his own way of looking at
thingsdd019
At first, Nash seemed more interested in the political cataclysms
of that fall
Nasser
nationalized the Suez Canal, prompting an invasion by England,
France, and Israel, the Russians crushed the Hungarian uprising,
and Eisenhower and Stevenson were again baffling for the
presidency comthan in pursuing mathematical conversations. "He'd
be in the common roomea"one Courant visitor recalled,        A508
"talking and talking of his views of the political situation.
From the afternoon teas, I remember him as voicing very strong
opinions on the Suez crisis, which was going on at that time." 10
Another mathematician remembered a similar conversation in the
institute dining room: "When the British and their allies were
trying to grab Suez, and Eisenhower had not made his position
unmistakably clear (if he ever did), one day at lunch Nash
started in on Suez. Of course, Nasser wasn't black, but he was
dark enough for Nash. `What you have to do with these people is
to take a firm hand, and then once they realize you mean it. . .`
"I'
--------------------------------------------------------------509
The leading lights at Courant were very much at the forefront of
rapid progress, stimulated by World War 11, in certain kinds of
differential equations that serve as mathematical models for an
immense variety of physical phenomena involving some sort of
changedd"0The mid-fifties, as Fortune
noted, mathematicians knew relatively simple routines for solving
ordinary differential equations using computers. But there were
no straightforward methods for solving most nonlinear partial
differential equations that crop up when large or abrupt changes
occur-such as equations that describe the aerodynamic shock waves
produced when a jet accelerates past the speed of sound. In his
1958 obituary of von Neumann, who did important work in this
field in the thirties, Stanislaw Ulam called such systems of
equations "baffling analyticallyea"saying that they "defy even
qualitative insights by present methods.0"Z Nash was to write
that same year, "The open problems in the area of non-linear
partial differential equations are very relevant to applied
mathematics and science as a whole, perhaps more so than the open
problems in
--------------------------------------------------------------510
any other area of mathematics, and this field seems poised for
rapid development. It seems clear however that fresh methods must
be employed."
14
Nash, partly because of his contact with Wiener and perhaps his
earlier interaction with Weinstein at Carnegie, was already
interested in the problem of turbulence." Turbulence refers to
the flow of gas or liquid over any uneven surface, like water
rushing into a bay, heat or electrical charges traveling through
metal, oil escaping from an underground pool, or clouds skimming
over an air mass. It should be possible to model such motion
mathematically. But it turns out to be extremely difficult. As
Nash wrote:
Little is known about the existence, uniqueness and smoothness of
solutions of the general equations of flow for a viscous,
compressible, and heat conducting fluid. These are a non-linear
parabolic system of equations. An interest in these questions led
us to undertake this work. It became clear that nothing could be
done about the continuum description of general fluid flow
without the ability to handle non-linear parabolic equations and
that this in turn required an
a priori                                                      511
estimate of continuitydd16
It was Louis Nirenberg, a short, myopic, and sweet-natured young
prot6ong6 of Courant's, who handed Nash a major unsolved problem
in the then fairly new field of nonlinear theory." Nirenberg,
also in his twenties, and already a formidable analyst, found
Nash a bit strange. "He'd often seemed to have an internal smile,
as if he was thinking of a private joke, as if he was laughing at
a private joke that he never [told anyone about].0"B he was
extremely impressed with the technique Nash had invented for
solving his embedding theorem and sensed that Nash might be the
man to crack an extremely difficult outstanding problem that had
been open since the late 1930's.
He recalled:
I worked in partial differential equations. I also worked in
geometry. The problem had to do with certain kinds of
inequalities associated with elliptic partial differential
equations. The problem had been around in the field for some time
and a number of people had worked on it. Someone had obtained
such estimates much earlier, in the 1930's in two dimensions. But
the problem was open for [almost] thirty years in higher
--------------------------------------------------------------512
dimensionsdd19
Nash began working on the problem almost as soon as Nirenberg
suggested it, although he knocked on doors until he was satisfied
that the problem was as important as Nirenberg claimeddd"Lax, who
was one of those he consulted, commented recently: "In physics
everybody knows the most important problems. They are well
defined. Not so in mathematics. People are more introspective.
For Nash, though, it had to be important in the opinion of
othersdd"I I
Nash started coming to Nirenberg's office to discuss his
progress. But it was weeks before Nirenberg got any real sense
that Nash was getting anywhere. "We Olden Ldd7tione dnd
Washington Squqre
219
would meet often. Nash would say, `I seem to need such and such
an inequality. I think it's true that. . .` "Very often, Nash's
speculations were far off the mark. "He was sort of groping. He
gave that impression. I wasn't very confident he was going to get
through."
12
Nirenberg sent Nash around to talk to Lars Hbrmander, a tall,
steely Swede who was already one
--------------------------------------------------------------513
of the top scholars in the field. Precise, careful, and immensely
knowledgeable, H6rmander knew Nash by reputation but reacted even
more skeptically than Nirenberg. "Nash had learned from Nirenberg
the importance of extending the Holder estimates known for
second-order elliptic equations with two variables and irregular
coefficients to higher dimensionsea"Hiirmander recalled in
1997.11 "He came to see me several times, `What did I think of
such and such an inequality"'At first, his conjectures were
obviously false. [They were] easy to disprove by known facts on
constant coefficient operators. He was rather                A513
inexperienced in these matters. Nash did things from scratch
without using standard techniques. He was always trying to
extract problems ... [from conversations with others]. He had not
the patience to [study them]."
Nash continued to grope, but with more success. "After a couple
more timesea"said Mirmander, "he'd come up with things that were
not so obviously wrong."
14
By the spring, Nash was able to obtain basic existence,
uniqueness, and conti-
nuity theorems once again using novel methods of his
--------------------------------------------------------------514
own invention. He had a theory that difficult problems couldn't
be attacked frontally. He approached the problem in an
ingeniously roundabout manner, first transforming the nonlinear
equations into linear equations and then attacking these by
nonlinear means. "It was a stroke of genius," said Lax, who
followed the progress of Nash's research closely. "I've never
seen that done. I've always kept it in mind, thinking, maybe it
will work in another circumstance
.` 35
Nash's new result got far more immediate attention than his
embedding theorem. It convinced Nirenberg, too, that Nash was a
geniUSDD31
H6rmander's mentor at the University of Lund, Lars Girding, a
world-class specialist in partial differential equations,
immediately declared, "You have to be a genius to do that.""
Courant made Nash a handsome job offerdd"Nash's reaction was a
curious one. Cathleen Synge Morawetz recalled a long conversation
with Nash, who couldn't make up his mind whether to accept the
offer or to go back to MIT. "He said he opted to go to MIT
because of the tax advantage"of living in
--------------------------------------------------------------515
Massachusetts as opposed to New Yorkdd19
Despite these successes, Nash was to look back on the year as one
of cruel disappointment. In late spring, Nash discovered that a
then-obscure young Italian, Ennio De Giorgi, had proven his
continuity theorem a few months earlier. Paul Garabedian, a
Stanford mathematician, was a naval attach6 in London. It was an
Office of Naval Research sinecuredd40 In January 1957, Garabedian
took a long car
trip around Europe and looked up young mathematicians. "I saw
some oldtimers in Romeea"he recalled. "It was a scene. You'd talk
mathematics for half an hour. Then you'd have lunch for three
hours. Then a siesta. Then dinner. Nobody mentioned De Giorgidd"B
in Naples, someone did, and Garabedian looked De Giorgi up on his
way back through Rome. "He was this bedraggled, skinny little
starved-looking guy. But I found out he'd written this paper."
De Giorgi, who died in 1996, came from a very poor family in
Lecce in southern
Italydd41
Later he would become an idol to the younger generation.

He had no life outside mathematics, no family of his own or   516
other close relationships, and, even later, literally lived in
his office. Despite occupying the most prestigious mathematical
chair in Italy, he lived a life of ascetic poverty, completely
devoted to his research, teaching, and, as time went on, a
growing preoccupation with mysticism that led him to attempt to
prove the existence of God through mathematics.
De Giorgi's paper had been published in the most obscure journal
imaginable, the proceedings of a regional academy of sciences.
Garabedian proceeded to report De Giorgi's results in the Office
of Naval Research's European newsletter.
Nash's own account, written after he had won the Nobel for his
work in game theory, conveys the acute disappointment he felt:
I ran into some bad luck since, without my being sufficiently
informed on what other people were doing in the area, it happened
that I was working in parallel with Ennio De Giorgi of Pisa,
Italy. And De Giorgi was first actually to achieve the ascent of
the summit (of
the figuratively described problem)
--------------------------------------------------------------517
at least for the particularly interesting case of "elliptic
equationsdd041
Nash's view was perhaps overly subjective. Mathematics is not an
intramural sport, and as important as being first is, how one
gets to one's destination is often as important as, if not more
important than, the actual target. Nash's work was almost
universally regarded as a major breakthrough. But this was not
how Nash saw it. Gian-Carlo Rota, a graduate student at Yale who
spent that year at Courant, recalled in 1994: 1"en Nash learned
about De Giorgi he was quite shocked. Some people even thought he
cracked up because of thatdd041 When De Giorgi came to Courant
that summer and he and Nash met, Lax said later, "It was like
Stanley meeting Livingstone."
44
Nash left the Institute for Advanced Study on a fractious note.
In early July he apparently had a serious argument with
Oppenheimer about quantum theoryserious enough, at any rate, to
warrant a lengthy letter of apology from Nash to Oppenheimer
written around July 10, 1957: "First, please let me apologize for
my manner of speaking when we discussed quantum theory
--------------------------------------------------------------518
recently. This manner is unjustifiably aggressivedd045 After
calling his own behavior unjustified, Nash nonetheless
immediately justified it by calling "most physicists (also some
mathemati-
Olden Laneand Washington Square
221
cians who have studied Quantum Theory) . . . quite too dogmatic
in their attitudes,?-plaining of their tendency to treat "anyone
with any sort of questioning attitude or a belief in `hidden
parameters` as stupid or at best a quite ignorant person." Nash's
letter to Oppenheimer shows that before leaving New York, Nash
had begun to think seriously of attempting to address Einstein's
famous critique of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle:
Now I am making a concentrated study of Heisenberg's         A518
original 1925 paper ... This strikes me as a beautiful work and I
am amazed at the great difference between expositions of "matrix
mechanics," a difference, which from my viewpoint, seems
definitely in favor of the originaldd46 "I embarked on [a
project] to revise quantum theoryea"Nash said in his 1996 Madrid
lecture. "It was not a priori absurd for a non-physicist.
Einstein had criticized the
--------------------------------------------------------------519
indeterminacy of the quantum mechanics of Heisenberg.
"47
He apparently had devoted what little time he spent at the
Institute for Advanced Study that year talking with physicists
and mathematicians about quantum theory. Whose brains he was
picking is not clear: Freeman Dyson, Hans Lewy, and Abraham Pais
were in residence at least one of the termSdd41 Nash's letter of
apology to Oppenheimer provides the only record of what he was
thinking at the time. Nash made his own agenda quite clear. "To
me one of the best things about the Heisenberg paper is its
restriction to the observable quantities," he wrote, adding that
"I want to find a different and more satisfying under-picture of
a non-observable realitydd049
It was this attempt that Nash would blame, decades later in a
lecture to psychiatrists, for triggering his mental
illness-calling his attempt to resolve the contradictions in
quantum theory, on which he embarked in the summer of 1957,
dispossibly overreaching and psychologically destabilizingdd"10
What the matter with being a loner and innovative? Isn't that
line? But the flone genius] has the
--------------------------------------------------------------520
same wishes as otherpeople. ff he were back in high school doing
science projects, fine. But ifhe too isolated and he
disappointed in something big, i6 frightening, and fright can
precipitate depression. comPA-UL HowARD, McLean Hospital
ORGEN
J
MOSER
had joined the MIT faculty in the fall of 1957 and was living
with his wife, Gertrude, and his stepson, Richy, in a tiny rented
house to the west of Boston in Needham near Wellesley College.
Needham was then more exurb than suburb, still predominantly
rural, a lovely place for walking, boating, and stargazing, all
of which Moser, a nature lover, was fond. That October and
November, Moser would go outside every evening at dusk with
eleven-year-old Richy, climb a great dirt mound behind their
house, and wait
for
Sputnik-a
tiny silvery dot reflecting the sun's last rays-to pass slowly
over Boston.` Having calculated the satellite's precise orbit,
--------------------------------------------------------------521
Moser always knew when it would appear on the horizon.
Very often, he would still be thinking of the afternoon's
conversation with Nash. Nash drove out to Needham often. Despite
their very different temperaments, Nash and Moser had        A521
great respect for each other. Moser, who thought Nash's implicit
function theorem might be generalized and applied to celestial
mechanics, was eager to learn more of Nash's thinking. Nash, in
turn, was interested in Moser's ideas about nonlinear equations.
Richard Emery recalled in 1996: "I remember Nash being very much
a part of our life. He used to come to the house and talk with
Jargen. They would walk and talk together and spend time in the
study. The intensity of it was unimaginable. There could be no
interruptions. An interruption was an absolute sin, a violation
most serious. It was met with real wrath. When Jargen and Nash
met, it was very intense. I always had to be quiet."`
Returning to Cambridge in late summer, Nash and Alicia found an
apartment with some difficulty.` They each paid half the rent,
for they had decided not to pool their fundsddbled Alicia got a
job as a physics researcher at Technical Operations, one of the
small high-tech companies that were springing up
--------------------------------------------------------------522
along Route 128.1 She also enrolled in a course on quantum theory
taught by J. C. Slater.
They quickly settled into the pleasant private and social rituals
of a newly
married academic couple. Alicia almost never cooked. She would
meet Nash on the campus after work, they would eat out with one
or more of Nash's mathematics friends, and often spend the
evening at a lecture, concert, or some social gatheringdd6 Alicia
made sure that they were always surrounded by amusing people,
sometimes Nash's old graduate-student friends, including Mattuck
and Bricker, sometimes Emma Duchane and whomever Emma happened to
be dating, and, increasingly, other young couples like
themselves, including the Mosers, the Minskys, Hartley Rogers and
his wife, Adrienne, and Gian-Carlo Rota and his wife, Terry.
When they were with other people, Nash talked to the
mathematicians, Alicia to the wives or Emma. Yet her attention
was always focused on Nash: what he was saying, how he looked,
bow others reacted to him. He too, seemed always aware of her,
even when he appeared to be ignoring her. That he wasn't
--------------------------------------------------------------523
especially nice to her, or generous, mattered less than that he
was interesting and made things happen.
Their friends accepted Nash's new status as a married man with
more or less good grace. Some found Alicia "ambitious,
strong-willedea"others quite the opposite. Rogers recalled in
1996 that "Alicia subordinated herself to John. She wasn't there
to compete with him. She was totally dedicated to his support."`
Some of their acquaintances found their relationship oddly cool,
but others came away with the impression that marriage suited
Nash well and that Alicia was having a good effect on him.
"Somehow, he was relating a little better," Rogers recalled.
Zipporah Levinson agreed: "John was awkward. Alicia made him
behave."` Photographs of Alicia taken in those months show a
radiant young woman. It was, as Alicia would say many years
later, "a very nice time of my lifedd09
Nash continued to work on the problem he had solved the previous
year at Courant. There were some small gaps in the proof,    A523
and the paper Nash had begun to write, laying out a full account
of what he had done, was in very rough shapedd10 "It was," a
--------------------------------------------------------------524
colleague said in 1996, "as if he were a composer and could hear
the music, but he didn't know how to write it down or exactly how
to orchestrate it."" As it turned out, it would take most of the
year, and a collective effort, before the final product comwh
some mathematicians regard as Nash's most important work comwas
finally ready to be submitted to a journal.
To complete it, Nash came as close as he ever had or would to an
active collaboration with other mathematicians. "It was like
building the atom bomb," recalled Lennart Carleson, a young
professor from the University of Uppsala who was visiting MIT
that term. "This was the beginning of nonlinear theory. It was
very difficult.0"Nash knocked on doors, asked questions,
speculated out loud, fished for ideas, and at the end of the day,
got a dozen or so mathematicians around Cambridge interested
enough in his problem to drop their own research long enough to
solve little pieces of his puzzle. "It was a kind of factory,"
Carleson, who contributed a neat little theorem on entropy to
Nash's paper, said. "He wouldn't
tell us what he was after, his grand design. It was amusing to
watch how he got all these great egos
--------------------------------------------------------------525
to cooperatedd011
Besides Moser and Carleson, Nash also turned to Eli Stein, now a
professor of mathematics at Princeton University but then an MIT
instructor. "He wasn't interested in what I was doing` "recalled
Stein. "He'd say, `You're an analyst. You ought to be interested
in this!
"14
Stein was intrigued by Nash's enthusiasm and his constant supply
of ideas. He said, "We were like Yankees fans getting together
and talking about great games and great players. It was very
emotional. Nash knew exactly what he wanted to do. With his great
intuition, he saw that certain things ought to be true. He'd come
into my office and say, 'This inequality must be true! His
arguments were plausible but he didn't have proofs for the
individual lemmas -- building blocks for the main proofdd011 He
challenged Stein to prove the lemmas.
"You don't accept arguments based on plausibilityea"said Stein in
1995. "If you build an edifice based on one plausible proposition
after another, the whole thing is liable to collapse after a few
steps. But somehow he knew it wouldn't. And it didn't."
--------------------------------------------------------------526
16
Nash's thirtieth year was thus looking very bright. He had scored
a major success. He was adulated and lionized as never before."
Fortune
magazine was about to feature him as one of the brightest young
stars of mathematics in an upcoming series on the "New Math." 11
And he had returned to Cambridge as a married man with a
beautiful and adoring young wife. Yet his good fortune seemed at
times only to highlight the gap between his ambitions and    A526
what he had achieved. If anything, he felt more frustrated and
dissatisfied than ever. He had hoped for an appointment at
Harvard or Princeton. 19 As it was, he was not yet a full
professor at MIT, nor did he have tenure. He had expected that
his latest result, along with the offer from Courant, would
convince the department to award him both that winterdd"Getting
these things after only five years would be unusual, but Nash
felt that he deserved nothing less." But Martin had already made
it clear to Nash that he was unwilling to put him up for
promotion so soon. Nash's candidacy was controversial, Martin had
told him, just as his initial appointment had been." A number of
people in
--------------------------------------------------------------527
the department felt he was a poor teacher and an even worse
colleague. Martin felt Nash's case would be stronger once the
full version of the parabolic equations paper appeared in print.
Nash, however, was furious.
Nash continued to brood over the De Giorgi fiasco. The real blow
of discovering that De Giorgi had beaten him to the punch was to
him not just having to share the credit for his monumental
discovery, but his strong belief that the sudden appearance of a
coinventor would rob him of the thing he most coveted: a Fields
Medal.
Forty years later, after winning a Nobel, Nash referred in his
autobiographical essay, in his typically elliptical fashion, to
his dashed hopes:
It seems conceivable that if either De Giorgi or Nash had failed
in the attack on this problem (or .7
priori
estimates of Holder continuity) then that the ]one climber
reaching the peak would have been recognized with the
mathematics` Fields medal (which has traditionally been
restricted to persons less than 40 years old)."
--------------------------------------------------------------528
The next Fields Medal would be awarded in August 1958, and as
everyone knew, the deliberations had long been under way.
To understand how deep the disappointment was, one must know that
the Fields Medal is the Nobel Prize of mathematics, the ultimate
distinction that a mathematician can be granted by his peers, the
trophy of trophies.
14
There is no Nobel in mathematics, and mathematical discoveries,
no matter how vital to Nobel disciplines such as physics or
economics, do not in themselves qualify for a Nobel. The Fields
is, if anything, rarer than the Nobel. In the fifties and early
sixties, it was awarded once every four years and usually to just
two recipients at a time. Nobels, by contrast, are awarded
annually, with as many as three winners sharing each prize.
Tradition demands that recipients of the Fields be under forty
years of age,
a
practice designed to honor the spirit of the prize charter, which
stipulates that the purpose of the honor is "to encourage young
mathematicians"and "future work."" The incentive,            A528
incidentally, is of an
--------------------------------------------------------------529
intangible variety, as the cash involved, in contrast to the
Nobel, is negligible, a few hundred dollars. Yet since the Fields
is an instant ticket in midcareer to endowed chairs at top
universities, ample research funds, and star salaries, this
seeming disadvantage is more apparent than real.
The prize is administered by the International Mathematical
Union, the same organization that organizes the quadrennial world
mathematical congresses, and the selection of Fields medalists
is, as one recent president of the organization put it, "one of
the most important tasks, one of the most taxing
responsibilities."
16
Like the Nobel deliberations, the Fields selection process is
shrouded in greatest secrecy.
The seven-member prize committee for the 1958 Fields awards was
headed by Heinz Hopf, the dapper, genial, cigar-smoking geometer
from Zurich who showed so much interest in Nash's embedding
theorem, and included another prominent German mathematician,
Kurt Friedrichs, formerly of Gbttingen, and then at Courantdd"The
deliberations got under way in late 1955 and were concluded early
--------------------------------------------------------------530
in 1958. (The medalists were informed, in strictest secrecy, in
May
1958 and actually awarded their medals at the Edinburgh congress
the following August.)
All prize deliberations involve elements of accident, the biggest
one being the composition of the committee. As one mathematician
who took part in a subsequent committee said, "People aren't
universalists. They're horse trading."", In 1958, there were a
total of thirty-six nominees, as Hopf was to say in his award
ceremony speech, but the hot contenders numbered no more than
five or sixdd19
That year the deliberations were unusually contentious and the
prizes, which ultimately went to Ren6 Thom, a topologist, and
Maus F. Roth, a number theorist, were awarded on a four-three
votedd10 "There were lots of politics in that prize;` one person
close to the deliberations said recentlydd"Roth was a shoo-in; he
had solved a fundamental problem in number theory that the most
senior committee member, Carl Ludwig Siegel, had worked on early
in his career. "It was a question of Thom versus Nashea"said
Moser, who heard reports of the deliberations from several of the
--------------------------------------------------------------531
participants.0"Friedrichs fought very hard for Nash, but he
didn't succeed;` recalled Lax, who had been Friedrichs's student
and who heard Friedrichs's account of the deliberations. "He was
upset, As I look back, he should have insisted that a third prize
be given.""
Chances are that Nash did not make the final round. His work on
partial differential equations, of which Friedrichs would have
been aware, was not yet published or properly vetted. He was an
outsider, which one person close to the deliberations thought
"might have hurt himdd"Moser said, "Nash was somebody who    A531
didn't learn the stuff. He didn't care. He wasn't afraid of
moving in and working on his own. That doesn't get looked at so
positively by other peopledd014 Besides, there was no great
urgency to recognize him at this juncture; he was just
twenty-nine.
No one could know, of course, that 1958 would be Nash's last
chance. "By
1962, a Fields for Nash would have been out of the
questionea"Moser said recently. `It would never have happened.
I'm sure nobody even thought about him any-
A measure of how badly Nash wanted to win the
--------------------------------------------------------------532
distinction conferred by such a prize is the extraordinary
lengths to which he went to ensure that his paper would be
eligible for the 136cher Prize, the only award remotely
comparable in terms of prestige to the Fields. The B6cher is
given by the American Mathematical Society only once every five
yearsdd16 It was due to be awarded in February 1959, which meant
that the deliberations would take place in the latter part of
1958.
Nash submitted his manuscript to
Acta Mathematica,
the Swedish mathematics journal, in the spring of 1958.11 It was
a natural choice, since Carleson was the editor and was convinced
of the paper's great importance. Nash let Carleson know he wanted
the paper published as quickly as possible and urged Carleson to
give it to a referee who could vet the paper in a minimum of
time. Carleson gave the manuscript to H6rmander to referee.
H6rmander spent two months studying it, verified all the
theorems, and urged Carleson to get it into print as quickly as
possible. But as soon as Carleson informed Nash of the formal
acceptance, which was, in any case, largely a foregone
conclusion, Nash withdrew his paper.
--------------------------------------------------------------533
When the paper subsequently appeared in the fall issue of the
American Journal ofMathematics,
H6rmander concluded that Nash had always intended to publish the
paper there, since the 136cher restricted eligible papers to
those published in American journals comor, worse, had submitted
the paper to both journals,
The Bomb F"ctory
227
a clear-cut breach of professional ethics. "It turned out that
Nash had just wanted to get a letter of acceptance from
Acta
to be able to get fast publication in the
Arnerican Journal of Mathematics. ?` H6rmander was angry at what
he felt was 1`very improper and most unusual
dis039
It's possible, though, that Nash had simply submitted the paper
to
Acta
before learning that doing so would exclude it from consideration
for the Bbcher, but that upon discovering this fact, he      A533
was willing to antagonize Carleson and Mirmander in
--------------------------------------------------------------534
order to preserve his eligibility. He may therefore not have used
Acta
quite so unscrupulously. Withdrawing the paper after it had been
promised to
Acta, and
after it had been refereed, would have been unprofessional, but
not as clear a violation of ethics as Hbrmander's scenario
suggests. However, it still showed bow very much winning a prize
meant to Nash. Summer 1958
It struck me that I knew every-thing; everj4hing was revealed to
me, all the secrets of the world were mine during those spacious
hours. -
GERARD DE NERVAL
ASH TURNED THIRTY
that June. For most people, thirty is simply the dividing line
between youth and adulthood, but mathematicians consider their
calling a young man's game, so thirty signals something far more
gloomy. Looking back at this time in his life, Nash would refer
to a sudden onset of anxiety, "a fear"t the best years of his
creative life were over.`
What an irony that mathematicians, who live so much more in their
minds than most of humanity, should
--------------------------------------------------------------535
feel so much more trapped by their bodies! An ambitious young
mathematician watches the calendar with a sense of trepidation
and foreboding equal to or greater than that of any model, actor,
or athlete.
The Mathematician Apology
by G. H. Hardy sets the standard for all laments of lost youth.
Hardy wrote that he knew of no single piece of first-rate
mathematics done by a mathematician over fifty.` But the age
anxiety is most intense, mathematicians say, as thirty draws
near. "People say that for better or worse you will probably do
your best work by the time you are thirtyea"said one genius. "I
tend to think that you are at your peak around thirty. I'm not
saying you won't equal it. I would like to think that you could.
But I don't think you will ever do better. That's my gut
feeling."` Von Neumann used to say that "the primary mathematical
powers decline at about twenty-sixea"af which the mathematician
must rely on "a certain more prosaic shrewdnessdd0bled
Compounding the irony is that the act of creating new
mathematics, which appears so solitary from the outside, feels
from the inside like an intramural competition, a race. One never
forgets the crowded
--------------------------------------------------------------536
field. And one's relative standing, vis--vis past and present
competitors, is what counts. Again, Hardy best conveyed what
motivates many mathematicians, including himself. He wrote that
he could not recall ever wanting to be anything but a
mathematician, but also that he could not remember feeling any
passion for mathematics as a boy. "I wanted to beat other
boys, and this seemed to be the way in which I could do so   A536
most decisivelydd"I More ambitious than most, Nash was also more
age-conscious than most comor perhaps simply more frank about it.
"John was the most age-conscious person I've ever metea"recalled
Felix Browder in 1995. "He would tell me every week my age
relative to his and everybody elseSdd06
His determination to avoid the draft during the Korean War
suggested not just a desire to avoid regimentation, but also an
unwillingness to take time out of the race.
The most successful are the most vulnerable to the feeling that
time is running out. Such fears may be exaggerated, but they are
quite capable of producing real crises, as the history of
mathematics amply attests. Artin, for example, switched
frantically from field to field trying to catch hold
--------------------------------------------------------------537
of something that would equal his early accomplishments.`
Steenrod slipped into a deep depression. When one of his students
published a note on "Steenrod's Reduced Powers"- the reference
was, of course, mathematical, not personal -- other
mathematicians smirked and said, "Oh, yes, Steenrod's reduced
powers!"" Nash's thirtieth birthday produced a kind of cognitive
dissonance. One can almost imagine a sniggering commentator
inside Nash's head: "What, thirty already, and still no prizes,
no offer from Harvard, no tenure even? And you thought you were
such a great mathematician? A genius? Ha, ha, ha!" Nash's mood
was odd. Periods of gnawing self-doubt and dissatisfaction
alternated with periods of heady anticipation. Nash had a
distinct feeling that he was on the brink of some revelation. And
it was this sense of anticipation, as much as his fear, as he put
it, of "descending to a professional level of comparative
mediocrity and routine publicationea"t spurred him to begin
working on two great problemsdd9 Sometime during the spring of
1958, Nash had confided to Eli Stein that he had "an idea of an
idea"ab how to solve the Riemann Hypothesisdd"T summer, he wrote
letters to Albert E. Ingham,
--------------------------------------------------------------538
Atle Selberg, and other experts in number theory sketching his
idea and asking their opiniondd"He worked in his office in
Building Two for hours, night after night.
Even when a genius makes such an announcement, the rational
response is skepticism. The Riemann Hypothesis is the holy grail
of pure mathematics. "Whoever proves or disproves it will cover
himself with gloryea"wrote E. T. Bell in 1939. "A decision one
way or the other disposing of Riemann's conjecture would probably
be of greater interest to mathematicians than a proof or disproof
of Fermat's Last Theorem.""
Enrico Bombieri, at the Institute for Advanced Study, said: "The
Riemann Hypothesis is not just a problem. It is tbe problem. It
is the most important problem in pure mathematics. It's an
indication of something extremely deep and fundamental that we
cannot grasp.""
Whole numbers that are evenly divisible only by themselves and
one comsocalled prime numbers -- have exerted a fascination for
mathematicians for two thousand years or more. The Greek
mathematician Euclid proved that there were infinitely       A538
many primes.
--------------------------------------------------------------539
The great European mathematicians of the eighteenth century --
Euler, Legendre, and Gauss -- began a quest, still under way, to
estimate how many primes there are, given a whole number n, less
than
not.
14
And since 18 59 a string of mathematical giants -- G. H. Hardy,
Norman Levinson, Atle Selberg, Paul Cohen, and Bombieri, among
others-have attempted, unsuccessfully, to prove the Riemann
Hypothesisdd"George Polya once gave a young mathematician who had
confided in him that he was working on the Riemann Hypothesis a
reprint of a faulty proof of the conjecture by a G6menttingen
mathematician who thought he'd solved the problem. "I think about
it every day when I wake up in the morningea"the young
mathematician had said, and Polya delivered the reprint the
following morning with a note: "If you want to climb the
Matterhorn you might first wish to go to Zermatt where those who
have tried are buried."
16
Before World War 1, a German banker endowed a
--------------------------------------------------------------540
prize, lodged in G6menttingen, for whoever proved or disproved
the hypothesis. The prize was never awarded and, indeed, vanished
in the inflation of the 1920'sdd11
Nash's first encounter with Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann and
his famous conjecture took place when Nash was fourteen, probably
lying on the den floor in front of the radio, reading Bell's
Men ofMathematicsll
Riemann, the sickly son of an impoverished Lutheran minister, was
also fourteen and preparing to follow in his father's footsteps
when a sympathetic headmaster, who sensed that the boy was more
suited to mathematics than the ministry, gave him a copy of
Legendre's
Th6orie des Nombres
to read. 19 As Bell tells it, the young Riemann returned the
859-page work six days later, saying, "That is certainly a
wonderful book. I have mastered itdd"Th episode, which took place
in 1840, was likely the origin of Riemann's lifelong interest in
the riddle of prime numbers and, as Bell theorizes, Riemann's
Hypothesis may have originated in his
--------------------------------------------------------------541
later attempt to improve upon Legendre.
In 1859, at the age of thirty-three, Riemann wrote an eight-page
paper,
Veber die Anzahl der Primzahlen unter einer gegebenen Groesse"
("On the number of prime numbers under a given magnitude"), in
which he laid out his famous conjecture com"one of the
outstanding challenges, if not the outstanding challenge to pure
mathematics."
Here is how Bell explains the conjecture:
The problem concerned is to give a formula which will state how
many primes there are less than any given number not. In     A541
attempting to solve this Riemann was driven to an investigation
of the infinite series I plus
1/2's plus 1/3's plus 'As
plus . . . in which s is a complex number, say s equals u plus iv
(i equals
where u and v are real numbers, so chosen that the series
converges. With this proviso the infinite series is a definite
function of s, say zeta(s) (the Greek zeta is always used to
denote this function, which is called "Riemann's zeta
--------------------------------------------------------------542
Secrets
231
function"); and as s varies zeta(s) continuously takes on
different values. For what values of s will zeta(s) be zero?
Riemann conjectured that .711
such values of s for which
u
lies between 0 and I are of the form
112
plus
iv, namely, all have their real part equal to 112.10
When Riemann died of tuberculosis at thirty-nine, he left behind
a vast legacy, including the abstract, four-dimensional geometry
that Einstein would employ in formulating his general theory of
relativity. Just as geographers had to go from two-dimensional
plane geometry to three-dimensional solid geometry to create an
undistorted map of the earth, Einstein, to map the cosmos, went
from threedimensional to four-dimensional geometry. But it was
for his tantalizing conjecture that Riemann is best remembered.
Proving or disproving it would settle many extremely difficult
--------------------------------------------------------------543
questions in the theory of numbers and in some fields of
analysis. As Bell put it, "Expert opinion favors the truth of the
hypothesis.""
It is impossible to say how long Nash had been contemplating his
own attempt, but it seems likely that his interest crystallized
sometime toward the end of his year in New York. Jack Schwartz
recalled conversations with Nash on the subject in the Courant
common room." Jerome Neuwirth, a second-year graduate student at
MIT in 1957-58, remembered that Nash had developed a very
proprietary feeling about the problem around that time." Neuwirth
recalled that Newman, perhaps to tease Nash, told Nash that
Neuwirth, too, was working on the Riemann Hypothesis. Nash came
roaring into Neuwirth's office. "How dare you""he said. "What's a
guy like you doing?" It quickly became a running joke. Every time
Nash saw Neuwirth he'd say, "Well, did you get anywhere yet""And
Neuwirth would answer, "Almost got it. I'd tell you about it, but
I've got to run."
As Stein recalled it, Nash's idea was "to try to prove the
hypothesis by logic, by internal consistency of the system. Some
proofs are based on


analogies, on rules of logic whereby something is proved      544
[indirectly]. If one could show that the structure of two
problems was in some sense identical, one could show that the
logic of one proof had to apply to the other. It's a proof by
logic and it doesn't relate to the real context. It's not proving
that one object is related to another objectdd014
Stein was dubious. "He told me this very sketchy thing. It was an
idea of an idea about how he was going to prove this thing. He
was going to find another number system in which it was true. I
thought, 'It's wild, it doesn't hang together! This struck me as
simply unbelievable. This was as opposed to my earlier
conversations with him about parabolic equations, which struck me
as daring but probably right.""
Richard Palais, a professor of mathematics at Brandeis
University, recalls some particulars: "Nash was considering
so-called pseudoprime sequences, i.e., increasing sequences
pi, p,, p, .
. . of integers that have many of the same distribution
properties as the sequence 2, 3, 5, 7, . . . of prime numbers.
For each of these one can
--------------------------------------------------------------545
associate in a natural way a 'zeta function,` which for the case
of the true primes reduces to the Riemann zeta function. As I
recall, Nash claimed to be able to show that for `almost all` of
these pseudoprime sequences the corresponding zeta function
satisfied the Riemann Hypothesisdd016
Bell warned that "Riemann's Hypothesis is not the sort of problem
that can be attacked by elementary methods. It had already given
rise to an extensive and thorny literaturedd017 By the time Nash
turned to it seriously, that literature had grown several-fold.
Both Ingham and Selberg, possibly others as well, warned Nash
that his ideas had been tried before and hadn't led
anywheredd"Eugenio Calabi, who was in touch with Nash in this
period, said: "For a person who is not a library hound, it's a
very dangerous area to go into. If you have a flash of an idea
with a scenario and think you may get a result, in the first
flash of illumination you think you have a revelation. But that's
very dangerousdd019
There was, as Nash suggested, nothing absurd in his attempting to
solve
the
outstanding problems in pure mathematics and
--------------------------------------------------------------546
theoretical physics. The skepticism with which his early
formulations were greeted was, after all, merely a replay of the
skepticism voiced by experts toward his earlier efforts, and has
no doubt been exaggerated in hindsight. When those problems are
solved it will be by a young mathematician who attacks them with
the hubris, originality, raw mental power, and sheer tenacity
that Nash brought to bear on his greatest work,
Yet the timing of Nash's decision to pursue these problems, just
as be turned thirty and while he was licking various wounds to
what he would later call his 11 merciless superegoea"10 suggests
that a fear of failure Jay behind his willingness to take unusual
risks. Stein's impression of Nash during their               A546
conversations about the Riemann problem is interesting: "He was a
little ... on the wild side. There was something exaggerated
about his actions. There was a flamboyance in the way he talked.
Mathematicians are usually more careful about what they will
assert to be true."" But, of course, hubris is not exactly
uncommon. As Hormander, who went on to win a Fields Medal in
1962, put it: "It's part of life that not all things one works on
work out. You overestimate your own abilities. After
--------------------------------------------------------------547
solving a big problem, nothing smaller is good enough. It's very
dangerous."" Later, quite possibly because of the effects of
shock treatments, Nash had absolutely no recall of his attempt to
solve Riemann's conjecturedd"B, as it was, Nash's compulsion to
scale this most difficult, most dangerous peak proved central to
his undoing.
There were other signs that Nash felt, at that particular
juncture, a growing pressure to prove himself comz well as a
newfound taste for taking risks. Nash had always been obsessed
with money, even trivial amounts. Nash had made friends with
Samuelson, Solow, and a number of other young economists at MIT.
Samuelson recalled in 1996 that Nash told him about a bank with
no checking charges at all.
"Do they give you stamped, self-addressed envelopes
too""Samuelson shot back. Nash, who didn't get the joke,
immediately replied: "No. Do you know a bank that gives you
stamped self-addressed envelopes?"
14
Privately, Samuelson thought it was all a bit pathological.
Norman Levinson, who complained to Samuelson about Nash's
parsimony, apparently
--------------------------------------------------------------548
once told him "to cut out his cheese-paring waysdd"Levinson said:
"One extra theorem will earn you more than all that
stuff.0ggation everyone thought it was weird. Nash was able to
convince Martin and a few others in the math department to switch
their accounts to the Peoples National Bank of Rocky Mount,
Virginia, which charged no fees on checking accounts!)"
That summer Nash's somewhat compulsive attitude toward money
blossomed into an obsession with the stock and bond markets.
Solow recalled: "It seemed he had a notion that there might be a
secret to the market, not a
conspiracy, but
a theorem comsomething that if you could only figure it out,
would let you beat the market. He would look at the financial
pages and ask, `Why is this happening? Why is that happening?` as
if there had to be a reason for a stock to go up or downdd016
Martin, the chairman of the mathematics department, also recalled
that "Nash liked to chat about the stock market. He had the idea
you could get rich."" Nash had some notion of arbitraging July
1999 bonds against September 1999 as well as various ideas about
over-the-counter stocksdd"Solow was aghast to learn that


Nash was investing his mother's savings. "I was               549
horrifiedea"he recalled. "That's something elseea"said Samuelson.
"It's vanity. It's like claiming you can control the tides. It's
a feeling that you can outwit nature. It's not uncommon among
mathematicians. It's not just about money. It's me against the
world. A lot of traders start that way. It's about proving
yourself."
In late July, against this backdrop of grand designs, the Nashes,
who had not yet gone on a proper honeymoon, left Cambridge for
Europe. They sailed from New York on the
be de Francedd19
Their ultimate destination was Edinburgh, where the World
Congress of Mathematics was to take place in the second week of
August. Nash was giving a lecture on nonlinear theory. Many
colleagues from MIT and Princeton would be there, and Nash was
able to pay for his trip partly out of Sloan funds.
But first they went to Paris. There, having calculated that
importing a used car from Europe was a bargain, Nash purchased an
olive-green Mercedes 180 diesel. He and Alicia then drove south
over the Pyrenees to Spain, back to Italy, and up to Belgium. The
trip was a success. "We were
--------------------------------------------------------------550
youngea"Alicia recalls. "It was fun.""" Another of his plans was
to buy Alicia the diamond that he had promised her. Antwerp was
the center of the world diamond market, and Nash had the idea
that it would be advantageous to buy a stone directly from a
wholesaferdd41 Eli Stein's father had been a diamond merchant
there before the war and that is what may have given Nash the
idea in the first place. If Nash had hoped for a bargain, he was
disappointed; the yellow stone that he purchased was no cheaper
than it would
have been in the States, he recalled in 1996. From Belgium, they
drove to the North Sea, crossed over into Sweden, and visited
Lund and Stockholm before crossing back to England.
They rendezvoused with Felix and Eva Browder in London and drove
to Scotland with them. The men ignored the women, who sat
together in the backscat gossiping (at that time, Eva recalled,
"Nash wouldn't talk to women0gg.41 On the second, rainy day of
the drive, Felix managed to dent the Mercedes, prompting Nash to
repeat incessantly for the rest of the trip that "this car has
been Browderizeddd041
There were, as Alicia later said, "lots of
--------------------------------------------------------------551
famous people arounddd044 Nash seemed very much his usual self He
pouted a bit when Milnor gave his invited half-hour lecture, a
great honor. He got into a loud argument with Olga Ladyshenskaya
from the University of St. Petersburg, an expert
on
a priori
estimates of parabolic equations and the leading female
mathematician of her generation. Nash was picking her brains and
she, somewhat paranoid, reacted rather violently."` The Nashes
held a party in their hotel room. Nash raised eyebrows by
complaining at great length that Alicia took too long to get
dressed and that she was always latedd46 But he showed no    A551
emotion when, as he and Alicia sat in the balcony with the
Browders, Moore, Milnor, and others, the Fields prizes were
awarded.
Fall 1958
The growing consciousness is a danger and a disease.
- FwEDR-ICH NYE7ZSCHE
TE
NASHES WERE BACK-IN
Cambridge and Nash was already teaching when Alicia discovered,
half with joy, half with dismay, that she was
--------------------------------------------------------------552
pregnant. Alicia, who liked her job and her paycheck, would
have preferred to wait a few years. It had been Nash's wish that
they start a family right away.` He stopped short of saying that
his desire for another child had been his motive for marrying,
but he reminded Alicia often that the whole purpose of marriage,
in his view, was to produce children.` Now that his wish was to
be realized, Nash was on the whole rather pleased, passing the
great news on to Albert Tucker in a postscript to a letter in
early October by referring to "a 'new addition` that we are
expecting."` He demanded that Alicia stop smoking. When she lit
up at a math party he told her to put out her cigarette and made
a scene after she refusedddbled But otherwise, all seemed to be
well. Nash was teaching a graduate course. The course number
comM711, a sly reference to craps-was Nash's idea and helped draw
enough students to fill a small amphitheater.` Nash's first
assignment also reflected his high spirits. He asked his students
to invent a way to grade each other's papers so that he, Nash,
wouldn't have to be bothered.
Nash was at that moment preoccupied with his own future and
feeling increasingly restless. Martin had assured
--------------------------------------------------------------553
him that he was coming up for tenure that winter.` The promise of
a decision mollified him somewhat: Nash wrote to Tucker that the
situation at MIT had "reached a modus vivendi condition
which is an impro vem en t o ver early 1958. his
7
But the sense that others were deciding his future oppressed him.
And he was more convinced that he didn't belong at MIT. "I do not
feel this is a good long-term position for me," he wrote to
Tucker, saying that he was afraid of becoming isolated within the
department like Wiener. "I would rather be one of a smaller
number of more nearly equal colleagues."` His sister Martha
recalled that "he had no intention of staying at MIT. He wanted
to go to Harvard because of the prestigedd09
Meanwhile, the University of Chicago was putting out feelers
about Nash's possible interest in moving there."` Chicago had
gone a long time without making any senior hires, even after
Andre Weil had left for the Institute for Advanced Study. Now the
math department had a new chairman, Adrian Albert, and some
cash." Albert was looking at a young Harvard professor, John
Thompson, who

had done brilliant work in group theoryea"and also at Nash,   554
who had a number of strong supporters in the department,
including Shiingshen Chern.
Nash felt the pressure from these decisions acutely and decided,
in any case, that he wanted to get away the following year for a
separate sabbatical. He wanted to spend the fall term of 1959 in
Princeton at the Institute for Advanced Study and the spring term
in Paris at its French equivalent, the Institut des Hautes
9mentudes Scientifiques, which, like the Institute, was dominated
by mathematicians and theoretical physicists. Around the end of
October, he began the process of applying for various grants,
including those from the National Science Foundation, the
Guggenheim Foundation, and the Fulbright program. He also applied
to the Institute for a membership. He wrote: "This is part of the
plan. The other part is to learn Frenchdd"I I
Albert Tucker was supportive. He wrote to the Fulbright program
on October
8 that "Nash is eager to talk mathematics with others he thinks
are up to snuff... He is often rather rough on those less able
... but this is standard
--------------------------------------------------------------555
practice in France ... Nash should do well with energetic give
and take ... benefit from relationship with Leray."
14
His letter of recommendation to the National Science Foundation
called Nash "one of the most talented and original mathematicians
in the US ... in his final year of a Sloan fellowship. One of two
or three best men who ever got a Sloan." I I His November 26
letter to the Guggenheim Foundation was couched in similarly
laudatory terms."
What Nash planned to work on isn't clear. He was at the time
thinking about several different problems, including quantum
theory and the Riemann Hypothesis. His desire to go to Paris may
or may not have been motivated by Leray's presence at the College
de France. Gian-Carlo Rota recalled: "He was bragging that he had
enough fellowships to survive three or four yearsdd011 One
particularly unpleasant episode occurred in the early fall. His
investments had proved disastrous,"ffsay the least, and he had to
confess his failure to Virginia. He also had to promise to repay
her. "I'll forward my debt," Nash was
--------------------------------------------------------------556
forced to write Virginia that fall. The amount wasn't huge, but
the whole thing was quite upsettingdd19
Everything, in short, seemed suddenly to be in flux-which may be
why Nash found himself drawn to another young man. That summer a
brilliant mathematician, six years Nash's junior, turned up at
MIT. By the mid-1960's, Paul Cohen would be famous for solving a
logical puzzle posed by Gbdel -- a result so stunning that
The New York Times
reported it?-and would win both a Fields and a Schemes
136cher
.2 1
But in the fall of 1958, Cohen was a fiercely ambitious,
enormously frustrated upstart. Cohen, who had grown up poor in
New York, had been on the math team at Stuyvesant High       A556
School, and had just earned his Ph.D. at the University of
Chicagodd"B his thesis had not been well received and as a
consequence he had been unhappily marooned at the University of
Rochester. Desperate to get away, he had begged
--------------------------------------------------------------557
his old friend from Stuyvesant, Eli Stein, to help him get an
instructorship at MIT." This Stein had managed to do, and Cohen
had come to Cambridge as soon as class inines ended at Rochester.
Big, slightly feline in his movements, his eyes burning with
fiery intensity under a high dome of a forehead, Cohen was
self-obsessed, suspicious, aggressive, and charming by turns. He
spoke several languages. He played the piano. His ambitions were
seemingly unlimited and he spoke, from one moment to the next, of
becoming a physicist, a composer, even a novelist. Stein, who
became a close friend of Cohen's, said: "What drives Cohen is
that he's going to be better than any other guy. He's going to
solve the big problems. He looks down on mathematicians who do
mathematics for the sake of making incremental improvements in
the field
dis024
He was as fast as Newman, ambitious as Nash, arrogant as the two
put together, and he very quickly fell in with the other two.
Cohen was competitivewildly competitiveea"z one fellow instructor
put it. "He was good at tearing people
--------------------------------------------------------------558
down," Adriano Garsia recalled in 1995.11 They challenged each
other with problems. "Well, Nash what kind of garbage are you
working on now""Cohen would say. "What wrong theorems did you
prove today? Okay ... you want a real problem? I'll give you a
problemff"They ragged the chess players mercilessly. As Carsia
recalls, "They were always eager to show how much better they
were at whatever game it was that other people were playing. They
engaged in horseplay ... playing tunes on beer bottlesdd"D.J. and
Paul typically got the better of Nash, but not always. Cohen was
the more articulate. But occasionally Nash could shut them up.
"He could say an enormous amount in three wordsea"said Garsia.
They delighted in ganging up on a graduate student struggling
with a dissertation, dissecting a problem that some poor guy had
been working on for two years and springing their own solution on
him. They liked to argue that theirs was more powerful, but in
fact they abjured elegance for brute force. "They wanted to solve
it any way at allea"said Garsia.
Nash "cultivated"Cohen, according to the latter. It was
disunusualea"Cohen recalled. "Maybe I liked him because he liked
me. He'd ask me to lunch.
--------------------------------------------------------------559
He was not a friend of mine, though. I don't know that he had any
friendsdd016 Still, Cohen was intrigued. He used to go to dinner
with the Nashes, speaking Spanish to Alicia, wondering how Nash
had won this beautiful girl, and aware that Alicia was somehow
"concerned"ab Nash's paying so much attention to Cohen.
Nash never made any advances or ever said anything personal to
Cohen. But he dropped hints. He'd say things like "So and So was
a homosexualea"Cohen recalled. Or he'd say a word and ask    A559
Cohen if he knew what it meant. If Cohen
said no, Nash would come back with "Oh, you don't know what so
and so meansdd"P around the department were soon gossiping that
Nash was in love with Cohen." Cohen was flattered, even
fascinated, by Nash's interest, but he took special delight in
rubbing Nash's face in the disparity between the grandiose claims
and reality. He was critical, to the point of viciousness, of
Nash's hubris. Later, Cohen would say, "Mathematically I didn't
interact with him. I didn't feel I could talk to him about
mathematics."
But they did talk a good deal about Nash's ideas on the Riemann
Hypothesis. "Nash thought he could
--------------------------------------------------------------560
work on any problem he wantedea"said Cohen in a tone of mild
outrage. "He wrote a letter to Ingham, and he passed it around. I
shot it down. What he was trying to do, you couldn't do. I would
have been very unsympathetic to Nash's notion. The Riemann
Hypothesis can't be solved as stated. He came by with this
letter. But any expert would have said these ideas are naive.
What I admired is the enormous self-confidence to even
conjecture. If he's right, this guy's intuition is in the
stratosphere. But it turned out to be just another wrong idea."
A year later, after he had been hospitalized, some blamed
disappointed love and the intense rivalry with a younger man for
Nash's breakdowndd"Ironically, Cohen's career wound up mirroring
Nash's. After his great success, he turned to the Riemann
Hypothesis and physics. He did publish, but rarely and never any
thing that rivaled the work he did before age thirty. "Nothing
was worthy of his notice," said a mathematician who knew him at
MIT. "He sat in glorious isolationdd019 There is a kindling. A
slowfire burning. comJosEPH BRENNER, psychiatrist, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1997
--------------------------------------------------------------561
SOMEONE
WAS CALLING, "It's time to play charades. It's time to play
charadesdd"I A crowd of costumed guests filled the entire ground
floor of the Mosers` small frame house in Needham. Outside, snow
had been falling for hours. Inside, the atmosphere was thick with
smoke, liquor, jazz. Everyone was talking, laughing a little
louder than usual, heads close together, waving cigarettes,
posing for the camera, still a bit self-conscious but already
loosening up in the carnival-like atmosphere. The Mosers were
dressed as pirate and Indian squaw. Karin Tate, Artin's musician
daughter, was dressed as a black cat. Her husband, John, the
algebraist, came as the Vector Space Man, wearing a metal cap
with bobbing antennae and arrows all over his chest. Gian-Carlo
Rota looked as elegant as ever in his monk's tunic, his
dark-haired wife, Teresa, dashing in her Spanish bolero and slim
black pants.
Richy Emery, the Mosers' son, watched through the dining-room
window as a big dark car pulled into the driveway and a virtually
naked man got out. There was a pounding on the kitchen door and
Richy ran
to open it. As Nash came striding into the room, followed     562
by Alicia, heads turned, eyebrows shot up, and conversation
suddenly quieted. Alicia was laughing excitedly and Nash wore a
smirky smile as they surveyed the astonished guests. He was
barefoot and entirely naked except for a diaper and a sash, which
was draped across his powerful chest, that had the numerals 1959
written on it. Having stolen the show, Nash grinned and bowed,
waved a baby bottle full of milk at the assembled company, which
was laughing loudly at this point-and then sauntered into the
living room to join in the game of charades.
Jargen and Gertrude were just dividing the guests into two teams.
Nash was on one team, Richy on the other. When it was Richy's
turn, Nash walked over to him and whispered in his ear the name
of the character that he was supposed to act out. Richy was
delighted. He adored Nash, who was much younger and more animated
than most of Jorgen's math friends. Richy's pantomime initially
mystified everyone. Finally a woman, the best player in the room,
read his eleven-year-old
mind:
The Critique ofPure Reason!
--------------------------------------------------------------563
Richy looked over at Nash, who shrugged his shoulders and gave
him a big grin.
Between that New Year's Eve, December 31, 1958, and the last day
in February, as his fellow mathematicians and friends looked on
in puzzlement, Nash would undergo a strange and horrible
metamorphosis. But on New Year's Eve, he was, by all accounts,
simply his flamboyant, eccentric, and slightly off-key self,
playful and mischievous. Alicia was in high spirits as well. The
idea for Nash's costume had been hers.` She was the one who sewed
it, draped his sash, and choreographed the entrance a moment past
midnight. There is no hint of unease or premonition in the
photograph of Nash sprawling somewhat drunkenly, with a laughing,
gleeful Alicia on his lap, her arm on his shoulder. Most of the
evening, though, it was Nash who was curled up in Alicia's lap.
Some of the other partygoers found it extremely bizarre, "really
gruesome,""ddturbing."
Nash had already crossed some invisible threshold. The feverish
activity and the fierce competition with Cohen and Newman in the
common room, so noticeable in the early fall, had already slowed.
He seemed a trifle more withdrawn, a little spacier. A
--------------------------------------------------------------564
graduate student who had just come into Nash's orbit recalled his
not being able to keep up with Cohen and Newman. Paul Cohen
recalled in 1996 that that fall Nash would make little jokes,
little offhand remarks about world affairs, interesting license
numbers, and the like. They were funny-Nash was always very
bright and very witty-but they showed that something was not all
right. "I'd think, 'That's going a little too far,` "Cohen said.`
Nash started singling out individuals. One was a senior named A]
Vasquez, who had never taken a course from Nash and was something
of a prot6ong6 of Paul Cohen's. "I'd see him in the common room.
He'd say something. It wasn't a conversation. More like a
monologue. He gave me preprints of his articles and asked me
strange questions about themdd0bled                          A564
But none of this was especially alarming or suggested outright
illness, just another stage in the evolution of Nash's
eccentricity. His conversation, as Raoul Bott put it, had "always
mixed mathematics and myth."` His conversational style had always
been a bit odd. He never seemed to know when to speak up or shut
up or take part in ordinary give and take. Emma Duchane recalled
in 1997 that
--------------------------------------------------------------565
Nash always, from their earliest acquaintance, which dated back
to Nash and Alicia's courtship, told interminable stories with
mysterious, off-key punch linesdd6
In his game-theory course, Nash behaved like his usual self,
according to students who were in the class.` On the first day,
he said to the class, "The question occurs to me: Why are you
here?," a remark that caused one student to drop the course.
Later, he gave a midterm without announcing it in advance. He
also paced a great deal and he sometimes fell into reveries in
the middle of lecturing or answering a student's question. just
before Thanksgiving, Nash had invited his TA from the game theory
course, Ramesh Gangolli, and Alberto Galmarino, a student
from the course whom he was helping to choose a dissertation
topic, to accompany him on a walk.` As they walked over the
Harvard Bridge on the Charles River late one afternoon, Nash
embarked on a lengthy monologue that was difficult to follow for
the two, who had just come to the United States. It concerned
threats to world peace and calls for world government. Nash
seemed to be confiding in the two young men, hinting that he had
been asked to play some extraordinary role. Gangolli recalled
that he
--------------------------------------------------------------566
and Galmarino were quite disturbed and that they wondered briefly
if they should inform Martin that something was not quite right.
Awed as they were by Nash, and new as they were to America comand
so reluctant to form any judgments comthey decided to say
nothing.
Also around that time, Atle Selberg, one of the masters of
analytic number theory, gave a talk in Cambridge. Nash, who was
in the audience, seemed to think that Selberg knew some secret
that be was holding back. Selberg recalled, "He asked some
questions I thought were in a sense, to my way of thinking,
somewhat inappropriate to the subject. He seemed to see something
quite different than what I had intended.... [His] questions were
formulated as if I had some hidden, not fully disclosed, agenda
that he wanted to discover. The lecture was about the rigidity of
several locally symmetric spaces. He asked some questions that
seemed to imply I had a hidden, secret motive. He suspected it
had something to do with the Riemann Hypothesis, which of course
it did not. I was rather taken aback. This was something that had
nothing to do whatsoever [with the Riemann Hypothesis]."
After the New Year's party, people around the department started
talking about Nash. Classes resumed


January 4. A week or ten days later, Nash asked Galmarino     567
to teach a couple of his classes. He was going away, he said.
Galmarino, who was flattered by Nash's confidence in him, readily
agreed. Nash showed up at Rota's apartment on Sacramento Street
on his way out of town. Then he disappeareddd10
Cohen disappeared at around the same time. After a few days, the
scuttlebutt among the graduate students was that Nash and Cohen
had run away togetherdd"Z it happens, Cohen had gone to visit his
sister. He was terribly upset when he returned to hear what the
others had been saying about him and Nash. Nash, meanwhile, had
driven south, ultimately to Roanoke, but perhaps also to
Washington, D.C.
A couple of weeks later Nash slouched into the common room.
Nobody bothered to stop talking. Nash was holding a copy of
The New York Times.
Without addressing anyone in particular, he walked up to Hartley
Rogers and some others and pointed to the story on the upper
left-hand corner of the
Times
front page, the off-lede, as
--------------------------------------------------------------568
Times
staffers call it." Nash said that abstract powers from outer
space, or perhaps it was foreign governments, were communicating
with him through
The New York Times.
The messages, which were meant only for him, were encrypted and
required close analysis. Others couldn't decode the messages. He
was
being allowed to share the secrets of the world. Rogers and the
others looked at each other. Was he joking?
Emma Duchane recalled driving with Nash and Alicia. She recalled
that "he kept shifting from station to station. We thought he was
just being pesky. But he thought that they were broadcasting
messages to him. The things he did were mad, but we didn't really
know it.""
Nash gave one of his graduate students an expired license,
writing the student's nickname --
St. Louis -- over his own. He called it an "intergalactic
driver's license." He mentioned that he was a member of a
committee and that he was putting the student in charge of Asia.
The student recalled, "He seemed to be joking around."
14
His manner took on a certain furtiveness.
--------------------------------------------------------------569
Another student, an undergraduate, recalled, "I have this
impression of him darting about. I'd walk into a stairwell and
he'd disappear as if he'd been lurking there' 11
Nash showed up at the apartment of John and Karin Tate one
evening. Everybody was horsing around and finally they settled
down to play a game of bridge. Nash's partner was Karin Tate. His
bidding was bizarre. At one point he bid six hearts when, as it
turned out, he held no hearts at all. Karin asked him, "Are you
crazy""Nash responded quite calmly, explaining that he somehow
had expected her to read his bids. "He expected me to        A569
understand. He genuinely thought I could understand. I thought he
was pulling my leg, but it became obvious that he wasn't. I
thought he was doing some sort of experiment."
16
Some people continued to think Nash was engaged in some elaborate
private joke. There was a lot of discussion about it.
Nash's recollections of those weeks focus on a feeling of mental
exhaustion and depletion, recurring and increasingly pervasive
images, and a growing sense of revelation regarding a secret
world that
--------------------------------------------------------------570
others around him were not privy to. He began, he recalled in
1996, to notice men in red neckties around the MIT campus. The
men seemed to be signaling to him. "I got the impression that
other people at MIT were wearing red neckties so I would notice
them. As I became more and more delusional, not only persons at
MIT but people in Boston wearing red neckties [would seem
significant to
meldd1117
At some point, Nash concluded that the men in red ties were part
of a definite pattern. "Also [there was some relation to] a
crypto-communist partyea"he said in 1996.
Things started happening fast. Alicia Nash later compared Nash's
disintegration to that of a man who is conversing quite normally
at a dinner party, suddenly starts arguing loudly, and finally
has an all-out temper tantrum."
He told Cohen: "People are talking about me. You've heard them.
Tell me what they're sayingdd"Cohen recalled: "It had a nasty
edge. I told him I didn't know what he was talking about, that I
hadn't heard anythingdd019
Nash was still working on the Riemann problem. Once
--------------------------------------------------------------571
Nash accused Cohen
of rifling through his trash can. Was he trying to steal Nash's
ideas about Riemann? Again, it sounded like a bit of an
over-the-top joke, but it upset Cohen sufficiently so that he
repeated the incident to a studentdd21
In mid-February, Harold Kuhn, who was on a Fulbright in London
with Estelle and his children, spent a few days in Paris where he
visited a French mathematician, Claude Berge. Berge showed Kuhn a
letter from Nash, written in four colors of ink, complaining that
his career was being ruined by aliens from outer spacedd21
Possibly, the event that triggered Nash's strange letter to Berge
was the announcement of the winner of the 1959 136cher Prize,
Louis Nirenberg, the Courant professor who had suggested the
partial differential equation problem to Nash. Paul Cohen later
recalled that Nash's reaction was furious. He told Cohen that he
deserved the prize and that the fact that an older mathematician
had won it was merely a sign that these things were "political."
12
Nash also approached Neuwirth about his work. "He said he was
giving this lecture on the Riemann

Hypothesisea"Neuwirth recalled. "But when he started          572
talking it was gibberish. Probability is everything!!! I knew
that was crazy. I mentioned it to Newman, who brushed
it offdd021
On yet another occasion, Nash wandered into Moser's office,
unannounced as always. Moser, always affable, suppressed a
feeling of irritation and waved him in. Nash stood at the
blackboard. He drew a set that resembled a large, wavy baked
potato. He drew a couple of other smaller shapes to the right.
Then he fixed a long gaze on Moser. "Thisea"he said, pointing to
the potato, "is the universedd"Moser nodded. Moser was at that
time engaged in trying to apply Nash's implicit function theorem
to certain problems in celestial mechanics. "This is the
governmentea"Nash said, in the same tone that used to say, "This
is an elliptic equation.0"Th is heaven. And this is helldd`.` 14
Ted and Lucy Martin had been in Mexico on a winter vacation. When
Martin returned, Levinson took him aside and told him that Nash
was having a nervous breakdown. "Tell me about itea"said Martin,
who said later that he "almost didn't believe in these
--------------------------------------------------------------573
thingsdd"Martin recalled, "Levinson said, `He's very paranoid. If
you go down to his office, he won't want you between him and the
door.` Sure enough, when I went down to his office that Sunday
night, Nash edged himself over between me and the door.""
Strange letters began turning up in the department mail. Ruth
Goodwin, the department secretary, would put them aside and show
them to Martindd16 They were addressed to ambassadors of various
countries. And they were from John Nash. Martin panicked. He
tried to retrieve the letters, not all of which were addressed
and most of which weren't stamped, from mailboxes around the
campus.
What was in the letters? None have survived, but various people
recalled
hearing from Martin that Nash was forming a world government.
There was a committee that consisted of Nash and various students
and colleagues in the department. The letters were addressed to
all the embassies in Washington, D.C. The letter said he was
forming a world government. He wanted to talk to the ambassadors.
Later he would talk to the heads of statedd21
Martin was in a most awkward position. The faculty, after some
internal dissension, had just voted
--------------------------------------------------------------574
on Nash's promotion, and it was now before the president of the
university. He dithered and delayed.
Meanwhile, Adrian Albert, the chairman of the mathematics
department at the University of Chicago, called Norman Levinson.
What was Nash's state of mind? he asked Levinson. Chicago had
made an offer of a prestigious chair to Nash, Nash was scheduled
to give a talk, and now he had received a very odd letter from
Nash." It was a refusal of the Chicago offer. Nash had thanked
Albert for his kind offer but said he would have to decline
because he was scheduled to become Emperor of Antarctica. The
letter, Browder recalled in 1996, also contained references to
Ted Martin's stealing Nash's ideas. The affair came to the
attention of MIT president Julius Stratton, who, upon        A574
seeing a copy of Nash's letter, is supposed to have said, "This
is a very sick man."
The spring term began February 9. Shortly after Washington's
birthday, Eugenio Calabi, who was a member that year at the
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, gave a seminar at MIT.
Undergraduates, even very bright ones,
--------------------------------------------------------------575
didn't normally attend departmental seminars, but Also Vasquez, a
senior, decided he would go. He put on a sport coat and tie for
the occasion. Feeling rather self-conscious, he sat a few rows
from the rear and hoped that he looked less conspicuous than he
felt.
He had noticed, as he sat down, that Nash was sitting in the row
behind him. In the middle of Calabi's lecture, Nash started
speaking rather loudly, although he did not appear to be
addressing Calabi. After a few moments, Vasquez realized that
Nash was talking to him. "Vasquez, did you know that I'm on the
cover of
Life
magazine""Nash kept repeating until Vasquez turned arounddd19
Nash told Vasquez that his photograph had been disguised to make
it look as if it were Pope John the Twenty-third. Vasquez, he
said, also had his picture on a
Life
cover and it too was disguised. How did he know that the
photograph, apparently of the pope, was really of himself? Two
ways, he explained. First because John wasn't the pope's given
name but a name that he had
--------------------------------------------------------------576
chosen. Second, because twenty-three was Nash's "favorite prime
number."
Almost the strangest thing, Vasquez later recalled, was that
Calabi kept on lecturing as if nothing untoward were happening,
and the rest of the audience too ignored the interchange,
although it must have been audible to everyone in the
room.
Nash and Calabi knew each other from their graduate-school days
at Princeton, Before Calabi had come up to Cambridge, Nash had
telephoned him at his apartment on Einstein Drive and asked
whether the Calabis could put him and Alicia up for a few
daysdd10 He wanted to spend a few days at the institute
consulting with Atle Selberg, the number theorist, and preparing
a talk that he was scheduled to give at the upcoming regional
math society meeting.
Calabi and the Nashes went out to dinner after Calabi's talk.
Both Nashes seemed unusually nervous, Calabi recalled. "At one
point, Nash made a wrong turn and Alicia began yelling
hysterically. He was somewhat anxious."
The next day, the Nashes left for Princeton
--------------------------------------------------------------577
while Calabi stayed on in Cambridge. A day or two later, Calabi
got a call from his wife, Giuliana, who said that Nash was
behaving very strangely and would he come home? On one occasion,
Nash had walked into another apartment, used the bathroom,   A577
and walked out again. All the apartments on Einstein Drive looked
virtually identical from the outside and mistakes were
commonplace, but even afterward Nash didn't seem to be aware that
he had been in the wrong apartment.
On the afternoon of February 28, Nash was even more agitated.
Calabi had just returned. "He was acting much more nervous than
usual. Very agitated. At the moment of leaving, he was misplacing
notes, running back and forth between the car and the house.
Alicia was trying to calm him downdd"Calabi watched, full of
misgivings. Speaking of Nash's mathematical investigation, he
said, "I knew in that area that problem was not going to yield to
a flash of inspirationdd011
Nash's consultations with Selberg apparently came to naught.
Selberg had merely been irritated by Nash's persistence, as he
later recalled, and told Nash, in even harsher terms, that the
probabilistic approach he was pursuing had been
--------------------------------------------------------------578
tried before and had already been demonstrated to be fruitless."
One can only imagine the fear and confusion that Nash felt that
afternoon as he stood before the 250 or so mathematicians who
came to his lecture, sponsored by the American Mathematical
Society, in a Columbia University auditorium."
Harold N. Shapiro, a professor at the Courant Institute and a
number theorist who had known Nash since the summer they spent
together at RAND in 1952, introduced Nash.
There was in fact an air of tremendous expectation in the hall.
Regional AMS meetings were essentially job meetings. The audience
consisted both of job seekers and established mathematicians,
among them many who knew Nash and his work intimately. "Here was
a great young mathematician with a proven ability for tack-
ling the most difficult problems about to announce what he felt
was a likely solution to the deepest problem in all of
mathematicsea"recalled Shapiro. "I remember hearing that he was
interested in prime numbers. Everybody's reaction was that if
Nash turns to number theory, number theorists
--------------------------------------------------------------579
better watch out. There was a buzz."
14
Peter Lax, a professor at the Courant Institute, described it as
"a very strange adventure."
Lipman Bers reminded me, as we were listening to Nash's talk,
that Heifetz gave his first concert at Carnegie (accompanied by
the pianist Godowski). An older violinist, turning to the
musician seated next to him, said, "It's very hot in here.0"ation
for the pianistea"came the answer. It must have been hot in
there, but only for the number theorists in the audience. It was
work in progress. I couldn't judge it. Mathematicians don't
usually present unfinished work."
At first, it seemed like just another one of Nash's cryptic,
disorganized performances, more free association than exposition.
But halfway through, something happened. Donald Newman recalled
in 1996:
One word didn't fit in with the other. I was at Yeshiva.
Rademacher, who had worked on the Riemann Hypothesis, was    A579
present. In fact, he wrote a brilliant paper on How Not to Solve
the Riemann Hypothesis. It was
--------------------------------------------------------------580
Nash's first downfall. Everybody knew something was wrong. He
didn't get stuck. It was his chatter. The math was just lunacy.
What does this have to do with the Riemann Hypothesis? Some
people didn't catch it. People go to these meetings and sit
through lectures. Then they go out in the hall, buttonhole other
people, and try to figure out what they just heard. Nash's talk
wasn't good or bad. It was horribledd36
Cathleen Morawetz, who had enjoyed joking around with Nash at
Courant two years earlier, ran into Nash in the stairwell after
the talk: "He was laughed out of the auditoriumea"she recalled.
"I felt terrible. I said something nice to him, but I was
disturbed. He seemed very depressed.0ggLater Cathleen used the
phrase "heaping scorn on him"ffdescribe the audience reaction.)
37
Nash had been invited to give a talk at Yale as well on his way
back to Cambridge. It was his second talk at Yale that year, but
be couldn't find his way there. He kept calling Felix Browder,
then teaching at Yale, and telling him that he couldn't
understand how to get off the Merritt Parkway.
--------------------------------------------------------------581
Nash talked about the Riemann Hypothesis just as he had at
Columbia. Again, it was a disastrous performance, as recalled by
Browder, who contrasted his
The Emperor ofAntaretica
247
performance with the earlier one. "The preceding year there was
no hint of trouble. That is when he finished the parabolic
equations proof [In fact] he completed the proof during a talk. I
[had] asked him if he wanted to come and give another talk at
Yale. It wasn't coherent. I thought something was wrong."
38
Spring 1959
It was likea tornado. You want to hang on to whatyou have. You
don't want to see everything go. comAL-RCIA NA-SH
DSPITE
ALICIA's apparent elation on New Year's Eve, her state of mind in
the preceding months had been anything but carefree. Since
returning from their European holiday, her starry-eyed view of
her new life had given way to a darker, more somber perspective.
She and Nash had moved out to West
--------------------------------------------------------------582
Medford, a small industrial city north of Cambridge, and Alicia
felt cut off and isolated. Her goal of establishing a career
seemed more distant than ever. Her feelings about her pregnancy
were ambivalent, and her initial hopes that it would draw her and
Nash closer were disappointed. Her husband had become, if
anything, more cold and distant. As the weather turned colder and
the days shorter, she felt more and more dispirited, anxious, and
alone-so much so that she was thinking of consulting a
psychiatrist.`
That had been before Thanksgiving. Since then, Nash's        A582
behavior, rather than her own low mood, had become her chief
source of distress. Several times, Nash had cornered her with odd
questions when they were alone, either at home or driving in the
car. "My don't you tell me about it?" he asked in an angry,
agitated tone, apropos of nothing. "Tell me what you knowea"he
demanded.` He behaved as if she knew some secret but wouldn't
share it with him. The first time he said it, Alicia thought Nash
suspected her of having an affair. When he repeated it, she
wondered whether he might not be having an affair himself. That
would account for his growing secretiveness and air of
abstraction. Might he not
--------------------------------------------------------------583
be trying to deflect attention from himself by accusing her?
By New Year's Day, the day she turned twenty-six, Alicia was sure
that "something was wrong."` Nash's behavior had become more and
more peculiar. He was irritable and hypersensitive one minute,
eerily withdraWD the next. He complained that he "knew something
was going on"and that he was being "buggeddd"And he was staying
up nights writing strange letters to the United Nations. One
night, after he had painted black spots all over their bedroom
wall, Alicia made him sleep on the living-room couch
.4
Alarmed, Alicia searched for explanations rooted in their
dayAo-day life. Her first thought was that Nash was unduly
worried about the impending tenure decision. She suspected that
the prospect of a baby, with all the new responsibilities that
implied, was another source of pressure. And she wondered whether
marriage to someone "different"l her wasn't proving too much of a
strain for a southern WASP.`
Alicia vainly tried to reassure Nash. She told him, over and
over, that his worries about tenure
--------------------------------------------------------------584
were unfounded, that he was the department's fair-haired boy,
that Martin, after all, was confident that the decision would be
favorable. She reasoned with him, pointing out that the letter
writing "could undermine his professional credibility"and might
even jeopardize his tenure. When that failed, she remonstrated
with him. "You can't act sillyea"she would say. Then Nash did a
number of things that frightened her-and made inescapable the
conclusion that he was suffering some sort of mental breakdown.
He started to threaten to take all of his savings out of the bank
and move to Europe
.6
He had some idea, it seemed, of founding an international
organization. And he began to stay up, night after night, long
after she had gone to bed, writing. In the morning, his desk
would be covered with sheets of paper covered in blue, green,
red, and black ink. They were addressed not just to the U.N. but
to various foreign ambassadors, the pope, even the FBI.
It was in mid-January, while classes were still in session, that
Nash took off for Roanoke in the middle of the night after a wild
scene. Seeing no alternative, Alicia broke her silence and

telephoned Virginia to warn her. She told her mother-in-law   585
very little, though, as Martha recalled, other than that Nash was
suffering from stress and was behaving somewhat irrationally.
When he arrived in Roanoke, Virginia and Martha were frightened
by his agitated state. At one point, he struck Virginia on the
armdd7
When Nash returned, he continued to badger Alicia in private.
Once he threatened to hit her "if you don't tell medd"I
Alicia was initially more worried about Nash and their future
together than about any physical threats to herself. Her
immediate, overwhelming instinct was to prevent the university
from finding out about Nash's difficulties. "I didn't want the
bad things to get out."
She quit her job at Technical Operations and took one at the
Computer Center on campus. She began to watch Nash all the time,
to stick very close to him, to keep him more to herself She would
stop by the mathematics department every afternoon after work and
pick him up. She no longer invited others to join
them when they ate out. She particularly tried to avoid Paul
Cohen, although Nash's insistence sometimes made this impossible.
"Alicia wanted
--------------------------------------------------------------586
to save his career and preserve his intellectea"a friend of
Alicia's later recalled. "It was in her interest to keep Nash
intact. She was extremely tough.""`
Until the Roanoke episode, Alicia had confided in no one. Now she
consulted a psychiatrist from the MIT medical department, a Dr.
Haskell Schell." She also asked Emma to have lunch with her alone
a few times and, although reluctantly and holding much back, told
her friend some of what had been happening.
At the beginning, it seemed to Alicia that her psychiatrist was
more intent on asking her questions -- about her upbringing, her
marriage, her sex life --
than on offering practical advice on how to cope. "At first
Alicia trusted them because it was MITEA"Emma recalled. "But it
was a very Freudian time. The psychiatry department was
ultra-Freudian. They wanted to treat Alicia. She wanted practical
helpdd"Emma continued:
They asked Alicia a lot of questions. She got very impatient.
Nash was threatening to go off to Europe, to withdraw all their
money, to start an international organization. She was looking
into the laws. She found
--------------------------------------------------------------587
out that you could have somebody committed for a limited time
with the signature of two psychiatrists. To keep them longer, you
had to have a court hearing."
Emma was working with Jerome Lettvin, a former psychiatrist who
was now pursuing research in neurophysiology at MIT. She asked
Lettvin what Alicia should do. The result was that Alicia got
very conflicting advice. On the one hand, Lettvin was urging her,
through Emma, to consider shock treatments. "Lettvin's idea was
that when somebody was delusional the sooner he was shocked out
of it the better," Emma recalled. On the other hand, Schell was
recommending that Nash go to McLean Hospital, an ultra-Freudian
institution that eschewed shock treatments                   A587
in
favor of psychoanalysis and new antipsychotic drugs like
Thorazine. Alicia rejected the notion of shock treatment. "She
was very concerned with preserving his geniusea"Emma stated in
1997. "She wasn't going to force anything on him. She also wanted
there to be nothing that would interfere with his brain. No
drugs. No shock treatmentsdd011
In January, the department voted to give Nash
--------------------------------------------------------------588
tenure. A few weeks later, Martin, now aware that Nash was
suffering some sort of "nervous breakdown," decided to relieve
Nash of his teaching duties for the coming semesterdd14 Although
distressed that the university had found out about Nash's
problems, Alicia was greatly relieved. She hoped that this move
would lift some of the pressures on Nash and that he would
improve spontaneously.
Deciding what, if anything, to do was so difficult because Nash
often seemed
251
quite normal. The on-again, off-again nature of his symptoms also
convinced some of his colleagues and graduate students in the
department that nothing was seriously wrong. Gian-Carlo Rota
recalled that Nash's personality "didn't seem very different;`
although "his mathematics no longer made sense.0"Some days
everything looked just as it always had, and Alicia found herself
wondering, until the next outburst of bizarre behavior, whether
she had been exaggerating, unnecessarily alarmed, premature in
her judgments.
In mid-March, two weeks after the disastrous New York trip when
Nash had given his lecture on the Riemann Hypothesis, Nash was
writing
--------------------------------------------------------------589
reassuring letters home. "My talk in New York went reasonably
wellea"he wrote Virginia on March
12, urging her to come up to Boston to visit him and Alicia.
16
On the same day, he even wrote a long letter to Martha in which
he complained of boredom. Nash wrote, "Since she has become
pregnant Alicia does not like to go out. She enjoys TV and movie
magazines. These things tend to bore me. The level
is too lowdd017
But these periods of lucidity and calm soon gave way to an
eruption that Alicia later compared to a "tornado." 11 The
episode that convinced Alicia that she had no choice but to seek
treatment for Nash occurred around Easter. Nash took off for
Washington, D.C., in his Mercedes. He was, it appeared, trying to
deliver letters to foreign governments by dropping them into the
mail slots of embassies. 19 This time Alicia went with him.
Before they left, she telephoned her friend Emma and asked her to
contact the university psychiatrist if they did not return within
a week or so. Emma


recalled in 1997 that Alicia was afraid Nash might harm       590
her. Curiously, her concern, at least in Emma's recollection, was
less for herself than for Nash: "She wanted the world to know
that Nash was mad. She was worried about Nash. She worried that
if she came to harm that he'd be treated like a common criminal,
so she wanted to be sure that everyone knew that he was
insanedd010
When Emma did call Schell he refused to come to the telephone and
had a nurse tell her that "Dr. Schell doesn't discuss his
patientsdd"She added, "I was interviewed at Lincoln Labs about
Alicia. I was asked whether she was afraid of her husband. But
she wasn't. He was just very sick."" Emma's impressions to the
contrary, Alicia was afraid, though she managed to hide her fear
from almost everyone. Paul Cohen, however, recalled that "she was
afraid of him."" A few weeks later she would tell Gertrude Moser,
who questioned her decision to have Nash hospitalized, that, in
Gertrude's words, "Something had happened in the middle of the
night and she had to save herself and the child."" It was fear
for her own safety, as well as her psychiatrist's warning that
Nash would continue to deteriorate unless he got treatment, that
prompted her to seek commitment, at
--------------------------------------------------------------591
least for observation. She wished, however, to conceal what he
would inevitably regard as an act of treachery. So she turned to
her mother-in-law and asked her to come to Boston.
252
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
George Whitehead, one of Nash's colleagues, had temporarily moved
to Princeton with his wife, Kay. In mid-April, the Whiteheads
drove up to Boston to have their car, which was still registered
in Massachusetts, inspected. It was an annual ritual. That
evening they went to a party at the home of Oscar Goldman in
Concord. Most of the MIT mathematics department was there. Kay
recalled in 1995: "The word was `Tomorrow, Alicia is having John
committed! Obviously, there was a lot of talk about
itdd014
in Bowditch Hall
McLean Hospital, April-May 1959
This is the way day breaks in Bowditch Hall at McLean 'Kaking in
the Blue,"
Life Studies,
ROBERT LOWELL
V V HEN A STRANGER in a suit knocked
--------------------------------------------------------------592
on Paul Cohen's office door to inquire whether he had seen Dr.
Nash that afternoon, the man's slightly unctuous, selfimportant
manner made Cohen wonder whether this was the psychiatrist who
was going to have Nash "locked up." I For days the younger people
in the department had been speculating- based on hints dropped by
Ambrose and some of the other senior faculty comt Nash's wife was
about to have him committed. Furious controversies had broken out
over whether Nash was truly insane or merely eccentric, and over
whether, insane or not, anyone had the right to rob a genius like
Nash of his freedom.` Cohen, who felt that he had been somehow
unfairly implicated in the whole affair, had pretty much     A592
steered clear of these debates, but he nonetheless felt a certain
morbid fascination. To the stranger, however, he merely said no,
he hadn't seen Dr. Nash all day.
So when Nash showed up at Cohen's door not very long afterward,
seemingly oblivious to whatever machinations were under way,
Cohen was more than a little surprised. Nash wanted to know if
Cohen would like to go for a walk with him. Cohen agreed, and the
two wandered around the MIT campus for an hour or more. As they
walked, Nash spoke in a fitful monologue while
--------------------------------------------------------------593
Cohen listened, perplexed and uncomfortable. Occasionally Nash
would stop, point at something, and whisper conspiratorially:
"Look at that dog over there. He's following us."` He frightened
Cohen a bit by talking about Alicia in a way that made the
younger man feel that she might be in danger. After they parted,
Cohen learned later, Nash was picked up and taken to McLean
Hospital.
It was not difficult to get someone into McLean even if they did
not want to go. Nash's involuntary commitment to a mental
hospital for observation was likely arranged by MIT's psychiatric
service, probably in consultation with the president of the
university as well as Martin and Levinsonddbled Given Nash's
acute paranoia, his bizarre letter writing, his inability to
teach, and the potential that he might carry out his threats to
harm Alicia, the pressure to intervene would have been great. One
imagines that before taking the drastic measure of involuntary
commitment, one of the psychiatrists in MIT's employ attempted to
convince Nash to obtain treatment voluntarily first. Merton J.
Kahne, a professor of psychiatry at MIT who ran McLean's
admissions ward during the 1950's, said in 1996:
--------------------------------------------------------------594
They would have tried to figure out how to get him into therapy
without coercion. A lot of beads would have been put together to
try to find a solution. In those days, there was an attempt to
maintain some respect for the human being, whether they were
crazy or not. They weren't interested in peremptorily putting
someone in the hospital against their will. The stigma was
enormous. The decision was an especially tricky one because of
Nash's prominent position at the university, and because, as is
often the case, it was inherently controversial. As Kahne put it,
"The more powerful or exceptional the individual, the more
controversial the decision."
The mechanics, however, were fairly straightforward. Any
psychiatrist could apply to a mental hospital to have a patient
taken for a ten-day observation period. A university psychiatrist
would have signed a temporary care order coma so-called pink
paper comasking McLean to take Nash on the grounds that he was a
danger to himself or others (although a simple inability to care
for oneself was sufficient grounds). The pink paper gave MIT the
right to pick Nash up and transport him to McLean. Technically,
it was the hospital that made the decision to hold a patient,
initially for a ten-day

period.                                                       595
That April evening, some hours after Nash and Cohen parted
company, two Cambridge policemen arrived at the Nash's West
Medford house. As Nash recalls, "they as if arrested me. . .
dis"I The use of police officers was, by all accounts, an extreme
measure; it suggested that the university psychiatrists were
expecting trouble. Most cases of involuntary commitment involving
university personnel were handled far more discreetly, in a
manner designed to avoid scandal and humiliation, by
out-of-uniform campus police driving a gray Chevrolet station
wagon, marked only with maroon lettering, whose interior was
equipped as an ambulancedd6 As it happened, Nash refused to go
and a scuffle ensued. "I actually struggled with them in
resistance at first," he recalled. Resistance was useless,
however. Big and strong as he was, Nash was quickly overpowered
and bundled into the back of the police cruiser. The drive from
West Medford to Belmont took less than half an hour.
One Hundred Fifteen Mill Street, Belmont, Massachusetts, was, and
still is, a verdant 240-13re expanse of rolling lawns and winding
lanes and a scattering of buildings of old
--------------------------------------------------------------596
brick and ironwork nestled among majestic trees or perched airily
on rises coma precise copy, that is to say, of a well-manicured
New England college campus of late-nineteenth-century vintage.`
Many of its smaller buildings were designed to resemble the homes
of wealthy Boston Brahmins -- long the bulk of McLean's
clientele. A psychiatrist who reviewed the hospital for the
American Psychiatric Association in the late 1940's recalled,
"There were all these little two-story homes with suites
comkitchen, living room, bedroom. They had suites for the cook,
the maid, the chauffeur."` Upham House, a former medical resident
recalled, had four corner suites per floor and on one of its
floors all four patients turned out to be members of the Harvard
Club!
McLean was, as it still is, connected to Harvard Medical School.
So many of the wealthy, intellectual, and famous came there --
Sylvia Plath, Ray Charles, and Robert Lowell among them9-that
many people around Cambridge had come to think of it less as a
mental hospital and more as a kind of sanatorium where
high-strung poets, professors, and graduate students wound up for
a
--------------------------------------------------------------597
special kind of RandR.
The resident on duty that evening urged Nash to sign a "voluntary
paperdd"Nash refused. There was a great movement for world peace,
he said, and he was its leader. He called himself "the prince of
peace."" He was informed of his legal rights, including his right
to file a petition for release. A tentative diagnosis was made,
but this was not discussed with him. And a document applying to a
judge for a ten-day commitment was filled out. He was then
escorted to the admissions ward in BeInap One, a low brick
building on the north side of McLean's campus, just beyond the
administration building.
Nash used the pay telephone in the lounge. He did not call a
lawyer, but rang Fagi Levinson instead. "John wanted to      A597
know how he could get out of thereea"she said. "He said he wanted
a shower. 'I stink,` he saiddd"I I
Virginia Nash traveled up from Roanoke to see her son. She was
devastated. She wept and wept, Emma Duchane recalled, saying over
and over that she could not "bear to see Johnny in this
situation."" She seemed close to a breakdown herself She did not
offer Alicia any help, financial or
--------------------------------------------------------------598
otherwise. Alicia, who was very short of funds, about to give
birth, and mad with worry, was bitterly disappointed. She had
counted on Virginia for support, but it was obvious that Virginia
needed even more help than she did. Nash was soon transferred to
Bowditch Hall, a low white frame building at the edge of the
McLean campus. Bowditch was a locked facility for men. Within a
couple of weeks, Robert Lowell, the poet, joined him there."
Lowell was already famous, a dozen years older than Nash, and a
manic depressive who was now enduring his fifth hospitalization
in less than ten years. For Lowell, it was "a mad month"spent
"rewriting everything in my three books," translating Heine and
Baudelaire, reworking Milton's "Lycidasea"wh he believed he had
himself written, feeling "I had hit the skies, that all cohered."
14
"Thrown together like a bundle of kindling, [unable] to
escapeea"z Lowell's widow, Elizabeth Hardwick, later put
itea"Lowell and Nash spent a good deal of time together. When
Arthur Mattuck came to visit Nash, he found fifteen or twenty
people crowded in Nash's narrow shoebox of a bedroom.
--------------------------------------------------------------599
16 In what turned out to be an oft-repeated scene, Lowell was
sitting on Nash's bed, surrounded by patients and staff sitting
at his feet on the floor or standing against the walls,
delivering what amounted to a long monologue in his unmistakable
voice com"weary, nasal, hesitant, whining, mumbling." Nash was
hunched over beside him. Mattuck recalled in
1997: "1 don't remember anything of the conversation except that
it was general. In other words, only one person spoke at a time
and that was most of the time Lowell. Basically he was holding
forth on one topic after another, and the rest of us were
appreciating this brilliant man. Nash said very little, like the
rest of us."
Once a women's residence where no man had "apparently entered
since perhaps 1860ea"Bowditch was, in Lowell's words, now
designated for "ex-paranoid boys"
17 comthe
ones who thought there was nothing wrong with them and couldn't
be trusted not to bolt. As such, it was oddly genteel. At
Bowditch, Nash and his fellow inmates were treated "to a maze of
tender fussy attentions suitable to old ladies.""` The crew-cut
--------------------------------------------------------------600
Roman Catholic nurses, many of them Boston University students,
brought him chocolate milk at bedtime, inquired about his
interests, hobbies, and friends, and called him Professor."`
"Hearty New England breakfast[so]" were followed by ample lunches
and homey dinners; everybody got fat. Nash had a private     A600
room "with a door that shutea"a "hooded night lightea"anda view.
There were no screams, no violent episodes, no straitjackets. His
fellow patients, "thoroughbred mental casesea"were polite, full
of concern, eager to make his acquaintance, lend him their books,
and clue him in to "the routinedd"They were young Harvard
"Cockggs] of the walk" slowed down by massive injections of
Thorazine, yet "so much more intelligent and interesting than the
doctorsea"z Nash confided to Emma Duchane when she came to
visit."` There were also old Harvard types "dripping crumbs in
front of the TV screen, idly pushing the buttons.0ggNearly half
of McLean's patients were geriatric, like Lowell's
"BobbiestPorcellian `29ea"who strutted around Bowditch late at
night "in his birthday suit.") I I
--------------------------------------------------------------601
Yet, there Nash was, stripped to his underwear, his belt and
shoes taken away, standing before a shaving mirror that was not
glass, but metal. As for his view the next morning, in Lowell's
words, "Azure day/makes my agonized blue window bleakerdd"The
days must have seemed very long: "[H]ours and hours go bydd"Above
all, there was the terrible awareness when visitors came that
they were free to go back through the locked doors through which
they had come while he could not. It was in no way horrible; he
was merely, as another inmate of a mental hospital once put it,
"considered beyond reasoning with ... and treated like a child;
not brutally, but efficiently, firmly, patronizingly.0"He had
merely relinquished his rights as an adult human being. Like
Lowell, he must have asked himself, "What good is my sense of
humor?"
Alicia urged everyone they knew to visit Nashdd"Fagi Levinson
organized a visitor's schedule
.14
The feeling was that with the support of friends, Nash would soon
be on his feet again. "Everyone at MIT felt responsible for
trying to make Nash better"recalled Fagi in 1996. "At
--------------------------------------------------------------602
McLean, all felt the more companionship and support he had, the
quicker he would recover." One afternoon, Also Vasquez ran into
Paul Cohen, who was extremely upset. He had been out to McLean to
visit Nash. And he'd been turned away. What had happened, he told
Vasquez, was that McLean had some sort of list of verboten
visitors. "He was on the list `"Vasquez recalled. "And I was on
it too. I was really shockeddd011 Vasquez -- along with most of
the students in the department -- hadn't even known that Nash was
in the hospital.
It was a list of some sort of committee. I remember Cohen being
very upset. That was the first time I was aware that Nash had
been hospitalized. I have a memory of about twenty people [on the
list], almost all of whom were in the math department. Cohen must
have told me some of the names. It was the hospital that wouldn't
let people on the list see Nash. I called it "The Committee to
Rule the World.`
At first, Nash, who found it strange shuffling around without his
shoes, was furious. "My wife, my own wife. . . "he said to
Adriano Garsia, one of the first to visit. He threatened     A602
to sue Alicia for divorce, to "take away her power." 16
--------------------------------------------------------------603
Jargen and Gertrude Moser recall a similar conversation. "He was
very resentfulea"Moser remembered, "[but] otherwise not very
different. Gertrude was initially very sympathetic and somewhat
outraged at the way Nash was being treated. `He doesn't seem
crazy; she saiddd017 Emma Duchane, who also visited Nash in
Bowditch, recalled that Nash was nicer to her than he had ever
been. "He was saying such reasonable thingsea"she said."` When
Gian-Carlo Rota and George Mackey, a Harvard professor, came,
Nash joked about the oddness of locked doors, remarked how
strange it was to be held there, and told them, in the most
rational tone, that he was aware that he had been having
delusionsdd19 When Donald Newman came to visit him, Nash asked
him half-jokingly, "What if they don't let me out until I'm
NORMAL"010 To Felix Browder, Nash complained that staying in the
hospital was too expensive (the daily rate that spring was
thirty-eight dollars)."
Some of his visitors wondered what he was doing there. Donald
Newman was the most vehement that Nash was sane. "There's no
discontinuityff"he kept repeatingdd12 Garsia recalled in 1995: "1
was
--------------------------------------------------------------604
totally appalled by the fact that his wife had done this. I
couldn't believe my idol was under the thumb of some stupid nurse
who had total power over him."
33
The medication -- initially, an injection of Thorazine
immediately upon admission comcalmed Nash down, made him drowsy
and slow of speech comb did nothing to dispel "the deep
underlying unrealitydd014 Nash told John McCarthy, who also came
out, despite his horror of hospitals and illness, "These ideas
keep coming into my head and I can't prevent
itdd031
He told Arthur Mattuck that he believed that there was a
conspiracy among military leaders to take over the world, that he
was in charge of the takeover. Mattuck recalled, "He was very
hostile. When I arrived, he said, `Have you come to spring me?`
He told me with a guilty smile on his face that he secretly felt
that he was the left foot of God and that God was walking on the
earth. He was obsessed with secret numbers. `Do you know the
secret number?` he asked. He wanted to know If I was one of the
initiated."
--------------------------------------------------------------605
36
For the first two or three weeks-during which time McLean had
applied to a judge for an extension of the observation period for
another forty days comNash was watched, studied, and analyzed." A
biography was written. A young psychiatrist was assigned to
construct Nash's life story, a complete catalog of his
personality covering no fewer than 205 separate topics. All that
led up to this disaster was included: family, childhood,
education, work, past illnesses, and so forth. When it was done,
the history was presented to a case conference attended by   A605
McLean's senior psychiatrists, and a more definitive diagnosis
was arrived at.
From the start, there was a consensus among the psychiatrists
that Nash was obviously psychotic when he came to McLeandd"The
diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was arrived at very quickly.
"If he was talking about cabalsea"said Kahne, "it would have been
almost inevitabledd019 Reports of Nash's earlier eccentricity
would have made such a conclusion even more likely. There was
some discussion, of course, about the aptness of the diagnosis.
Nash's age, his accomplishments, his genius would have made the
doctors question whether he might not be suffering from
--------------------------------------------------------------606
Lowell's disease, manic depression. "One always fudged it. One
couldn't be sure," said Joseph Brenner, who became junior
administrator on the admissions ward shortly after Nash's
hospital izati on.
41
But the bizarre and elaborate character of Nash's beliefs, which
were simultaneously grandiose and persecutory, his tense,
suspicious, guarded behavior, the relative coherence of his
speech, the blankness of his facial expressions, and the extreme
detachment of his voice, the reserve which bordered at times on
muteness comall pointed toward schizophrenia.
Everyone was talking about which events the psychiatrists
believed had pro-
duced Nash's breakdown. Fagi recalled that Alicia's pregnancy was
thought to be the culprit: "It was the height of the Freudian
period comall these things were explained by fetus enVydd041
Cohen said: "His psychoanalysts theorized that his illness was
brought on by latent homosexualitydd041 These rumored opinions
may well have been held by Nash's doctors. Freud's
now-discredited theory linking schizophrenia to repressed
--------------------------------------------------------------607
homosexuality had such currency at McLean that for many years any
male with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who arrived at the
hospital in an agitated state was said to be suffering from
"homosexual panicdd041
Nash wasn't privy to any of this. His psychiatrist wouldn't have
told him, even if Nash had pressed. But it would have been easy
enough for Nash to figure comby going to McLean's library or
talking with his fellow inmates comwhat his doctors were
thinking.
Everyone was very upbeat. The optimism was part of that "heavily
psychoanalytic"era at McLean. Lowell's doctors were telling his
wife, Elizabeth Hardwick, that the most serious illnesses,
psychotic illnesses, the kind that produced the chronic cases
like Lowell's Bobbie, were now susceptible to "permanent
curesdd044
Alfred H. Stanton had been charged by McLean's trustees in 1954
to modernize McLeandd45 Before Stanton arrived in the early
1950's, as Kahne recalled, "The nurses were spending all their
time classifying fur coats and writing thank you
lettersdd"Moreover, patients spent
most of the day lying in bed as if they were suffering from   608
some physical ailment. Stanton hired a large number of nurses and
psychiatrists, expanded the medical residency program, instituted
an intensive psychotherapy program, and organized social,
educational, and work activities.
McLean's treatment philosophy boiled down to the notion that "it
was impossible to be social and crazy at the same timedd046 The
staff was dedicated to encouraging all new patients, no matter
what the diagnosis, to relate. Along with this
11 milieu"therapy, as it was called, intensive, five-day-a-week
psychoanalysis was the main mode of treatmentdd47 Nobody thought
of Thorazine as anything but an initial aid in preparing the way
for psychotherapy. "Stanton's attitudes harked back to early days
of `moral treatment` of patients'"said Kahne, "which included
having expectations of them and having staff become close to
patients. The idea was to involve patients in decision-making and
to abolish some of the hierarchy of medical institutions."
Stanton was a student of Harry Stack Sullivan, a leading American
disciple of
--------------------------------------------------------------609
Freud, and had helped run Chestnut Lodge, a private hospital
outside Washington, D.C., where psychoanalysis was being used to
treat psychotic disorders. He also put an end to the use of
lobotomies and shock therapies at McLean. "Freudianism was pretty
strong at McLeanea"said Brenner. "It was the dawn of
psychopharmacology. We were desperately creating cures in all
good faith
dis041
"Our knowledge of schizophrenia was negligibleea"Fagi remembered
sadly. "I was a dope. All he needed was a good shrink and s
upport and everything would be over soon. Everyone at MIT
pretended that Nash was going to recover in a flasb. At McLean
they would cure him with advanced therapy. Norbert was the only
one who sensed the tragedy. He expressed his heartfelt sympathy.
`Its very difficult,` he said to Virginia. She was tearful,
shaken, trying to keep herself in check. She wanted to know as
much as possible. Wiener's eyes filled up with tearsea049
Isadore Singer and Alicia came to visit Nash one evening. There
was no one
else in
--------------------------------------------------------------610
the large, rectangular common room. Singer recalled the scene:
We were the only visitors. Robert Lowell, the poet, walked in,
manic as bell. He sees this very pregnant woman. He looks at her
and starts quoting the begat sequences in the Bible. Then he
started spinning quotes with the word anointed. He decided to
lecture us on the meaning of anointed in all the ways it was used
in the King James version of the Bible. In the end I decided that
every word in the English language was a personal friend of his.
Nash was very quiet and almost not moving. He wasn't even
listening. He was totally withdrawn. Mrs. Nash was sitting there,
pregnant as bell. I focused mostly on the wife and the coming
child. I've bad that picture in my mind for years. "It's all over
for himea"I thought."`
Perhaps it was the Thorazine, perhaps the confinement,       A610
perhaps the overwhelming desire to regain his liberty, but Nash's
acute psychosis disappeared within a matter of weeks." On the
ward, he behaved like a model patient- quietly, politely,
tolerantly comand was soon granted all sorts of privileges,
including the freedom to walk around McLean's grounds without
supervisiondd"In his therapy sessions,
--------------------------------------------------------------611
be stopped talking about going to Europe to form a world
government and no longer referred to himself as the leader of the
peace movement. He made no threats of any kind, except divorce.
He readily agreed, if asked, that he had written a great many
crazy letters, bad made a nuisance of himself to the university
authorities, had otherwise behaved in bizarre ways. He denied
emphatically that he was experiencing any hallucinations. The two
young residents who were assigned to him -- Egbert Mueller, a
highly regarded German psychoanalyst, and Jacqueline Gauthier, a
more junior French-Canadian -- noted that his symptoms had all
but "disappearedea"alth privately they agreed that he was likely
merely concealing them."
This was so. In his heart, Nash felt that he was a political
prisoner and he was determined to escape his jailers as quickly
as possible, With the help of other patients, he quickly figured
out the rules of the game. If a patient wished to leave, the law
placed the burden of proof on the hospital. Nash's psychiatrists
would have had to show convincingly that he was likely to harm
himself or someone else. In practice, a patient who was
hallucinating or was
--------------------------------------------------------------612
obviously delusional wouldn't
stand much chance of getting out. (Later, he would take the
position, with respect to his younger son, that it was quite
possible for a so-called schizophrenic to control both his
delusions and his behavior.)
14
He hired a lawyer, Bernard E. Bradley, to petition for his
releasedd"Bradley worked in the public defender's office at the
time, but Nash, who was hardly destitute, was likely his private
client. At Nash's suggestion, Bradley hired A. Warren Stearns, a
prominent Boston psychiatrist, to examine him and to support his
petition for release. Stearns was a prominent researcher as well
as a major figure in state mental health and prison polieydd16 He
had, at various points in his long career, been dean of Tufts
medical school, director of prisons for the state of
Massachusetts, and associate mental health commissioner. At the
time Nash had Bradley contact him, he was founder and head of
Tufts's sociology department. His views on crime anticipated
those of James Q. Wilson: He held that most crimes were committed
by a small slice of the population, namely, young men
--------------------------------------------------------------613
between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three. His book on the
subject,
The Personality of Criminals, was
considered a classic. Stearns had been involved in all sorts of
famous criminal cases, including that of Sacco and           A613
Vanzetti.
Stearns went to visit Nash twice, once on May 14 when he was able
to see Nash for only a few minutes and a second time, a few days
later, when the two men talked for some time. Nash neither spoke
of any delusions nor admitted to hallucinations. "I couldn't say
he's psychotic`"Stearns wrote to Bradley. "He was straightforward
and frank and of course is anxious to get out.0"Around May 20,
ten days before the second, forty-day, phase of Nash's commitment
was due to expire, Stearns went back a third time to study the
commitment papers and the record of Nash's hospital stay.
18
He talked with Mueller and Gauthier, who-in spite of their
conviction that Nash was merely concealing his delusions
comadmitted that they "doubted Nash was committable"any longer."`
I still do not know what is the matter with him` "Stearns, who
was being paid one
--------------------------------------------------------------614
hundred dollars for rendering his opinion, wrote to Bradley on
May 20
.60
He added, however, I certainly recommend his discharge
.1161
Mueller and Gauthier nonetheless recommended that Nash remain in
the hospital. At that point, Alicia told them she was unwilling
to sign another petition for commitment although she agreed to
make arrangements for her husband to be treated by a psychiatrist
after his release from McLean
.62
Accordingly, on May 28, after fifty days of incarceration, just
over one week after the birth of his son, Nash was once again a
free man. May-June 1959
AFTER
NASH WAS COMMITTED,
Alicia couldn't face staying at the West Medford house by
herself, and in any case, the lease was due to expire May 1.
Alicia telephoned Emma and asked whether they might live
together.` "One day Alicia just called me up and said she wanted
to share an apartment with meea"Emma recalled. At first
--------------------------------------------------------------615
Emma was reluctant because she was afraid Alicia would insist on
their finding an expensive place, but then it occurred to her
that they might rent a house owned by their mutual friend
Margaret Hughes. So, on May 1, Alicia and Emma moved into a tiny
saltbox at 181/z Tremont Street, in Cambridge, halfway between
MIT and Harvard. Alicia indulged in no tears, hysteria, or
unnecessary confidences. She accepted what help she could get.
She had very little faith that anyone would come to her aid. She
was well aware that everyone, including close friends like Arthur
Mattuck, considered Nash her responsibility. She defended herself
against criticism of her decision to commit Nash, but only when
pressed, as, for example, by Gertrude Moser, who, after visiting
Nash at McLean, began to doubt that he was insane and demanded
that Alicia justify her decision to have Nash locked up. For a
young woman whose husband was in a lunatic asylum,           A615
threatening to hurt her, to divorce her, and to take their money
and run off to Europe, she maintained a remarkable calm, The
apparently flighty young woman who had, in the throes of
lovesickness, sat in the science fiction section of the library,
hoping her idol would come in, had
--------------------------------------------------------------616
reserves of strength that she would need to draw on the rest of
her life.
Another young woman might have thrown up her hands and gone home
to her parents. But Alicia told herself that John's mind and
career could be saved. She focused on the crisis at hand as best
she could and put herself in the capable hands of Emma and Fagi
Levinson. Her ability to focus on her own agenda, her iron
self-control, sense of entitlement, deep conviction that her own
future depended on this man comand perhaps also the combined
energy, optimism, and ignorance of youth comall came to her aid
in this very dark hour. All her attention was focused on a single
task comn the task of giving birth, but that of saving John Nash.
"She never talked about the baby, only about Nashea"Emma
recalled. "She
regarded the pregnancy as a problem. Just a danger to Nash. She
was worried that it would interfere with her ability to take care
of [hirn]."
There was no waiting nursery, no layette, no dog-eared copy of
Dr. Spock's new best-selling baby manual sitting on the night
table. Alicia had no time or attention for such things. She
wished for the pregnancy to end, but she had
--------------------------------------------------------------617
not looked beyond it. She had vaguely assumed that her mother
would come and help her, but hadn't bothered to make the
arrangements. Nor had she asked Virginia to come again. She
barely paid any attention at all, in fact. Even after the baby
kept her awake nights with its vigorous kicks, she never talked
about it.
Emma recalled, "The observation period [with Nash at McLean] was
coming to an end. The psychiatrists were telling Alicia that the
crisis was precipitated by her pregnancy. She asked her doctor to
induce her labor. He wouldn't."
On May 20, when Alicia's labor began, Nash was still in McLean
and she was still living with Emma at 181/2 Tremont Street. The
pains began in her lower back. Eventually she crawled into bed.
Emma was there. The two of them couldn't decide whether the labor
had started. Later when her sister was about to give birth, Emma
would buy an obstetrics textbook and discover that back labor was
in fact quite common. But at that moment, the two MIT women were
in the dark about such things. Finally, when the pains became
more insistent and closer together, either she or Alicia
telephoned Fagi, who confirmed that, yes, indeed, it sounded like
labor and said she would jump into her car
--------------------------------------------------------------618
right away and drive over. She did and, after taking one look at
Alicia, who was by now looking quite scared, told her to get into
the car and they'd drive to the hospital immediately.
Alicia gave birth to a baby boy that night. He weighed       A618
nearly nine pounds and was 21.5 inches long. She did not give the
baby a name. She felt that the naming would have to wait until
his father was well enough to help choose one. As it happened,
the baby remained nameless for nearly a year.
Alicia had still to bear Nash's anger. The day after the birth,
Nash came to the Boston Lying-In Hospital to visit his wife and
new son, having gotten permission to leave McLean for the
evening. Although Fagi Levinson does not remember doing so, one
imagines that it was she who arranged this. Another friend came
to see Alicia halfway through Nash's visit. Alicia was lying in
bed, looking tiny and wan. Nash was sitting beside her. Her
dinner tray was on the table next to the bed. At some point, Nash
carefully took the napkin, stood up, and went over to a sign on
the wall with the name of the hospital on it and covered up the
"In"in the hospital's name so that it read "Boston Lying
Hospital." The visitor recalled, "The
--------------------------------------------------------------619
implication was that it was Alicia who was lying. She observed
what he was doing. I made no comment. I certainly didn't want the
situation to escalate into speechdd"I
Nash's sense of humor had in no way deserted him. On the
afternoon of his release one week later, Nash went directly to
the mathematics common room. He strolled in, greeted everyone,
and said he'd come straight from McLean. "It was a wonderful
placeea"he told the graduate students and professors who were
sipping tea. "They had everything but one: freedom!"`
A day or two later, Nash was back in the department. He carefully
posted hand-printed notices in the hallways announcing a "coming
out partydd"The notices read: "All the people who are important
in my life are invited! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" Over the following
week, he went around to everyone's office and asked each member
of the department if he were coming. If the person said `Yesea"he
asked them
"Why"0bled
He referred to the party as a "Mad Hatter's Teaea"and he asked
people to dress up in costumes.` Whether the event was his idea
or Alicia's isn't
--------------------------------------------------------------620
clear. Fagi Levinson, Norman's wife, thought that Alicia comwho
was home with a week-old baby had organized it for the purpose of
thanking all of those who had visited Nash in McLeandd6 One
graduate student, who said he went to New York that weekend to
avoid it, remembered that it was held at Mattuck's apartment.
Mattuck doesn't remember it at all. Very likely, it took place at
181h Tremont Street. Fagi remembered it as a "big party." The
Nashes held at least one dinner party too. The mystified guest
was A] Vasquez, who was about to graduate on June 12, and he
remembers it as a sad and depressing event.
In 1997,
he recalled:
It was one of the most bizarre evenings I've ever spent. I went
there and there was Alicia, the baby, and Alicia's mother. John
was behaving very oddly. Whenever John got up, Alicia's mother
would get up and place herself between him and the baby.     A620
It was a pretty strange dance. It lasted a couple of hours.
Alicia had no idea who I was. Everybody tried to act like
everything was normal. The weirdness of this was overwhelming.
Nash couldn't sit
--------------------------------------------------------------621
still. He'd bolt up and as soon as he did, Alicia's mother would
jump up and fuss over this and that. But she wouldn't let him get
anywhere near the
babydd7
Nash was determined to leave for Europe as soon as possible. He
wrote to Hbrmander on June I asking whether Hbrmander would be in
Stockholm during the summer. He was thinking of traveling to
Sweden that summer, he wrote, and was looking for "(nominal)
mathematical associations"ffjustify the trip.` And he wrote to
Armand and Gaby Borel, who were in Switzerland at the time, to
ask that they help him obtain Swiss citizenshipdd9
Nash was also determined to resign his MIT professorship. Furious
that MIT had connived in his involuntary hospitalization, Nash
"dramatically"-z he later put it-submitted a letter of
resignation" and simultaneously demanded that MIT release a small
pension fund that had accumulated from the time he joined the
full-time faculty." Levinson was aghast. With Martin and others,
he tried to persuade Nash that what he wished to do was mad. He
told Nash that MIT would not accept his resignation. Levinson
acted in the
--------------------------------------------------------------622
most altruistic fashion. He was well aware of the heavy expenses
of medical treatment, and he was anxious for Nash to retain the
insurance coverage that MIT provided its faculty members. "Norman
tried to convince him not to do itea"Fagi said. "He felt
responsible for him."" Martin recalled, "It was a very difficult
period. By the time he resigned, he couldn't meet his classes and
people felt that he had no hope of any recovery. We were on the
spot. I couldn't even talk to him. There was no having a coherent
conversation with him. Levinson always backed Nash to the hilt.
There was no pressure on me either [from the administration to
accept Nash's resignation]dd011 But Nash was intransigent. At
Levinson's urging, the university administration tried to prevent
Nash from withdrawing his pension money, but here too Nash
prevailed. On June 23, James Faulkner, a physician affiliated
with MIT, telephoned Warren Stearns on behalf of MIT's president,
James Killian, to say that the universiby
was extremely concerned about Nash's future. 14Ac to Paul
Samuelson, Stearns once again took the position that Nash was not
insane and was
--------------------------------------------------------------623
fully competent, in a legal sense, to make such decisions." The
amount was negligible, but once the check was issued, Nash's last
formal tie to MIT was cut.
Shortly after his resignation, he ran into one of his former
students from the game-theory course, Henry Wan, telling him that
he was now engaged in a study of linguistics. When Wan expressed
surprise, Nash said that mathematicians had a unique ability to
"abstract the essence of a field. That is why we can move    A623
from one area to another."
16
Nash said that he was sailing on the
Queen Mary
in early July. Alicia tried to dissuade him, but when it became
clear to her that he would go, she made up her mind to accompany
him and to leave their son behind in her mother's care.
Nash had an invitation to spend the year in Paris at the College
de France, the leading French center of mathematics. Alicia hoped
that a few months abroad, away from the pressures of Cambridge
and among new faces, would let Nash forget his dreams of world
peace, world government, and world citizenship; he might settle
down to work again.
--------------------------------------------------------------624
TO Nash, however, the journey seemed to promise a more permanent
escape from his old life. He talked as if they were never to
return. They drove down to New York and said their good-byes to
Alicia's cousins. The occasion was uneventful except that Nash
had refused to eat facing the huge mirror opposite the dining
tabledd17;They left their Mercedes, its trunk full of old
266
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
issues of
The New York Times,
in the Institute parking lot in Princeton. Nash wished to
bequeath both car and newspapers to Hassler Whitney, the
mathematician whom he most admired. 18 They left their baby comn
yet named and therefore referred to as Baby Epsilon, a little
mathematical joke-behind as well, Alicia's mother had already
taken the infant home with her to Washington.", Mrs. Larde, they
had agreed, would join them in Paris with the baby as soon as
they were settled.
PART FOUR
The
--------------------------------------------------------------625
Lost Years
Paris and Geneva, 1959-60
I have a difficult taskaheadofme and I have dedicated my whole
life to it.
- K, in
The Castle,
hy
FRAN-Z KAFKA
I seem as in .7 trance suhlime and strange To muse on my own
separate fantasy.
-
PER-CY
ByssHE
SHELLEY,
'Mont Blanc"
SHORTLY
AFTER
Independence Day, Nash and Alicia left from New York harbor on
the                                                          A625
Queen Mary,
standing by the rail with the rest of the throng. They watched
the pier, then the skyline, then the Statue of Liberty move away
from them as they sailed slowly toward the open sea. They looked
very much as they had a year earlier when they'd embarked on
their honeymoon
--------------------------------------------------------------626
voyage comhe tall, well dressed, and handsome, she slender,
small, and delicate comb less animated, more subdued. They were
both lost in their own thoughts.
The Nashes reached London on July 18 after a "restful"crossing.`
Two days later they were in Paris.` The beauty of Paris
overwhelmed them just as it had a year earlier, "verdure
everywhere ... with the giant blue Paris pigeons bolting above
it, two by twodd"I For a few hours after they emerged from the
Gare Still-Lazare and made their way to a modest Left Bank hotel
incongruously named the Grand Hbtel de Mont Blanc, the leaden
weight of the miserable months in Cambridge seemed to lift from
their shoulders and they felt, briefly, as light as air again.
They set out, that afternoon, for the American Express Office to
buy francs and to inquire if they had any mail. As always during
the summer, the Place de LccOp6ra was crowded with American
tourists. To their delight, they immediately spotted the familiar
face of John Moore, a mathematician Nash knew from MIT, who would
soon become co-chairman of the mathematics department at
Princeton. Moore was sitting outside the Caf6 de la Paix,
reading, when he
--------------------------------------------------------------627
looked up and saw the Nashes. "I was surprised, but not
surprisedea"Moore recalled in 1995. "A lot of mathematicians come
to Paris. We talked about Edinburgh. I noticed nothing
unusualdd0bled
What their real plans were at the time, Alicia was later unable
to say. She had followed Nash to Europe, not because she hoped
that Paris would provide a cure for his troubles, but because she
bad no way of stopping him, and, that being the case, she had not
been able to bear seeing him go off to a strange land, alone,
without someone to watch over him. But, in those first few days
in Paris, the Nashes behaved as if this would be their new home
for some time, Alicia enrolled in a French-language course at the
Sorbonne and looked around for more permanent lodgings.` Her
twenty-year-old cousin Odette, who was planning to spend the year
at the University of Grenoble, happened to be in Paris, too. The
two young women went house hunting together until they found a
pretty, clean, and spacious flat for the Nashes at 49 Avenue de
]a R6publique, in a nondescript but perfectly respectable
blue-collar neighborhood on the Right Bankdd6 Paris, indeed all
of Europe, was sizzling hot
--------------------------------------------------------------628
that July. The newspapers were full of heat-wave stories,
including one about a parked car that had burst into flames, a
seemingly genuine case of spontaneous combustion. The rear
windshield had apparently acted like a magnifying glass and some
papers left on the rear dashboard had ignited.` The mood     A628
of Paris, always a magnet for alienated and disaffected Americans
and full of self-declared exiles of the Silent Generation, was
hot as well. The war in Algeria raged on, with its right-wing
terrorist bombings, its civilian massacres, its tortures. The
city reverberated with mass demonstrations, strikes, and
explosions. And the latest word on the nuclear arms race comthe
American announcement that it now could match Russia's ICBM's,
missile for missile left open the question of whether the world
wasn't in for another, more deadly case of spontaneous
combustion. If the heat and high political theater influenced
Nash's mood, they induced not torpor, but a heightened sense of
purpose. Acting on "special" knowledge, Nash was animated by a
desire to cut himself off from all vestiges of his former social
self. In the rightness of this he believed with absolute
certainty, resisting any and all attempts
--------------------------------------------------------------629
by Alicia to persuade him to give up his "silly" notions. Having
resigned his professorship, having left not only Cambridge but
the United States, and having given up mathematics for politics,
he wished, quite simply, to shed the layers of his old identity
like so many outworn articles of clothing.
Ideas of world government, and the related concept of world
citizenship, were at their heyday during Nash's Princeton
graduate-school days and permeated the 1950's science fiction
that Nash devoured as a student and afterward, Founded after the
collapse of the League of Nations in the 1930's, the one-world
movement exploded into the national consciousness within a few
years of the end of World War 11. Princeton was a center of that
movement, largely because of the presence of physicists and
mathematicians comnotably Albert Einstein and John von Neumann
comwho acted as midwives to the nuclear agedd"One of Nash's
contemporaries in graduate school, John Kemeny-a brilliant young
logician, the assistant to
Einstein, and later the president of Dartmouth College -- was a
leader of the World Federalists. However, the one-worlder who
fired Nash's imagination was
--------------------------------------------------------------630
a loner like himself, the Abbie Hoffman of the one-world
movement. In 1948, Garry Davis, a leather-jacketed World War 11
bomber pilot, Broadway actor, and son of society band leader
Meyer Davis, had walked into the American embassy in Paris,
turned in his U.S. passport, and renounced his American
citizenshipdd9 He then tried to get the United Nations to declare
him "the first citizen of the worlddd010 Davis, "sick and tired
of war and rumors of warea"wished to start a world government.0"E
paper headlined the story," the columnist Art Buchwald recalled
in his Paris memoirdd"Albert Einstein, eighteen members of the
British Parliament, and a slew of French intellectuals, including
Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, had come out in support of
Davis."
Nash intended to follow in Davis's footsteps. In the overwrought,
hyperpatriotic atmosphere of the America he was leaving behind,
Nash was choosing the "path of most resistanceea"and one that
captured his radical sense of alienation. Such "extreme      A630
contrariness"aimed at cultural norms has long been a hallmark of
a developing schizophrenic consciousness.
--------------------------------------------------------------631
14
In ancestor-worshiping Japan the target may be the family, in
Catholic Spain the Church. Motivated as much by antagonism to his
former existence as by an urge for self-expression, Nash
particularly desired to supersede the old laws that had governed
his existence, and, quite literally, to substitute his own laws,
and to escape, once and for all, from the jurisdiction under
which he had once lived.
While the motivation may have been highly abstract, the plan
itself was strangely concrete. To effect his makeover, he wished
to trade his American passport for some more universal identity
card, one that declared him to be a citizen of the world.
On July 29, a little over a week after his arrival in Paris, Nash
went by train to Luxembourg. I I He chose Luxembourg as the site
for the renunciation of his American citizenship for prudent
reasons, possibly at the advice of the Paris-based World Citizen
Registry, an organization founded by Davis. The smaller and more
obscure the country, the less likely that turning in his American
passport would result in immediate arrest and deportation. France
was a
--------------------------------------------------------------632
notoriously bad site for protests of this sort. When Nash arrived
at the Central Station in the city of Luxembourg, he walked to
the American embassy at 22 Boulevard Emmanuel Servais, demanded
to see the ambassador, and announced that he no longer wished to
be an American citizen.
Section 1481 of the 1941 Immigration Act contains a clause that
permits American citizens to give up their citizenship.
16
It was intended, of course, to allow citizens to resolve cases of
dual citizenship. By 1959, some dozens of Americans, also
inspired by Garry Davis, were making use of the provision for
protest pur-
posesdd"The law is quite clear. It delineates an oath, which must
be taken in a foreign country, right hand raised, in the presence
of an American diplomat: "I desire to make a formal renunciation
of my American nationality ... and pursuant thereto I hereby
absolutely and entirely renounce my nationality in the United
States and all rights and privileges pertaining, and abjure all
allegiance and fidelity to the United
--------------------------------------------------------------633
States of America.""
Nash's announcement was greeted as one might expect. An embassy
official
- not the ambassador! -- made a number of strongly worded
arguments to convince Nash that what he wished to do was unwise.
Somewhat surprisingly, given the strength of Nash's conviction at
that moment, the diplomat convinced Nash to take back his
passport. It was a sign, perhaps, of a vacillation and
indecisiveness that would become more pronounced with time.
The official's argument made sense to him. As Nash said in   A633
his 1996 Madrid lecture: "I wouldn't have been able to leave
Luxembourg and return to Paris because I no longer had a
passport. They allowed me to retract my action as irrational and
insanedd019
When the news of his first attempt to give up his American
citizenship reached Virginia and Martha in Roanoke and his former
colleagues at MIT, it proved to them that the confinement at
McLean had done little to halt the galloping illness. Virginia,
who had been deeply depressed on her return from Boston, had been
drinking heavily and was headed for a breakdown herself (She
would be hospitalized in
--------------------------------------------------------------634
September.) 10 When Armand Borel got back to Princeton from
Switzerland at the end of the summer and inquired about Nash, one
of his colleagues told him simply: "There is trouble.""
The plan's having been aborted did little to suppress Nash's high
spirits when he returned to Paris two days later. The mere fact
of having attempted to act sufficed to make him feel that he was,
as he wrote on a postcard to Virginia, mailed July
31, well "on the way to becoming a world citizendd012 His mind
was full of other aspects of his intended transformation. He was
visiting
the "Bibliotekea"t is, the Bibliothque Nationale, which is the
French equivalent of the Library of Congress, he wrote to
Virginia, and was working on learning French ("part of the
planea"z he had written to Tucker nearly a year earlier)." He
also confided in his mother that he wished "to take up painting."
Before long, however, Nash was afire with a new plan. His
objectives, somewhat obscure even to himself until now, were
suddenly much clearer. As Paris emptied for the August vacation,
Nash decided that he
--------------------------------------------------------------635
preferred to be in Switzerland, a country he associated with
neutrality, world citizenship, and Einsteindd14 Einstein, who
liked to refer to himself as a world citizen, had adopted Swiss
citizenship. Possibly the fact that several European nations had
been conducting the longest summit on record that summer in
Geneva influenced his thinking." But it appears that the Nashes
did not leave Paris as soon as Nash intended. The actual
departure was delayed by protests on Alicia's part over the
sudden move after having just rented an apartment.
Nash's desire to go to Geneva was based, he later said, on his
having heard that Geneva was "the city of refugees." 16 This was
absolutely true, in both a historical and a contemporary sense.
Hugging the southern shore of the crescent-shaped Lac Leman, set
against a panorama of glaciers, the snowy ridges of Mont Blanc
visible on all but the foggiest days, Geneva had once been the
beacon of the Protestant Reformation and the refuge of French
Protestants as well as freethinking intellectuals, including
Voltaire and Rousseaudd17 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley had spent
the summer of 1816 in the suburb of


Cologny writing                                               636
Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus."
In the twentieth century, Geneva had become the site of the
ill-fated League of Nations and was a major international banking
center. The European headquarters of the United Nations and other
international enterprises such as the Red Cross were located
there. In 1959, Geneva was an overnight train trip from Paris.
When the Nashes arrived, they took a room at the H6mentel
Athen6ence in the Rue Malganoudd19 Alicia, however, did not stay
long. She left almost immediately for Italy where she met Odette
and remained for several weeks. Alone for the first time in his
life, Nash was "without parents, home, wife, child, commitment or
appetite ... and the pride that might be taken in theseea010 and
thus completely free to dedicate himself single-mindedly to his
quest. His objectives, as suggested by his choice of venue, were
shifting. He now wished not only to shed his American
citizenship, but to obtain official refugee status comto be
declared a refugee from "all NATO, Warsaw, Middle East and SEATO
pact countries."" Presumably, these alliances were now fused in
his mind with threats to world peace, but the desire for
--------------------------------------------------------------637
refugee status also reflected an expanding feeling of alienation,
a sense of persecution, and fear of incarceration. He saw himself
as a conscientious objector in danger of being drafted and as an
opponent of the kinds of military research American
mathematicians were expected to do."
He spent most of his evenings in that loneliest of places, a
small blank hotel room in a distant and nondescript part of the
city, writing letters that would never be answered, filling out
endless forms, applications, and petitions that would be filed
away. His days were spent haunting various anterooms and offices.
For five solitary months, Nash's ambiguous and self-annulling
efforts resembled nothing so much as the anti-quest of the land
surveyor in Kafka's novel
The Castle,
probably the most compelling rendering of the schizophrenic
consciousness in all of literature. Known only as K, Kafka's
hero's sole object in life is to penetrate
11 the shadowy heart of the Castle"wh looms high over a mazelike
village K reaches but cannot get beyonddd"In Kafka's novel, K, a
man
--------------------------------------------------------------638
whose job it is to measure and estimate, seeks to enter a clouded
locus of authority, not because he
desires "to lead an honored and comfortable lifeea"b in order to
"gain acceptance by the higher perhaps celestial powers and
thereby to discover the reason of things."
14
Nash's lifelong quest for meaning, control, and recognition in
the context of a continuing struggle, not just in society, but in
the warring impulses of his paradoxical self, was now reduced to
a caricature. just as the overconcreteness of a dream is related
to the intangible themes of waking life, Nash's search for a
piece of paper, a carte d'identit6, mirrored his former pursuit
of mathematical insights. Yet the gulf between the two       A638
recognizably related Nashes was as great as that between Kafka,
the controlling creative genius, struggling between the demands
of his self-chosen vocation and ordinary life, and K, a
caricature of Kafka, the helpless seeker of a piece of paper that
will validate his existence, rights, and duties. Delusion is not
just fantasy but compulsion. Survival, both
--------------------------------------------------------------639
of the self and the world, appears to be at stake. Where once he
had ordered his thoughts and modulated them, he was now subject
to their peremptory and insistent commands.
Like K, Nash found himself trapped in a "farce of endless paper
shuffling ... a vast soulless mechanism for the circulation of
papers ... a world cluttered with paper, the white blood of
bureaucracy ... doomed by forces beyond his control ]they're
playing with me`), yet also distracted through an inner confusion
of desires.""
Nash appealed to many authorities. Yet he seemed unable to make
much progress. The American consulate, he discovered, was not
prepared to accept his passport or to allow him to take the oath
of renunciationdd16 Smiling, kindly, but seemingly obtuse
diplomats dissuaded and deflected him, offering him excuses and
rationales. Confused and weakened by their lengthy explanations,
Nash would go away again, only to return the next day.
The U.N. High Commission for Refugees, on which he pinned his
hopes, sent him away. It appeared that the commission, its
promising name notwithstanding, had rules that precluded cases
like his. One could claim refugee status only in connection with
--------------------------------------------------------------640
"events occurring in Europe before 1 January 1951"and "owing to a
well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or
political opinion, [and only if one) is outside the country of
his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is
unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the country.0"The
officials of the commission suggested he contact the Swiss
police. At that time, the Swiss federal police handled all
requests for asylum, of which there were perhaps a dozen a year
that fell into the category of "unusual" in the sense that they
involved individuals from countries that typically produced no
refugees. Since Nash claimed to be a conscientious objector who
was fleeing the draft, the police referred him to the military
authorities. These authorities cautiously turned to Berne for
advice, and Berne, in turn, consulted Washingtondd"In September,
the Geneva military authority sent a letter to Berne saying of
Nash that
disen renonqant ii son passeporte am6ricain, et cela pour la
seulc raison qu'il ne d6nessire pas kre appe]6 A faire service
dans les forces arm6ences des
--------------------------------------------------------------641
U.S.A., ni rnme prander aux organisations officielles de son pays
sons concours en qualit6 de mathematicien, craignant que sa
collaboration puisse aider les autorit6's de son pays A maintenir
la guerre froide on pr6parer la guerrc0gghe is renouncing his
American passport, for the sole reason that he doesn't       A641
want to be drafted into the United States Army, nor lend to
official organizations his services as a mathematician, fearing
that his collaboration might aid the authorities of his nation in
maintaining the Cold War or in preparing for wargg.19
In November, the Geneva authorities were informed that Nash was,
for all practical purposes, far beyond the American draft age and
that he was in no way obligated to do defense-related research.
Moreover, Nash had committed none of the acts that would provoke
the American government to strip him of his citizenship: "Au
surplus, la simple declaration de renonciation au passeport
am6ricain n'a en soi pas d'effet juridiquedd041 In other words,
since he had not signed the oath of renunciation, he was still
technically an American citizen. At that point, the police
--------------------------------------------------------------642
began threatening Nash with deportation.
His sense of himself was now full of the starkest contradictions.
On the one hand, Nash's most intimate thoughts and actions seemed
to be those of another, controlling psyche com"I am the left foot
of God on earthdd"On the other, he felt himself to be at the
epicenter of the universe, with outer reality simply a projection
of his mind. At times his posture was that of an abject
petitioner, at other times that of a "religious figure of great,
but secret, importancedd041 He spent a great deal of time opening
various bank accounts -- usually under false names, including one
that he later said was "mysticalea"and wiring money to various
countries. "I shifted money from one bank to another," Nash
recalled in his Madrid lecture in
1996.
"1 opened an account at a Swiss bank. It was Credit Andorra. The
account was in Swiss francs. But I didn't have very much
moneydd041 Many years later, in a limousine going to the center
of Stockholm where he would attend the Nobel ceremonies, Nash
pointed out a bank in passing to Harold and Estelle Kuhn, saying
that he had wired money there as part of an effort to organize a
--------------------------------------------------------------643
defense against "an invasion of aliensdd041 Such
self-contradiction is also characteristic of schizophrenia, every
symptom being matched by a "countersymptom." John Haslam comin
what is widely regarded as the first psychiatric description of
schizophrenic thinking comfocused, early in the nineteenth
century, on this peculiar combination of omnipotence and
impotence: The person is "sometimes an automaton moved by the
agency of persons ... at others, the Emperor of the whole
worldea"the tendency toward megalomania mixed with feelings of
persecution, powerlessness, inferiority. 44
He maintained both positions at the same moment, often, it seems,
apparently untroubled by the apparent inconsistency coma flouting
of what Aristotle considered the fundamental rule of reason: "The
identity principle or law of contradiction that states the
impossibility of affirming both p and not peopledd041
It was a cruel, cosmic joke. The man who produced a compelling
theory of rational behavior no longer thought in terms of
either/or.
It is not true, however, that Nash had lost all contact      A643
with reality. The clearest evidence that reality
--------------------------------------------------------------644
in fact pressed heavily and unpleasantly on him is that the
frustrations of his situation were beginning to oppress him. His
expectant mood turned slowly and inexorably into one of deep
disappointment and depression. Nash spent long hours walking
around the city, mostly in the parks and along the lake, waiting,
endlessly waiting. At the end of September, he wrote to Virginia
and Martha: "My life is not exciting at present.... Waiting for
favorable developments. I'm somewhat disillusioned with a great
many of my former associates, colleagues, friends, etcdd046
His dark mood may have reflected more than his difficult current
situation. Martha had written that Virginia had had "a nervous
breakdown and spent two weeks in the hospitaldd041 Nash found the
news virtually unbelievable. He simply could not imagine his
forceful mother ill in this fashion, but he must have sensed,
from the tone of Martha's letter, that his mother's distress was
linked, in some way, to his own. Finally, in September or
October, in a fit of desperation, Nash destroyed or threw away
his passport. Alicia later recalled that he had merely "lost" it
and while that is certainly possible, later events suggest
otherwisedd41 When
--------------------------------------------------------------645
the consulate became aware of this action, an effort was made to
persuade Nash to apply for a new onedd41 This he refused to do.
In his own mind, Nash was now stateless, a man without a country;
in the eyes of the authorities, he was a man without proper
documents, which placed him in a vulnerable situation. Nash had,
as he later wrote to Lars H6rmander, requested refugee status.
This produced difficultiesdd"10 On October 11 he wrote to
Virginia and Martha that he was no longer able to travel "because
of certain legal formalities," a reference, presumably, to his
lack of a passport." In the same letter, he enclosed a long
free-style poem about feeding the gulls on the shores of Lac
Leman. He did, however, manage to visit nearby Liechtenstein,
where he considered requesting citizenship, on account of the
fact that Liechtenstein didn't levy income taxes on foreign
residents."
During her Roman holiday, for a few short weeks, Alicia
recaptured comforthe last time, it turned out-a bit of her old
lighthearted, girlish self. Odette recalled in
199 5 that Alicia, once again, seemed "fun-loving." 11 These two
exceptionally
--------------------------------------------------------------646
pretty, stylish young women had quite a holiday. They visited the
Vatican, where they had an audience with Pope John M11. Odette
fainted and had to be carried out of the chamber by two young
Italian medics who afterward showed the two women around the
city. They went to nightclubs, shopped, and were admired and
pursued,
by Americans as well as Italians, wherever they went. After Rome,
they visited Florence and Venice. In Venice, the two young women
had a photograph taken of themselves, Odette looking like a young
Audrey Hepburn, Alicia like a young Elizabeth Taylor,        A646
standing in their high heels and bouffant hairdos in the Piazza
San Marco surrounded by pigeons.
At the end of August, Alicia returned to Paris and began making
arrangements for her mother and baby to come to France. She may
have gone to Geneva first, but if so, she stayed there only
briefly. She wrote to Nash urging him to come to Paris and
contacted the American embassy for help in getting Nash back from
Switzerland. "Alicia is in Paris expecting `e0"Nash wrote in
early November -- "eea"of course, was John Charles, whom Nash
called Baby Epsilondd14 ("Baby
--------------------------------------------------------------647
Epsilon" was a tongue-in-cheek reference to a well-known
mathematical anecdote about a famous mathematician who believes
that all infants are born knowing the proof of the Riemann
Hypothesis and retain that knowledge until they are six months of
age.)
55
It was Nash's first mention of the baby in his letters to
Roanoke, yet he gave no indication that he intended to join them.
While she waited for her mother and son to arrive, Alicia visited
Odette in Grenoble. "We'd go to my room and eat pastries, baba au
rhumea"Odette recalled. "We'd gossip about the other students. We
went skiing."" Back in Washington, Baby Epsilon was finally
christened with his grandparents and Martha in attendancedd17 The
baby, dressed in a little sweater on a bright fall day when
leaves littered the ground, was named John Charles Martin Nash.
The christening took place at St. John's in Lafayette Square, the
same church where Nash and Alicia had exchanged marriage vows.
(It is not clear who settled on the name John. Nash's first son,
of course, was already called John. It was as if the Nashes and
Lardes wished to obliterate, through
--------------------------------------------------------------648
replacement, the first child.)
In early December, when the frigid north wind called
le hise
swept across Lac Leman and made walking along its shores a
misery, Nash's mood was bleaker than ever. One can almost feel
his "sense of helplessness in an ice-cold universe."", His
efforts to renounce his citizenship and to obtain refugee status
had been, for reasons baffling to him, frustrated. He spent most
of his time indoors writing letters. His feeling of having chosen
to escape from Cambridge was replaced by one of having been
exiled. He wrote to Norbert Wiener:
I feel that writing to you there I am writing to the source of a
ray of light from within a pit of semi-darkness.... It is a
strange place where you live, where administration is heaped upon
administration, and all tremble with fear or abhorrence (in spite
of pious phrases) at symptoms of actual non-local thinking. Up
the river [a reference to Harvard], slightly better, but still
very strange in a certain area with which we are both familiar.
And yet, to see this strangeness, the viewer must be


strangedd19                                                   649
The letter was decorated with silver foil, a newspaper photograph
of a Lenin-like character, a story about Nehru's seventieth
birthday containing a reference to Khrushchev, and ticket stubs
from a trolley.
Even while he described himself as someone capable of inspiring
fear in others on account of his "non-local thinkingea"Nash's
reference to "administration ... heaped upon administration"
suggests a growing sense of vulnerability, a freefloating
anxiety, and a belief that the authorities were toying with him.
Shortly afterward, for reasons unknown, Nash changed hotels,
moving now to a cheaper and more remote one comthe Hotel Alba in
the Rue de Mont BlanCdd61
In this claustrophobic hotel room during what would turn out to
be Nash's final week in Geneva, the true dimensions of his
tragedy would become clear. He was in Switzerland, free of
Alicia, free of external restraint, but as thoroughly immobilized
as the hero of another Kafka story, "The Metamorphosis` "who
wakes up one morning to discover that he has become a cockroach
lying helplessly on its backdd61 Kafka never
--------------------------------------------------------------650
wrote the final chapter of
The Castle,
but confided to his friend and biographer, Max Brod, that he had
envisioned a scene in which K is lying on his bed in the inn
exhausted to the point of death. "K was not to relax his
struggle, but was to die worn out by itdd061
Nash did not relax his struggle either, but he was defeated all
the same.
James Glass, a political scientist at the University of Maryland
who has studied the delusions of schizophrenia, writes, "Delusion
provides a certain, often unbreakable identity, and its absolute
character can maneuver the self into an unyielding position. In
this respect, it is the internal mirror of political
authoritarianism, the tyrant inside the self... an internal
domination as deadly as any external tyranny."
63
On December 11, Nash had been held for several hours by the
police comapparently in an effort to convince him that
"deportation was unavoidable"- and released disunder
surveillance," requiring him to report to a police station two or
three times every
--------------------------------------------------------------651
daydd64 According to a telegram, dated December 16, from the
American consul in Geneva, Henry S. Villard, to Secretary of
State Christian A. Herter, the Swiss authorities had issued a
deportation order naming Nash as an "undesirable alien"on
December 11.61
Throughout, the Swiss authorities evidently were acting with the
"full knowledge of Dr. Edward Cox, assistant science advisor"and
presumably with tacit approval at higher levels of the State
Department.
The final curtain came down on December 15. Nash was arrested,
for the
second timedd66 He adamantly refused, as he had at the       A651
time of his first arrest, to return to the United States, and
continued to demand to sign the oath of renunciation. On the
morning of the fifteenth, Cox, a kindly, avuncular retired
chemist7ity professor from Swarthmore Collegeea61 now serving as
assistant science attach6 in Paris, arrived in Geneva by
overnight train. He was accompanying an exhausted and
apprehensive Alicia Nashdd61 Together they hoped to persuade
--------------------------------------------------------------652
Nash to return directly to the United States. Neither knew what
to expect, and both, in their separate ways, feared the worst.
Secretary Herter was being apprised of the situation in daily
cables, as was the
State Department's science adviser, Wallace Brode. On the
fifteenth, a cable to Washington from Ambassador Amory Houghton
in Paris informed them: "RECEIVED WORD FROM GENEVA TO EFFECT NASH
DESPITE ALL EFFORTS TO DISSUADE HIM DETERMINED TO SIGN OATH OF
CITIZENSHIP RENUNCIATION."
69
Even in jail, Nash refused to return to the United States,
refused furthermore to cooperate in the issue of a new passport,
and continued to demand that he be permitted to take the oath of
renunciation.
At this point, Alicia agreed to take Nash back to Paris with her
where they had, after all, an apartment. The consul general
agreed to issue Alicia a new passport that included Nash. Nash
protested it all. He did not wish to go even to Paris. It was
useless. The police escorted Nash to the train station. He was
hustled onto the
--------------------------------------------------------------653
train and, at 11: 15 Pddm., it pulled out of the covered station
into the open air. The police inspectors reported that "at train
time Nash [was] still reluctant [to) leave Geneva but no force
[was] requireddd010 Nash and Alicia celebrated Christmas at 49
Avenue de la R6publique. It was, as Nash was to write to
Virginia, "interestingdd071 Alicia's mother was there and so was
the eight-month-old John Charles. There was a Christmas tree,
perhaps the first one that the Nashes had ever had, decorated in
the German manner with tiny lady apples and red wax candles. When
they lit them, it scared Alicia's mother terribly. "We kept a
bucket of water nearby' "Odette, who had come to Paris for the
holidays, recalleddd71 Alicia, who had occupied herself that fall
with learning to cook, served French hors d'oeuvres. There were
presents for the baby, Nash jealously noted, adding in a letter
to Virginia and Martha that "he seems a little attention spoiled
now.
On St. Etienne's Day, the day after Christmas, Alicia gave a
party attended by several mathematicians, American as well as
French. Shiing-shen Chern, a mathematician who had met
--------------------------------------------------------------654
Nash at the University of Chicago and was in Paris for the
semester, came. He recalled "an interesting idea" that Nash had
then, namely that four cities in Europe constituted the vertices
of a squaredd71 The most striking visitor at 49 Avenue de la
R6publique, however, was Alexandre Grothendieck, a           A654
brilliant, charismatic, highly eccentric young algebraic geometer
who wore his bead shaved, affected traditional Russian peasant
dress, and held strong pacifist
VieWSDD74
Grothendieck had just taken a chair at the new Parisian
mathematics center, the Institut des Hautes ttudes Scientifiques
(modeled after Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study), and
would win a Fields Medal in 1966. In the early 1970's, he founded
a survivalist organization, dropped out of academia altogether,
and became a virtual recluse in an undisclosed location in the
PyreneeSdd71 In 1960, however, he was dynamic, voluble, and
immensely attractive. Whether he was mainly interested in the
beautiful Alicia or felt an affinity for Nash's anti-American
sentiments is not clear; in any
--------------------------------------------------------------655
case, Grothendieck was a frequent visitor at the
Nashes' apartment and on a number of occasions attempted to
help
Nash obtain a visiting position at the IHES. That January, Odette
and Alicia would sit around the apartment smoking and gossiping
about Odette's boyfriends, including thirty-four-year-old John
Danskin, a mathematician at the Institute for Advanced Study who
had met the entrancing Odette at the Nashes' wedding party in New
York, He wooed Odette by letter, ultimately proposing to her by
telegram in Russian. Nash would sit in the corner of the living
room poring over a Paris telephone directory, saying little
except to occasionally object to the smoke, which he abhorred, or
to ask a question. Odette recalled:
We were having a wonderful time. We just laughed and gossiped,
tried French cooking and met the people who Alicia invited into
her apartment. We'd be chattering. We'd talk about boys. John
Nash wouldn't even notice. Alicia used to smoke. He used to
complain about it. He couldn't bear it. Occasionally he would
interrupt with a question: "Do you know
--------------------------------------------------------------656
what Kennedy and Khrushcbev have in common? No. Both their names
start with a Kdd"I'
Odette soon returned to Grenoble and Alicia's mother left Paris
as well, leaving her daughter and grandson behind. Alicia
struggled to care for the baby and to cope with her husband,
finding both overwhelming." She desperately wanted to return to
the United States and continued, as best she could, to obtain the
help of the American authorities.
A concerted effort was, in fact, under way, led by the State
Department's Brode, who dispatched his deputy, Larkin Farinholt,
to Parisdd"Farinholt, a chemist who would subsequently become the
director of the Sloan Foundation's fellowship program, vainly
tried to convince Nash to return to America voluntarily. The
effort was inspired not just by the government's desire to avoid
embarrassment, but by a genuine wish that Nash not be lost to the
scientific community nor suffer the consequences of his own
seemingly irrational behavior. Nash's legal situation was
increasingly tenuous. After his deportation from Switzerland, he
had been issued a three-month temporary residency permit     A656
by the French. His status in France, as he explained to Hbrmander
in a letter in late January,
--------------------------------------------------------------657
was "of Swiss resident or domicileedd'19 As Nash explained in his
Madrid lecture, he had wanted to be declared a refugee from all
NATO countries, but since he found himself in France he had --
"so as not to be inconsistent"- to settle for declaring himself
"only a refugee from the USA.""` Once again, he applied for
asylum. When it became clear that the French were not going to
grant it, Nash attempted to obtain a Swedish visa. This, too, was
refused. He then turned to H6rmander, who in turn consulted the
Swedish foreign ministry and was told that without an American
passport Nash had no hope of obtaining a visa. Hbrmander, now
impatient, wrote back: "Personally I would strongly advise you to
reconsider your views concerning NATO and other countries.""
Citoyeation d, Monde
281
Nash then managed a rather extraordinary feat. In early March, he
traveled,
alone and without passport, to East Germanydd"Hard as it is to
believe that an American without documents could get into the DDR
in 1960, Nash confirmed in 1995 that he had indeed traveled
there, explaining that
--------------------------------------------------------------658
in his "time of irrational thinking"he had gone "places where you
didn't need an American passportdd081 What actually must have
happened, given the tremendously tight security at the border at
that time, was that Nash applied to the DDR for asylum and was
then permitted by the authorities to enter the country until the
request was decided. In any case, he went to Leipzig and stayed
with a family named Thurmer for several days. According to a card
he sent Martha and Virginia, he was able-presumably as a guest of
the government comto attend a famous propaganda event that
happened to be taking place at the time, the Leipzig industrial
world fair, which was the Iron Curtain's answer to the Brussels
world fair. Later, mathematicians in America would hear from
Farinholt that "Nash tried to defect to the Russians"b that the
Russians had refused to have anything to do with
hiMdd14
That story, repeated by Felix Browder, is very probably based on
Nash's Leipzig adventure. At least no evidence has turned up that
Nash ever approached the Soviets. By that point, everyone
involved-the Americans, the French, and presumably the DDR-was
aware that Nash's
--------------------------------------------------------------659
actions were those of a very sick man. Apparently, however, the
incident would prompt the FBI to raise questions about Alicia's
security clearance in the early 1960's when she was working at
RCA
.81
In any case, Nash was eventually asked to leave East Germany-or
quite possibly Farinholt got him out-and returned to Paris where
he wrote to Martha and Virginia that he was "thinking of
returning to Roanoke" but was worried about coming back to   A659
the United States when he had no guarantee that he would be able
to leave again
.16
As in Geneva, Nash spent much of his time sitting in the
apartment writing letters. Michael Artin, the son of Princeton's
Emil Artin, found a letter from Nash, after the death of his
father, in his father's files. "It started out plausibly about
mathematicsea"Artin recalled. "But it was stamped all over, with
[Metro] tickets and tax stamps pasted on it. By the end of the
letter it was obvious that it was completely fantastic. It was
about K6chel's numbers for Mozart symphonies. K6chel had
catalogued all of Mozart's works, more than five
--------------------------------------------------------------660
hundred. It was very graphic. It must have affected my father
very much because he had kept it for all those years."" A]
Vasquez, the MIT undergraduate Nash had gotten to know in his
final year in Cambridge, recalled: "His letters were filled with
numerology. I didn't keep them. They weren't just letters. They
were collages, pastiches. Full of newspaper clippings. Very
clever. I was always showing them to people. They contained some
insights. Little patterns, puns.""` Cathleen Morawetz recalled
that her father, John Synge, who had taught Nash tensor calculus
at Carnegie, received postcards from Nash at this time and was
frightened by them. They reminded him, he told her, of his
brilliant brother Hutchie, who suffered from schizophrenia and
had quit Trinity College in order to settle in the bohemian
enclaves of Paris before the First
World War. Morawetz said, "The letters Were about things like
Milnor's differential structure of spheres. Nash would quote a
theorem. Then he'd derive a political meaning for itdd019
Money was a growing worry. The Nashes' lodgings were cheap by
American standards, but living, particularly food, was not. Nash
was greatly preoccupied with trying
--------------------------------------------------------------661
to sell his Mercedes, still in the Institute for Advanced Study's
parking lot. The mathematician with whom he had left his car,
Hassler Whitney, had called John Danskin and asked him to deal
with xdd90 John Abbat, a Frenchman who had invented a kind of
bowling pin and was married to Odette's older sister Muyu, got
involved as well. The book value, Danskin recalled, was $2,300,
but Nash was determined to get $2,400 or $2,500. "He was
absolutely unreasonableea"Danskin recalled. "I didn't sell it. It
was still there when he got backdd"F time to time, Nash asked
Martha to send Eleanor money."` He also asked Warren Ambrose to
visit John David, or perhaps Ambrose offered. Eleanor recalled
that John David, now nearly seven, was frightened of Ambrose."`
Nash's hair had by now grown long, and he had a full beard. In
early April, he sent Martha a photograph of himself, taken in a
Chinese restaurant, which he asked her to return to him, labeling
it "Picture of Dorian Gray.""` He referred to an "autorisation de
s6jour"for April 21 and said that he was planning to leave soon
for Swedendd94 On April 21, Virginia

received a telegram from the State Department requesting      662
funds to bring Nash back to the United Statesdd91 She wired the
money. Nash was taken from the apartment on Avenue Rue de ]a
116publique by the
French police, who escorted him, under guard, all the way to
Orlydd96 Nash would later tell Vasquez that he had been brought
back from Europe, "on a ship and in chains, like a slaveea091 but
Alicia recalled quite definitely that they came back on a
planedd91 While the departure repeated the trauma of Geneva, it
was also a mirror image of their journey to France the previous
summer. This time it was Nash who was the unwilling one.
Ironically, in this, too, he was walking in Davis's path, for
Davis, too, was once forcibly placed on the
Queen Miry and
sent back to America confined in first-class quartersdd99
Princeton, 1960
TE
OLIVE-GREEN MERCEDES
180 was still in the institute parking lot in Princeton. Nash had
come straight there while
--------------------------------------------------------------663
Alicia and the baby went to Washington to stay with the Lardesdd1
He hung around Princeton. In June, having heard that his sister
had had a baby, Nash drove down to Roanoke to visit Martha in the
hospital. She remembered being frightened by his appearance and
concealing from him her son's due date, June 13. "1 was worried
that he would put some meaning in itea"she recalled in 1995.1 Her
recollection is that Nash stayed in Roanoke with Virginia for
several weeks. Alicia, meanwhile, was looking for work and had
enlisted, among others, John Danskin -- now married to Odette --
to help her.
3
Danskin was now teaching at Rutgers, and the newlyweds lived on
the outskirts of Princeton. Alicia was apparently considering
staying in Washington, presumably so that her parents could help
with the baby. She was also thinking of moving back to New York.
During the summer, Alicia stayed with her old MIT friend, Joyce
Davis, by now living in Greenwich Village and working in the
city, and interviewed for various computer programming jobs. As
she told Joyce in a note she left at her apartment on the day
that she returned to Washington, she
--------------------------------------------------------------664
got offers from IBM and also from Univac but was undecided over
whether to accept them, saying, "Now I've got a real problem,
work in NY or Wash"0bled
Odette urged Alicia to move to Princeton.` Nash was also in
favor. Alicia thought that her husband would benefit from being
around other mathematicians again and hoped that he would be able
to find work in Princeton. The upshot was that Alicia turned down
the offers to work in New York City and instead took a position
with the Astro-Electronics Division of the Radio Corporation of
America, which had a big research facility on Hightstown Road
between Princeton and Hightstowndd6 Alicia left John Charles in
her mother's care once more and rented a small apartment at 58
Spruce Street, on the corner of Walnut, about a mile from    A664
Palmer Square. Nash joined her there at the end of the summer.
Initially, at least, Princeton seemed to offer a respite after
the anxious final months in Paris. Alicia and Nash were very much
part of a crowd that had gathered around John Danskin and Odette
in the charming enclave near the Delaware-Raritan Canal.
Griggstown consisted at that time of
--------------------------------------------------------------665
Tornquist's, a general store, and a few picturesque houses,
including the former cider mill where the Danskins lived. It was
especially beautiful in the summer, the air heavy with the scent
of honeysuckle. Napthall Afriat, a game theorist who worked with
Morgenstern at the time, lived there, as did Jean-Pierre Cauvin,
a graduate student in French at Princeton, and a couple that
worked at Rutgers, Agnes and Michael Sherman.` The Danskins held
frequent parties at which the Milnors, Ed Nelson and his wife,
and Georg Kreisel, a logician, were also frequent visitorsdd8 The
parties lasted long into the night, with Beethoven sonatas, a
great deal of wine, barbecued steaks and shish kebab, nighttime
swims in the canal, and bright conversation led by the convivial,
cultivated, mercurial Danskin. Cauvin remembered John Nash very
vividly. He had a kind of childlike air and disposition, a
gentleness, this very vulnerable quality, a kind of helplessness.
It blew my mind that someone who gave this appearance of being so
simple could be a genius. He was subdued and rather passive. He
always spoke very softly and in a monotone. I don't recall him
ever initiating a conversation. He would respond
--------------------------------------------------------------666
to a question or remark after a little momentary hesitation.
Alicia was very attentive to him.` Alicia was learning to drive.
Danskin and Milnor were both giving her lessons, with haphazard
success."` They invited her along to a Thursdaynight folk dance
group at Miss Fines's School on Route 206 that Danskin and Milnor
belonged to. I I "She was very pretty, very quiet. I remember her
pulling out a photograph of a cute little boyea"said Elvira
Leaderdd"Her husband, Sol, danced with Alicia: "She was
weightless," he recalled."
Danskin would bring the dancers home afterward. He remembered
talking with Nash about mathematics. They'd been drinking by
then. Danskin was trying to prove a theorem:
He immediately hit you with the hardest point. He was still very
sharp. He understood what I was doing. I wanted to avoid the hard
way and he caught me. Who in the hell would ask that? You would
if you were proving it yourself, but he was just listening. And
understanding.
14
Danskin spearheaded an effort to find Nash a job. Danskin was
doing some consulting work for Oskar Morgenstern and Morgenstern,
it seemed, was willing
--------------------------------------------------------------667
to hire Nash as a consultant. That fall, Nash was given a
one-year consulting contract, with a ceiling of two thousand
dollars. Morgenstern indicated to the university that he was
making the offer under "a small charitable pressure"b that he
felt "Nash could contribute strongly to his program if he    A667
was able to pull out of his present mental depression and
utilizes his faculties to their greatest extent.""
The university balked, "fearing that the appointment might be
based on human kindness, rather than on realistic, technical
needs."
16
It was decided to review Nash's performance after two months. The
contract was dated October 21, 1960.
17
Nash, however, was talking about returning to France. He
contacted jean Leray, who was visiting at the Institute for
Advanced Study, asking Leray to invite him once more to the
College de France." This time Alicia, much alarmed, intervened.
She asked Donald Spencer comthe mathematician at Princeton who
had helped Nash work out the final version of his paper on
algebraic varieties in
--------------------------------------------------------------668
1950 and 19 5 1 comto write to Leray to ask that Leray discourage
Nash from going to France again so soon. "Her advice is not to
invite John to France at the present time since she feels it will
only stir him up ag.... If this job [with Oskar Morgenstern]
materializes it will have a quieting effect on her husband. She
feels that remaining in Princeton for a time might possibly bring
him back to mathematical workdd019 By now, Nash had been in the
grip of unremitting psychotic illness for nearly two years. It
had transformed him. The change in Nash's appearance and manner
made it surprising that his old friends from the mathematics
department recognized him at all. The man who walked up and down
the main street of Princeton in the stifling summer of 1960 was
clearly disturbed. He would go into restaurants with bare feet.
With dark hair to his shoulders and a bushy black beard, he had a
fixed expression, a dead gaze. Women, especially, found him
frightening. He looked no one in the eye.
Nash spent most of his time hanging around the university,
including Fine Hall. Most days he wore a smocklike Russian
peasant garmentdd10 He seemed, as one graduate student
--------------------------------------------------------------669
at the time remembered, to "talk to the squirrels." He carried
around a notebook, a scrapbook entitled ABSOLUTE ZERO in which he
pasted all sorts of things, presumably a reference to the
rock-bottom temperature at which all activity ceasesdd"He was
fascinated by bright colors.
He was often in the common room where he "liked to spectate, to
watch people playing Kriegspiel, and to make cryptic little
remarks.0"On one occasion, when William Feller was standing
nearby, for example, Nash said, to no one in particular: "What
would we do with an overweight Hungarian?0"On another, "What do
Spain and the Sinai have in common?0ggTh was after Israel's
takeover of the Sinai.) He answered his own question, "They both
start withS."
14
Everyone around Fine knew who he was, of course. The senior
faculty tended to avoid him, and the Fine Hall secretaries were
slightly afraid of him, as his size and strange manner       A669
gave him a somewhat threatening air. On one occasion, Nash
disquieted the formidable Agnes Henry, the departmental
secretary, by asking her for the sharpest pair of
--------------------------------------------------------------670
scissors she possesseddd"Henry was taken aback and consulted A]
Tucker about what to do. Tucker, who was walking with a cane at
that time and would hardly have been Nash's match, said, "Well,
give it to him and if there's trouble I'll handle itdd"Nash
grabbed the scissors, walked over to a phone
book that was lying out, and cut out the cover, a map of the
Princeton area in primary colors. He pasted it in his notebook.
He found a few graduate students to talk to. Burton Randol, then
a first-year mathematics graduate student, recalled: "I wasn't
bothered by his strangeness and I wasn't afraid of him
physically. I was willing to have conversations with him. In some
sense we enjoyed each otherdd016 He and Nash would take long,
rambling walks around Princeton, and Randol particularly recalled
Nash's wry sense of humor, which he remembered as "intentional,
self-referential, and self-deprecating. He knew he was crazy and
he made little jokes about it."
He referred to himself, obliquely and usually in the third
person, as one Johann von Nassau, a mysterious figure whose name
was curiously similar
--------------------------------------------------------------671
to John von Neumann's and suggested a connection with Nassau
Street, the main street of Princeton, as well as Nassau Hall, the
main building on the university campus. He talked, in rather
lofty terms, of world peace and world government, making it clear
he was in touch with these ideas on some very grand scale
comthough he rarely, if ever, alluded to his actual experiences
in Paris and Geneva. The job with Morgenstern fell through. As
Danskin recalled, Nash refused to fill out the necessary W-2
formseaeaclaiming that he was a citizen of Liechtenstein and not
subject to taxes.
I got him a job in the economic research group by calling Oskar
Morgenstern. Oskar said fine. I got an application. It called for
his social security number and asked whether he was a citizen of
the U.S. He wouldn't cooperate, so he didn't get the
jobdd21
Whether this was why the contract was canceled in early December,
or whether by then it was obvious that Nash was far too sick to
work, is unclear.
Nash was also writing all sorts of letters to people. When he
heard that Martin Shubik was applying game theory to the theory
of money, he sent Shubik a
--------------------------------------------------------------672
Richie Rich comic bookdd21 He sent Paul Zweifel, his friend from
Carnegie, postcards in care of the French charg6 d'affaires at
the French embassy in Wasbingtondd19
Nash was also making a great many telephone calls, usually, as
Martha recalled, using fictitious names. Ed Nelson recalled, "I
did my partea0talking to John on the telephone during those
years."` He used to call me a lot." And Armand Borel recalled: "I
got unending phone calls from Nash. Harish-Chandra also      A672
often got calls. It was unending. It was all nonsense.
Numerology. Dates. World affairs. This was really painful. It was
very often.""
Nash's bizarre behavior was attracting the attention of
university officials. Danskin recalled:
He was irritating the president of the university. He was talking
about something that was going on in the Gaza Strip. He was
playing hopscotch on campus. Goheen's secretary called me. He
wasn't threatening anyone, but he was behaving crazily. He would
go into the offices. The young women would be frightened. At my
house, he'd play with my stereo and screw it up. He frightened
people. But he was the gentlest
--------------------------------------------------------------673
person imaginable."
Alicia was beside herself. She had become quite depressed.
Members of the folkdancing group remember her sad expression, her
showing them pictures of her baby, and her sadness at being
separated from her son. She began seeing a psychiatrist at the
Princeton Hospital, Phillip Ehrlich, who urged her to have her
husband hospitalized, against his will if necessary. He
recommended a nearby state hospitaldd"Odette recalled, in 1995:
"It was awful that such a strong and handsome man should be
locked up. Alicia had some guilt trips. We talked it over, back
and forth. The doctors advised her. She didn't understand. It was
very painful."
14
Alicia had initially asked John Danskin to commit Nash. Danskin
refused. She then turned to Virginia and Martha.
A day or two before the police picked Nash up, Nash showed up on
campus covered with scratches. "Johann von Nassau has been a bad
boyea"he said, visibly terrified. "They're going to come and get
me now.""
kenton State Hospital, 1961
--------------------------------------------------------------674
Reposing in the midst of the most heautiful scenery in the valley
of the Delawdre, conihmingall the inEuences which huroanartand
skill can command to Ness, soothe, and restore the wandering
intellects thatare gathered in its hosom. comFirst annual report
of the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum, 1848
bn as ifleft to rot in a "Tower of Silence, "with anti-Promethean
vultures gnawirgaway at my vitals. comJoHN NA-SH, 1967
AT
THE END OF JANUARY, ten months after Nash's return from Paris, a
much-aged Virginia Nash and her daughter Martha boarded a train
in Roanoke and traveled north all day, arriving in Princeton in
the late afternoon.` The last time they had made this trip
together was a decade earlier, to attend Johnny's graduation, and
the contrast between that trip and the present one was much on
their minds. As they disembarked, tearful and weary, John Milnor,
now a full professor in the Princeton mathematics department, was
waiting for them. It was nearly dark and already snowing lightly.
After a few awkward exchanges, Milnor showed them his car, turned
over the keys, and gave them directions to West
Trenton.                                                      675
Martha took the wheel and the two women drove in silence down
Route 1, the car slipping and sliding on the thin layer of slick
ice that now covered the road. They were almost thankful for the
distraction. They dreaded what lay ahead. Johnny was already at
the Trenton State Hospital. He had been picked up earlier in the
day by the police, taken first to Princeton Hospital, a small
general hospital, and then transported by ambulance to Trenton
State. Now they were going down to talk to the doctors, sign the
necessary forms, and, if possible, see Johnny. They would see
Alicia, at whose apartment they were staying, afterward.
Full of doubt and self-reproach, they felt they had little choice
but to accede to another commitment. N"atever hope they had that
Johnny's settling in Princeton, in familiar surroundings and
among old mathematical acquaintances,
would bring about some improvement in his condition had been
shattered weeks before. Alicia's telephone calls had become
increasingly frantic. The psychiatrist whom Alicia had been in
touch with had tried, without success, to convince Johnny to go
into the hospital on his own. Johnny had been dead set
--------------------------------------------------------------676
against the idea. Finally, the three women had agreed among
themselves that there was no other way. He would have to go.
And this time it wouldn't be to a private hospital. As Martha
recalled in 1995: "At first, we had thought that thirty days at
McLean would straighten him out. By then we knew there were no
short-term answers. We were concerned that John's illness would
eat into Mother's capital and that she couldn't afford a private
hospital."`
In the moonlight and freshly fallen snow, the gray stone
building, with its white marble dome and tall columns, set atop a
gentle wooded slope, looked reassuringly solid and respectable.
Institutions like the Trenton State Hospital owed their existence
to the same mid-nineteenth-century reform movements that opposed
slavery and advanced women's suffragedd1 Many, in fact, owed
their existence to the efforts of Dorothea Dix, a fiery,
single-minded Unitarian who made the appalling plight of the
insane -- condemned to almshouses, prisons, and the streets --
her life's crusadeddbled When she was old, ill, and penniless,
Dix lived on the ground floor of Trenton's administration
building in an apartment set aside for
--------------------------------------------------------------677
her by the trustees of Trenton State until her death in 1887.
Like all such institutions, Trenton hardly evolved as its founder
anticipated. In particular, it was soon overwhelmed by the sheer
numbers of people who sought comor whose families sought on their
behalf comshelter there. During World War 11, Trenton State, long
since expanded from a single large building into a large complex,
had an average of four thousand patients.` The census dropped
sharply after the war, but was rising rapidly in the late 1950's.
By 1961, there were nearly twenty-five hundred patients, ten
times as many as at a private hospital like McLean. Staffing was
minimal, and consisted mostly of young foreign residents. The six
hundred patients in the so-called West hospital, for example,
were cared for by six psychiatrists; the five hundred        A677
chronic patients in the annex-predominantly senile or
epileptic-were cared for by just one doctor. The presence of a
large number of chronic patients obscured the fact that most
patients who came to Trenton stayed a relatively short time,
perhaps three months.
"You really were not close to patients `"said Dr.
--------------------------------------------------------------678
Peter Baumecker, who worked at both the hospital's insulin unit
and the rehabilitation ward during Nash's stay. The poorest and
sickest patients wound up at Trenton. "I remember very few
patients specificallyea"Baumecker said. "There was one patient
who gouged out the eye of another. There was another patient
who'd lost his eye when the police beat him up after he'd killed
his father. But that was very exceptionaldd06
"There were good wards and bad wards. Trenton was not as plush as
other
places. As a matter of fact, Trenton was pretty crummyea"recalled
Baumecker in 1995. "But I remember a lot of warmth, a lot of
caring. We helped an awful lot of
peopledd07
Later Nash would recall, with great bitterness, the fact that he
was assigned a serial number at Trenton, as if he were an inmate
of a prisondd8 To occupy a room shared by thirty or forty others,
to be forced to wear clothes that are not your own, to have no
place, not even a locker, for your things, even your own soap or
shaving cream, is an experience that few people can imagine. Yet
this is how Nash coma man who craved, because of his nature and
the nature of his
--------------------------------------------------------------679
illness, solitude and mobilitylived for the next six months,
surrounded by strangers. If he had dreaded military duty, what
must this have been like for him?
Nash would have been brought to Payton One, the men's admitting
ward, on the ground floor of Payton, off to the right of the main
administration building. Baumecker was in charge of admissions
then and conducted the initial interview. "Nash was my patient;`
said Baurnecker. "He didn't like me because my name started with
a T4'He had something against the letter Bdd09
The admission interview took place in a small admitting room that
had a cot, a couple of chairs, a desk, and a small window.
Baumecker asked Nash the usual questions, such as "Do you hear
voices?" He tried to find out whether Nash had delusions and
whether they were elaborate. He watched his expressions to see
whether the emotions he showed were appropriate to what he was
saying, The hijacking of a Portuguese ocean liner, the
Santa Maria,
off Caracas that week and the subsequent efforts of the
hijackers, who turned out to be anti-Salazar rebels, to obtain
asylum in Brazil comwas, it
--------------------------------------------------------------680
seemed, very much on Nash's mind; he had his own private theory
about it."
The following morning, Nash's "case" was presented to the staff,
and he was interviewed in the dormitory before a group of    A680
residents. That was when the preliminary diagnosis was reached,
treatment was decided upon, and he was assigned a psychiatrist.
One wound up in Trenton if one had no money or insurance, or was
too sick for a private institution to handle. The decision to
commit Nash to an overcrowded, underfunded, and understaffed
state institution seems puzzling in retrospect. Alicia had at
least some insurance coverage through her position at RCA, and
Virginia, although by now worried that her son's treatment would
eat into her capital, was surely able to pay for some private
care. Martha and Virginia certainly had their misgivings: "We
went down to talk to them, to beg them to put a red flag on the
case and pay special attention to John. It was the only state
hospital that John ever stayed indd"I I
John Danskin recalled:
1 had heard he was in Trenton. I called his family and said, for
God's sake, do something. I drove down to Trenton State. I wanted
to find
--------------------------------------------------------------681
out what the hell happened. I was shocked. It wasn't brutal but
he was being treated rather roughly. The attendant kept calling
him Johnny.
I told the people there: "This is the legendary John Nashdd"He
was all right too. He gave me no sign at all of being out of his
mind. I kept thinking, my God, these shrinks! Who's going to
figure out what's wrong with a genius? I resented them."
News that Nash had been committed to a state hospital spread
quickly around Princeton. One person deeply disturbed by the
notion that a genius like Nash was incarcerated at a state
hospital, notorious for its overcrowding and aggressive medical
treatments comincluding drugs, electroshock, and insulin coma
therapy-was Robert Winters." Winters, a Harvard-trained economist
who happened to be the business manager of the physics department
at the time, was friendly with both Also Tucker and Don Spencer.
Winters contacted Joseph Tobin, the Institute for Advanced
Study's psychiatric consultant and director of the
Neuro-Psychiatric Institute in Hopewell, which is a few miles
from Princeton, calling him in
--------------------------------------------------------------682
late January to say, "It is in the national interest that
everything possible be done to bring Professor Nash back to his
original productive self."
14
Tobin suggested that Winters contact Harold Magee, Trenton's
medical director at the time. Winters did so and won an assurance
from Magee, as he later wrote to Tobin, that "there would be a
thorough study of Dr. Nash's condition before any treatment was
started at the state hospital."" In truth, this was too much to
expect. As Seymour Krim, a beat writer in New York, wrote in 1959
in his essay "The Insanity Bit"ab his own experiences in mental
hospitals, that work "in a flip factory is determined by
mathematics; you must find the common denominator of
categorization and treatment in order to handle the battalions of
miscellaneous humanity that are marched past your desk with high
1trumpets blowing in their minds."" Very soon after that     A682
assurance was given, or perhaps even before, Nash was transferred
from Payton to Dix One, the insulin unitdd"Ehrlich, the
psychiatrist at Princeton Hospital who had recommended Trenton,
was convinced that Nash would benefit from the
--------------------------------------------------------------683
treatments available at Trentondd"Whether Alicia, Virginia, or
Martha gave explicit consent for insulin coma therapy is not
clear. "I don't remember whether the family had to give further
permissions beyond the commitmentea"Baumecker recalled. "In those
days you could do just about anything without asking anybodydd019
Martha recalled that she was consulted: "That was a drastic
decision. We were extra wary of anything that might affect his
mental abilities. We discussed this with doctorsdd010
The insulin unit was the most elite unit within Trenton State
Hospitaldd"The
unit had two separate wards -- one with twenty-two male beds, the
other with twenty-two female bedsdd21 Danskin later described it
as looking like "the inside of the Lincoln Tunnel.0"Xs chief had
the eye and ear of the hospital's directors. It had the most
doctors, the best nurses, the nicest furnishings. Only patients
who were young and in good health were sent there. Patients on
the insulin unit had special diets, special treatment, special
recreation. "All the best of what the hospital had to offer was
showered on themea"said Robert Garber, who was a staff
--------------------------------------------------------------684
psychiatrist at Trenton in the early 1940's and later president
of the American Psychiatric Association. He said, "The insulin
patients got a hell of a lot of TLC. In the family's eyes,
insulin had great appeal. Patients` relatives were
overwhelmeddd014
For the next six weeks, five days a week, Nash endured the
insulin treatmentsdd"V early in the morning, a nurse would wake
him and give him an insulin injection. By the time Baumecker got
to the ward at eight-thirty, Nash's blood sugar would already
have dropped precipitously. He would have been drowsy, hardly
aware of his surroundings, perhaps half-delirious and talking to
himself One woman used to yell, "Jump in the lake. jump in the
lake," all the time. By nine-thirty or ten, Nash would be
comatose, sinking deeper and deeper into unconsciousness until,
at one stage, his body would become as rigid as if it were frozen
solid and his fingers would be curled. At that point, a nurse
would put a rubber hose through his nose and esophagus and a
glucose solution would be administered. Sometimes, if necessary,
this would be done intravenously. Then he would wake up, slowly
and agonizingly, with nurses hovering over him. By eleven in the
morning, Nash would
--------------------------------------------------------------685
be conscious again. And by the late afternoon, when the whole
group would walk over to occupational therapy, he would be among
them, the nurses bringing along orange juice in case anyone felt
faint.
Very often, during the comatose stage, patients whose blood-sugar
levels dropped too far would have spontaneous seizures
comthrashing around, biting their tongues. Broken bones      A685
were not uncommon. Sometimes patients remained in the coma. "We
lost one young manea"recalled Baumecker. "We'd all become very
alarmed. We'd call in experts and do all kinds of things,
Sometimes patients would get very hot and we'd pack them in
iCedd016
Good, firsthand accounts of the experience are difficult to find,
in part because the treatment destroys large blocs of recent
memory. Nash would later describe insulin therapy as "torture,"
and he resented it for many years afterward, sometimes giving as
a return address on a letter "Insulin Institute.0"A hint of how
unpleasant it was can be gleaned from the account of another
patient:
Breaking through the first sodden layers of consciousness ... the
smell of fresh wool ... they make me come back every day, day
after day, back from the nothingness. The sickness, the taste of
blood in my mouth, my
--------------------------------------------------------------686
tongue is raw. The gag must have slipped today. The foggy pain in
my head ... this was my unbroken routine for three months ...
very little of it is clear in retrospect save the agony of
emerging from shock every day."`
It's true, as Garber said, that insulin patients were coddled
compared to others
at Trenton. Insulin patients got richer and more varied food.
They got special desserts. They had ice cream every night at
bedtime. Most had ground privileges and permission to go out on
weekend visits. All the patients gained weight. That was
considered a good sign. The doctors on the ward were proud that
their patients were in good physical health. "People would put on
a lot of weight because of the insulinea"recalled Baumecker. "The
low blood sugar would make it necessary to give them a lot of
sugar and the sugar had a lot of calories. For some of these
spindly, skinny schizophrenics it wasn't such a bad thingdd019
But patients often hated it. Nash's subsequent obsession with his
diet and weight may well have stemmed from this experience of
being "force-fed."
Treating schizophrenic patients with insulin coma was the idea of
Manfred Sackel, a Viennese
--------------------------------------------------------------687
physician who thought of it during the 1920's and used it on
psychotic patients, especially ones with schizophrenia, in the
mid-1930'sdd10 His notion was that if the brain were deprived of
sugar, which is what keeps it going, the cells that were
functioning marginally would die. It would be like radiation
treatments for cancer. Some practitioners who used it in the
1950's, when the first effective antipsychotic drugs became
available, took the view that insulin shock was more effective
than antipsychotics, especially with regard to delusional
thinkingdd"No one understood the mechanism, but two large-scale
studies in the late
1930's found that insulin-treated patients had better and more
lasting outcomes than untreated individuals, but evidence for
insulin's efficacy was hardly overwhelming."
It was in any case riskier and far more involved than        A687
electroshock, and by
1960, insulin shock therapy had been phased out by most hospitals
as too dangerous and expensive when compared with electroshock.
The conclusion was that insulin wasn't worth the investment of
time and money or the risks.
--------------------------------------------------------------688
The treatments produced at least temporary improvement in many
patients, according to Garber:
They'd see everybody hovering over them, very concerned about
them, a feeling of loving camaraderie. I always thought that was
very therapeutic. For the first time, somebody cared. Patients
became more outgoing, more active. They got to go out on weekend
visits. They got ground privileges. I think it helped. Patients
were brighter, more alert, more conversational." While Nash later
blamed the treatments for large gaps in his memoryea14 he also
told his cousin Richard Nash, whom he visited in San Francisco in
1967, that "I didn't get better until the money ran out and I
went to a public hospital.""
As dangerous and agonizing as it was, insulin was one of the few
treatments available for serious illnesses like schizophrenia
which, until the middle of the century, often meant lifelong
incarceration. And, like other state hospitals, Trenton was a
laboratory for every "cure"t came along. Before the war, Garber
recounted:
(We] treated all patients with the tools that were available.
Colonic irrigation was still used. So was
--------------------------------------------------------------689
fever therapy. We had a strain of malaria that we would inoculate
patients with. Later on we used a typhoid strain. We'd inject a
typhoid vaccine and within hours patients would experience
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fevers of
104 to 105.
We'd do that for eight or ten weeks, two or three days a week. We
did it to take the starch out of disturbed patients.
At Trenton the first order of the day, when I arrived at the
hospital supervisor's office at 8 A.M.
was to see who could be moved out of seclusion to make room for
another eight to fifteen patients who needed to be secluded. [The
rooms] were ten by twelve, lined with glazed tiles, with terrazzo
floors. There was a toilet and a sink and a drain in the middle
of the floor so that if a patient, say, smeared feces around the
room, we could hose it down.
You would do anything to give yourself a handle to bring the
patient under control."
After six weeks, Nash, whose insulin treatments were judged to be
effective, was transferred to Ward
--------------------------------------------------------------690
Six, the so-called rehab or parole warddd"There was group therapy
every day, some recreation, and occupational therapy. "This was
the cream of the patient cropea"Baumecker recalled. "There were
only about fifteen beds. Other wards had thirty patients per
room. Patients got individual attention, went on trips, and were
allowed to go home on visits.""
Nash actually began to work on a paper on fluid dynamics     A690
while he was on Ward Six. Baumecker recalled, "The patients made
fun of him because he was always so up in the clouds.
'Professor,` one of them said on one occasion, `let me show you
how one uses a broom! "19 Alicia visited Nash every week. Once be
was allowed out on passes, she took him to her folk-dancing group
and out to Swifts Colonial Dinerdd40 It was the highlight of
Nash's week. He seemed to be in remission, clearly no longer a
threat to himself or others. Baumecker recommended him for
discharge, pointing out that, contrary to the popular belief, "We
had to discharge people as fast as we could to get the census
downdd041 He was discharged on July 15, a month after his
thirty-third birthdaydd41 A few months after Nash got out,
--------------------------------------------------------------691
Baumecker called the Institute for Advanced Study and asked to
speak to Oppenheimer about whether Nash was now sane, Oppenheimer
replied, "That's something no one on earth can tell you,
doctordd041
41 An Interlude of Enforced Rationality
July 1961 comApril 1963
"en I had been long enough hospitalized... I wouldfinally
renounce my delusional hypotheses and revert to thinking ofmyfas
a human of more conventional circumstances. comJoHN NA-SH, Nobel
autobiography, 1995
AMAN
EXPERIENCING a remission of a physical illness may feel a renewed
sense of vitality and delight in resuming his old activities. But
someone who has spent months and years feeling privy to cosmic,
even divine, insights, and now feels such insights are no longer
his to enjoy, is bound to have a very different reaction. For
Nash, the recovery of his everyday rational thought processes
produced a sense of diminution and loss. The growing relevance
and clarity of his thinking, which his doctor, wife, and
colleagues hailed as an improvement, struck him as a
deterioration. In his
--------------------------------------------------------------692
autobiographical essay, written after he won the Nobel, Nash
writes that "rational thought imposes a limit on a person's
concept of his relation to the COSMOS."` He refers to remissions
not as joyful returns to a healthy state but as "interludes, as
it were, of enforced rationality." His regretful tone brings to
mind the words of Lawrence, a young man with schizophrenia, who
invented a theory of
11 psychomathematics"and told Rutgers psychologist Louis Sass:
"People kept thinking I was regaining my brilliance, but what I
was really doing was retreating to simpler and simpler levels of
thought."`
It is possible, naturally, that Nash's feeling reflected an
actual dulling of his cognitive capacities relative not just to
his exalted states, but to his abilities before the onset of his
psychosis.` The consciousness of how much his circumstances in
life, not to mention his prospects, were altered compounded his
distress. At thirtythree, he was out of work, branded as a former
mental patient, and dependent on the kindness of former
colleagues. Excerpts from a letter to Donald Spencer         A692
written around the time of Nash's release from Trenton on
--------------------------------------------------------------693
July 15 suggest how modest Nash's view of reality had become:
In my situation and anticipated situation a fellowship ... with
the idea being that I am expected to be doing research work and
studies, etc. seems a better prospect ... than a standard
academic teaching position. For one thing, much of the
conceivable worry over ... the implications of my having been in
a state mental hospital would be thereby by-passedddbled
With the help of Spencer, who was on the Princeton faculty, and
several members of the permanent mathematics faculty at the
Institute for Advanced Study-Armand Bore], Atle Selberg, Marston
Morse, and Deane Montgomery-a one-year research appointment at
the institute was arranged.` Oppenheimer found six thousand
dollars of National Science Foundation money to support Nashdd6
Nash's application, dated July 19, 1961, stated that he wished to
"continue the study of partial differential equations"and
mentioned "other research interests, some related to my earlier
workea"z well.`
In late July, Alicia's mother brought John Charles, a big,
handsome two-yearold,
--------------------------------------------------------------694
to Princeton. Nash called the reunion "a big occasion for me
since I haven't seen our little boy all during 1961ff01 Then, at
the beginning of August, Nash attended a mathematics conference
in Colorado where he ran into a number of old acquaintances and
went on a day-long excursion with Spencer, an enthusiastic
mountaineer, to climb Pike's Peakdd9
Nash and Alicia were living together once more, but not
especially happily. The turbulence of the two previous years had
produced an accumulation of hurts and resentments, and the
resulting coldness lingered and was exacerbated by new conflicts
over money, childrearing, and other issues of daily living. None
of this was made easier by the fact that Nash's in-laws now lived
with them. Carlos Larde's health had deteriorated markedly, and
he and his wife Alicia moved to Princeton that fall. The two
couples shared a house at 137 Spruce Streetdd10 It was a great
help that Mrs. Larde cared for Johnny while Alicia went to work,
but living together created another layer of strain, especially
for Alicia.
They tried to make the best of it. Nash attempted to care for his
son, picking him up at nursery
--------------------------------------------------------------695
school and the like. They socialized with the Nelsons, the
Milnors, and a few others. Once or twice, they drove up to
Massachusetts to visit John and Odette Danskin, who had moved
there the previous fall, and to see John Stier." The visits were
rather fraught and Eleanor used to call John Danskin afterward to
complain about Nash. On one visit, apparently, Nash had come with
a bag of doughnuts. "Eleanor kept saying, `How cheap!` "Odette
recalled."
In early October, Nash attended a most historic conference in
Princetondd"The conference, organized by Oskar Morgenstern, and
attended by virtually the entire game-theory community,      A695
amounted to a celebration of cooperative theory. There
An Interlude of Enforced Rationality
297
was little mention of noncooperative games or bargaining. But
John Harsanyi, a Hungarian, Reinhard Selten, a German, and John
Nash, dressed in odd mismatched clothing, mostly silent, were all
there.
14
This was the first time these three men bad met, and they would
not meet again until they traveled to Stockholm a
--------------------------------------------------------------696
quarter of a century later to accept Nobel Prizes. Harsanyi
remembers asking one of the Princeton people why Nash said so
little during the sessions. The answer, Harsanyi recalled, in a
conversation in Jerusalem in 1995, was "He was afraid he would
say something strange and humiliate himself."
15
Nash was able to work again, something he had not been able to do
for nearly three years. He turned once more to the mathematical
analysis of the motion of fluids and certain types of nonlinear
partial differential equations that can be used as models for
such flows. He finished his paper on fluid dynamics, begun while
he was in Trenton State hospitaldd"X was titled "Le ProWme de
Cauchy Pour Les Equations Differentielles d'une Fluide
G6tion6rale"and published in 1962 in a French mathematical
journal.
17
The paper, which Nash and others have described as "quite a
respectable piece of work0"I and which the Encyclopedic
Dictionary of Mathematics
called "basic and noteworthyea"eventually inspired a good deal of
subsequent work on the so-called
--------------------------------------------------------------697
"Cauchy problem for the general Navier-Stokes equations." In the
paper, Nash was able to prove the existence of unique regular
solutions in local time. 19
"After Nash's hospitalization he came out and seemed OKEA"Atle
Selberg recalled. "It was good for him to be at the IAS. Not
everybody on the Princeton faculty was very friendly. It's true
that he didn't speak. He wrote everything on blackboards. He was
perfectly articulate in writing. He gave a lecture on
NavierStokes equations comwh concern hydrodynamics and partial
differential equations comsomething I don't know much about. He
seemed fairly normal for a whiledd010
He was most at ease in one7on-one encounters where his sense of
humor came to his aid. Gillian Richardson, who was on the staff
of the institute's computer center from 1959 to 1962, recalled
eating lunch with Nash in the institute dining hall and Nash's
saying all sorts of dry, wry things about psychiatrists. One time
he asked, "Do you know a good psychiatrist in Princeton?"- adding
that his own psychiatrist "`sat on a throne way above` him, and
he wondered if I knew one who didn't

share that peculiaritydd"I I                                  698
Nash showed up in French 105, the third-semester French course at
the university, one day and asked Karl Uitti if he could audit
it. He struck the French professor as "the typically dreamy and
out-to-lunch mathematician."" Nash attended quite regularly and
kept up with the work. He seemed less interested in picking up
conversational "tourist French"than in acquiring "a sense of
French structure;` Uitti recalled, adding, "He was quite
pro-French. He liked the language and the people." Uitti and Nash
became rather friendly and met outside class, and on a number of
occasions with Alicia. At some point, Uitti asked Nash why he was
learning French. Nash answered that he was writing a mathematical
paper. "There was only one person in the world who would be able
to understand it and that person was French. He wanted,
therefore, to write the paper in Frenchea"Uitti said. Uitti could
not recall Nash's intended audience; chances are it was either
Leray, who was at the institute that year, or Grothendieck. After
the paper was published, Nash gave it to another member of the
Institute to read. The next time he saw the man, Nash asked him,
"Did you detect the sexual overtones?0"Uitti
--------------------------------------------------------------699
commented in 1997:
That was the time that de Gaulle was in power and strong pressure
was being exerted on French scientists to deliver their papers in
French. Nash always struck me as very well-bred, very courteous.
I'm certain that there was in his mind a sense of respect for
whomever he was writing the paper for. It was sweet of him and I
liked him for
xdd14
Nash asked Jean-Pierre Cauvin to edit a draft of the
paperdd"Cauvin, who was doing quite a bit of translation work at
the time, recalled Nash's telling him that "Paris was the center
for this kind of mathematics." Nash also turned to a French
undergraduate, Hubert Goldschmidt, for helpdd16
Nash bad not given up the idea of returning to France. He
submitted the Cauchy paper to the Bulletin de la Sociand6
Math6matique de France
on January 19. He was, Cauvin thought, more withdrawn and subdued
than ever, and in retrospect it is clear that he was thinking a
great deal about leaving Princeton. Very likely, he got in touch
with Grothendieck at the Institut des Hautes
--------------------------------------------------------------700
9mentudes Scientifiques. In April Oppenheimer wrote to Leon
Motchane, director of the IHES, to ask Motchane to formally
invite Nash to spend the first half of the academic year 1963-64
theredd17 0ppenheimer also asked Leray, who was at the institute
that year, to see if he could provide a grant from the Centre de
la Recherches Nationale Scientifiques for the second half of the
year." At the same time, he noted that Nash would have been
welcome to continue at the Institute for a second year: "If
[Nash] asked to stay here for the autumn, I think that my
colleagues would probably accede; but that is not his choice."
Nash did not suggest that Alicia go with him to France, and this
time Alicia did not try to dissuade him. Nor did she offer to go.
It was clear that, by some mutual and unspoken agreement,    A700
the marriage was over and they were going to go their separate
ways.
That winter, Nash spent more and more time in the Fine Hall
common room, usually showing up at teatime and staying until
evening. "He wore baggy, rumpled An Interlude of Enforced
Rationality
299
clothesea"Stefan Burr, then a graduate
--------------------------------------------------------------701
student, recalled. "He didn't seem at all aggressive. In some
ways his manner was not that different from a lot of
mathematicians`dis019 For a while, Burr and Nash were playing
endless games of Hex. The board in Fine had been drawn years
before on heavy cardboard and was so worn that the lines had
constantly to be redrawn with a ballpoint pen.
He was beginning to seem less well again. Borel recalled, "He was
not quite right. He seemed to me very diminished. His mathematics
was not at the same level. I found him odd, unpredictable,
nonsensical. It was very painful. The secretaries were afraid of
him. He was someone to avoid. You never knew what he would do or
say.""
One time the Borels had Alicia and Nash over for tea. "We served
tea and cookiesea"said Borel. "Nash went into the kitchen. I
followed him. `What do you want?` I asked. `Well, I'd like some
salt and pepper.`0"Gaby Borel added: "After he put salt and
pepper in his tea, he complained that the tea tasted awful.""
During the spring, his state of mind had become more angry and
restless, and he was beginning again to harp on his old
obsessions. He decided, rather suddenly,
--------------------------------------------------------------702
to travel to the West Coast, where he saw, among others, Also
Vasquez, who had graduated from MIT and was now a graduate
student at Berkeley, Lloyd Shapley, and A] Tucker's former wife,
Alice Beckenback, and her new husband. Vasquez recalled:
I just walked into the common room [at Berkeley] and he was
there. He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. He
didn't announce his visits in advance. I had no idea where he was
staying. But he was around for more than just a day or two. He
hadn't been looking for me. I had the impression that he'd been
in Europe, the East Coast, and that he was traveling around. He
talked a lot. He quite explicitly talked about [insulin] shock
therapy. He described shock therapy as extremely painful. He also
said he was taken back from Europe on a ship and in chains.
Slavery was a word he used a lot. He was very bitter about his
experiences.
He was pretty disoriented. He wasn't able to talk about anything
else but his obsessions. I was put off. It was odd. I never did
understand why he talked to me. He knew me. He wasn't really
trying to communicate. He wanted to talk
--------------------------------------------------------------703
elusively. [Yet] it wasn't gibberish. It was even clever at
times, full of puns and allusions."
Shapley, to whom Nash had written a great many letters, also
found Nash's appearance in Santa Monica distressing. "He     A703
thought of me as a close friend. One had to put up with it. He
would send me postcards in colored inks. It was very sad. They
were scribbled with math and numerology, as if he were not
expecting a reply. I was much on his mind. He had decayed in a
very spectacular wayea"Shapley recalled in 1994. "He was
groping." 14 Shapley remembered Nash telling him, "I
have this problem. I think I can straighten it out if I can
figure out which members of the Math Society did this to medd"He
didn't stay long, Shapley said, adding:
It was a bit frightening. We had two young children. What was
clear was that there was no way to talk to him or even follow
what he was saying. He'd switch from topic to topic. It's very
hard to be a good mathematician if you can't hold a thought in
your mind."
In June, Nash left for Europe. He was due to attend a conference
in Paris in the last week in June and the World Mathematical
Congress in
--------------------------------------------------------------704
Stockholm in early August. He went to London first, where he
stayed at the Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury, which he described as
"very grand.""
He got himself a private postal box and was once again writing
letters, some on toilet paper, in green ink, in French. He was
also sending drawings, including one of a prostrate figure
pierced with arrows. One, postmarked June 14, contained a scrap
of paper with the following written on it in green ink: 2 plus 5
plus 20 plus 8 plus
12 plus 15 plus 18 plus 15 plus 13 equals 78.
The conference at the College de France in Paris was a small and
intimate affair, very much dominated by Leray, who was very
excited at that time about nonlinear hyperbolic equations. Ed
Nelson, who had become quite friendly with Nash over the academic
year, recalled Leray's saying that it was a scandal that there
were no global existence theorems. "The feeling he conveyed,"
Nelson said, "was that we had better get to work, or the world
might come to an end at any moment."
17 Most
--------------------------------------------------------------705
of the speakers gave their talks in English. Lars Hbrinander, who
was also there, recalled that "1962 was very different from
earlier ViSitSdd1131
But Nash insisted on giving his lecture in what he called his
"pidgin Frenchdd019 He did not speak extemporaneously but read
from his notes in his very soft voice and with his very strong
American accent. H6rmander recalled: "Nash's paper was
respectable mathematically. It was a surprise to all of us [that
he could have produced it at all]. For us it was like seeing
somebody rise from the gravedd040
His behavior, however, was decidedly odd, H6rmander later said:
Malgrange, the official conference organizer, had a dinner for
the participants. At the table, Nash exchanged his plate with the
person next to him. Then he traded yet again until he was
satisfied that his food wasn't poisoned. Everybody was very aware
of his bizarre behavior but nobody said a word. Malgrange    A705
had bought a nice big jar of caviar which was being passed
around. Vhe_tion the jar came to Nash, he tipped the entire thing
upside down onto his plate. Everybody was very well-behaved and
--------------------------------------------------------------706
said nothingdd41
An Interlude of Enforced Rationality
301
While Nash was still in Paris, on July 2, his father-in-law died
suddenlydd41 Alicia attempted, through Milnor and Danskin, to
contact Nash but was not successful. Carlos Larde was buried in
the churchyard of St. Paul's on Nassau Street.
Nash, meanwhile, went back to London. What drew him to London is
not clear, since his original plan had been, presumably, to spend
the summer, except for the congress in Stockholm, as well as the
following academic year, in Paris. In any event, Nash was still
in London on July 24 when he wrote to Martha from the Hotel
Stefan on Talbot Square
.41
He apparently still intended to travel on to Stockholm.
Addressing her as E-me-line, Martha's middle name, he wrote that
he was merely passing the time, with little to do, until the
mathematical congress in Stockholm and was considering seeing a
psychologist or visiting some sort of clinic. Danskin recalled
that someone went looking for Nash
--------------------------------------------------------------707
and finally found him hanging around the Chinese embassy in
Londondd44 The head of the MIT economics department took a group
of business management people to London that summer. He suddenly
saw John Nash and asked him, "Where are you now""Puzzled, Nash
replied, "Where are yOU"041
The International Mathematical Congress took place in the third
week of August in Stockholmdd46 Among the plenary speakers were
Armand Borel, John Milnor, and Louis Nirenberg. The Fields Medals
were awarded to Milnor and Lars H6rmander, both of whom had been
notified in May and instructed to tell no one, leaving each to
sit on his secret while others around them speculated on the
year's likely winners.
Nash, who felt that he should have been one of those honored, did
not, however, go to Stockholm. He went to Geneva instead,
returning to the Hotel Alba where he had spent his final week in
December 1959 and writing in French to Martha "chez Charles L.
Leggdd041 The letter made it clear that he was again thinking
about the question of his identity! He drew an identity card with
Chinese characters
--------------------------------------------------------------708
labeled "Des Secretsdd"He wrote "Could you sign this carte
d'identit6 ... a man all alone in a strange worldea"he wrote
underneath. He sent Virginia another postcard with a picture of
Geneva but mailed it from Paris.
When Nash returned to Princeton at the end of summer 1962, he was
extremely ill. A postcard addressed to Mao Tse-tung csto Fine
Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, arrived in the mathematics
department. Nash had written only a cryptic remark in French
about triple tangent planesdd48                              A708
Alicia let him move back in. He spent much of the fall at home
with John Charles watching science-fiction programs on
television, like Rod Serling's TwiAghtZonedd49
He was writing a great many letters and making many phone calls
to mathematicians in Princeton and elsewhere.
He was still obsessed with the idea of asylum. A letter to Martha
and Charlie, postmarked November 19, reads: "Maybe you will say
that I'm mad ... request to St. Paul's in Princeton for
sanctuary." 10 Nash apparently walked past St. Paul's every day.
The letter referred to the
--------------------------------------------------------------709
Ecumenical Council and previous letters he had written to the
pastor of St. Paul's earlier in the month. The letter ended with
a reference to "past misfortunes, especially in the fall
seasondd"In contrast to his letter to Martha from London, Nash no
longer interpreted his difficulties as a sign of illness but
rather as the results of machinations by the Ecumenical Council.
By January, his letters to Martha and Charlie had become nearly
incomprehensible, the thoughts skipping from Albanians to Stalin
to "secrets can't reveal"and "wood and nails of the true
crossdd"I I
Exhausted and dispirited by three years of turmoil and convinced
that Nash's condition was more or less hopeless, Alicia consulted
an attorney and instituted divorce proceedings. She had married
someone who she thought could look after her but couldn't, who
resented her bitterly, and who accused her of having malevolent
intentions. To Martha and Virginia she wrote that being married
was helping to create Nash's problems and that she felt that
being freed from the marriage would be better for him as well. 12
Alicia's attorney, Frank L. Scott, a genial Princeton divorce
lawyer with an office
--------------------------------------------------------------710
on Nassau Street, filed for a divorce the day after Christmas
1962.11 Alicia had given the formal go-ahead in a deposition a
week earlier. According to the petition, Nash was still living
with her at 137 Spruce Street. Alicia, meanwhile, temporarily
rented a separate apartment on Vandeventer Streetdd14
Alicia's formal complaint read:
On or about March 1959 it was necessary for the Plaintiff herein
to cause the defendant to be committed to a mental institution
from which the defendant was released on or about June 1959.
Despite the fact that said committal was in the best interest of
the defendant, the defendant became very resentful of the
Plaintiff for causing his commitment, and declared he would no
longer live with the Plaintiff as man and wife. Consistent with
the defendant's vow not to again live with the plaintiff as her
husband, the defendant did in fact move into a separate room and
refused to have marital relations with the plaintiff. In January
1961 defendant was caused to be committed to Trenton State
Hospital by his mother from which he was released in June 1961.
The defendant's resentment of his wife and insistence that they
no longer have

marital relations continued after his release from the        711
aforementioned commitment, as it had prior to said commitment,
and has continued against the wishes of the plaintiff to the
present date. The time during which defendant has thus deserted
plaintiff and during which defendant was not confined to any
institution but fully able to voluntarily resume marital
relations, which he has not done, exceeds two years past and such
desertion has been wilful, continuous and obstinate. Moreover
defendant has failed to properly support plaintiff."
An Interlude of Enforced Rationality
303
Nash was served with a summons. Scott visited Nash the following
day. On
April 17, Scott once again talked to Nash, who, he said, had "no
plans for changing either his residence or his occupational
statusdd"The judgment was rendered without a trial, granting a
divorce and awarding Alicia custody of John Charles on May
1, 1963.1617inal judgment was rendered August 2, 1963.11
There is no evidence that Nash was opposed to the divorce. While
the petition was a lawyer's
--------------------------------------------------------------712
document and not necessarily true in its particulars comthe
Danskins, for example, maintained that Nash and Alicia never
stopped sleeping tgrNash's animosity toward Alicia was no doubt
very real. He blamed Alicia for engineering his hospitalizations,
he had threatened to divorce her while at McLean, and probably
afterward as well, and he had made plans to live in France
without her. Nash's increasingly disturbed state, and rumors of
his impending divorce, prompted a number of mathematicians to
rally around him that spring. That Nash desperately needed
treatment was not a subject of controversy this time. Once again,
Donald Spencer and Albert Tucker approached Robert Winters."
James Miller, a friend of Winters from Harvard, was in the
psychiatry department at the University of Michigan and was
connected with a university-sponsored clinic run by Ray
Waggonerdd19 Through Miller, Winters succeeded in making a unique
arrangement whereby Nash would be treated at the clinic and also
have an opportunity to work as a statistician in the clinic's
research program.
Tucker at Princeton and Martin at MIT decided to set up a fund to
make the Michigan plan feasible
--------------------------------------------------------------713
.60
Anatole Rappaport and Merrill Flood at the University of
Michigan, Jargen Moser at NYU, Alexander Ostrowski of
Westinghouse, and others committed themselves to raise funds
among mathematicians on Nash's behalfdd61
The Ann Arbor group felt that a stay of two years was necessary.
The cost for out-of-state patients was $9,000 a year or $18,000
for the entire stay. Virginia Nash offered to guarantee $10,000
and the group of mathematicians arranged, through the American
Mathematical Society, to set up a fund-raising drive for the
remaining $8,000. "If we are successful probably most of it will
have to come from mathematicians who have known Nashea"Martin
wrote. "If anything can be done which will enable Nash to    A713
return to mathematics, even on a very limited scale, it would of
course be very fine not only for him but also for mathematics
dis061
Albert E. Meder, Jr., the society's treasurer, was enthusiastic
about the proposal, saying that "it would seem to me that it
would be altogether appropriate for the AMS to receive
contributions for the purposes set forth in [Martin's] letter of
March
--------------------------------------------------------------714
25.... I would be inclined to go ahead dis061
Nash's increasingly bizarre behavior was triggering complaints,
including some at the Institute for Advanced Study. Mostly these
had to do with Nash's writing mysterious messages on the
institute blackboards and making annoying telephone calls to
various members. But one day the switchboard operators, who
sat in an office immediately as one entered Fuld Hall, were all
abuzz because each person who was coming through the door was
being doused with water. The institute's dining hall was then on
the fourth floor of Fuld, and it turned out, upon investigation,
that Nash had been pouring water from the window above the main
doordd64
It was Donald Spencer, a man who could not stand to see anyone in
trouble without intervening, who was elected to try to convince
Nash to accept the Michigan offer and enter the clinic
voluntarilydd61 Spencer chose, as he usually did, a bar as his
venue. He invited Nash for some beers in Nassau Tavern, where
Nash had once celebrated passing his generals. They sat in the
booth for hours, Spencer downing warm martinis, Nash nursing a
single beer. Spencer talked and
--------------------------------------------------------------715
talked; Nash appeared to be listening but said very little except
to remark, at various intervals, that he wasn't interested in
doing statistical work. It was no use. Nash didn't believe that
he was ill, and he wasn't prepared to enter another hospital.
Years later, Winters wept when he recounted the story:
I thought I had worked out a perfect solution to a most unusual
problem. I thought I could save a very worthwhile person. I'm
very emotionally tied to this. I thought I was doing something
really wonderful.
Jim Miller told
me
never
let Nash get shock treatments. It takes the edge of genius off.
Somebody sent him to Carrier, where they gave him shock
treatments [sic],
and I think
it turned him into a zombie for many years. I consider that one
of the worst failures of my life. When I look at the human race
all over the world I think there's zero reason for humanity to
survive. We're destructive, uncaring, thoughtless, greedy, power
hungry. But when I look at a few individuals, there seems every
reason for

humanity to survive. He was worth doing the very best         716
fordd66
Meanwhile, Alicia, Virginia, and Martha had agreed among
themselves that Nash would have to be committed involuntarily.
This time they chose a private clinic near Princeton. Martha
wrote to Spencer:
The only reason it has not been done before now is that my mother
and I are waiting to hear from Alicia when she has arrangements
made.... We really had thought we would do this in March.
We were very hopeful that we could persuade John to go to the
University of Michigan and take advantage of the opportunities
for research and treatment there. Unfortunately John will not
agree that he needs treatment. Since we feel that something must
be done for him, we have placed him in Carrier....
He was simply not going to enter ANY hospital voluntarily. Once
we were convinced of this we had no choice but to commit him to a
hospital in New Jerseydd67
Princeton and Carrier Clinic, 1963-65
TE
CARRIER CLINIC,
formerly a sanatorium for the senile and retarded, was
--------------------------------------------------------------717
one of only two private mental hospitals in New Jersey. Located
in the picturesque hamlet of Belle Meade, amidst rolling hills
and lush farmland, Carrier was just five miles north of
Princeton. Despite its easy proximity, however, it was generally
avoided by Princetonians. As Robert Garber, a former president of
the American Psychiatric Association who was Carrier's medical
director at the time, recalled: "They didn't want to be in a
psychiatric facility close to home. It was a disgrace, a terrible
stigma, nothing like today. The idea was to get as far away as
possibledd"I Princetonians regarded Carrier, which had the look
of a slightly seedy boarding school, with some distaste for
another reason as well. Carrier had none of the prestige of
top-of-the-line institutions like McLean, Austin Riggs, or
Chestnut Lodge, whose academic affiliations, psychoanalytical
orientation, and long-term approaches based on the "talking cure"
were regarded, especially by academics, as more humane and
appropriate, especially for the well-educated. Popular views of
psychiatry were being shaped by
One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, I Never
--------------------------------------------------------------718
Promised You a Rose Garden,
and the libertarian views of Thomas Szasz, who held that insanity
was a social construct rather than a symptom of disease.` At the
time when these views were gaining popularity, especially on
campuses, Carrier had a reputation for the aggressive use of
"chemical straitjackets"and electroshock, and short-term
cookie-cutter approaches tailored to the time limits set by
insurance policies.
The Carrier staff, well aware of such attitudes, defended itself
by arguing that its approach was more practical and worked
better. "McLean, Austin Riggs, Chestnut Lodge, Shepherd Pratt,
and Institute for Living, these were all much fancier," said
William Otis, a psychiatrist on Carrier's staff. "We were    A718
very clinical. None of us had any fancy training. None of us were
stars. But the ironic thing is that if you were sick you were
much better off at Carrierdd"I Garber said: "At Carrier we were
proud of the fact that we set ourselves up as a short-term
treatment center. That's why we were so successful. We were able
to treat the patients and get them out, in contrast to McLean and
Chestnut Lodge, which were notorious for having schizophrenic
patients there for four, five, and seven yearsdd0bled
--------------------------------------------------------------719
It was Alicia who, despite the impending divorce, felt
responsible for Nash, and therefore had to face the decision.` It
took a great deal of courage, as anyone who has had to make such
a decision knows. As one psychiatrist at Carrier said,
"Commitments always created terrible conflicts in the family. It
was very hard to find somebody who wanted to take the
responsibilitydd06 Alicia, like everyone else around Nash,
abhorred the idea of involuntary commitment and feared that
treatment, besides being uncertain of success, carried the risks
of irreparable harm, But she also knew that Nash was on a
disastrous course and was convinced that failure to act would
almost certainly lead to further deterioration. The
psychoanalysts at McLean had failed, the effects of the shock
treatments at Trenton had proved short-lived. She was prepared to
try something new. She recognized that the most prestigious
hospitals were unaffordable. At Carrier, patients' families paid
a flat fee of eighty dollars a day plus hourly fees for group and
individual therapy; Virginia was able to pay that. Besides, it
was important to Alicia that Nash be close by, so that she and
his old acquaintances at Princeton could visit him.
--------------------------------------------------------------720
So in the third week of April, after it had become all too clear
that Nash was unprepared to enter treatment at Michigan, she went
ahead with arrangements to have Nash taken to Carrier. Once
again, she asked Martha and Virginia to come up to Princeton and
sign the commitment papers.
From the outset, however, Alicia drew the line at electroshockdd1
"We debated electroshock therapyea"Martha recalled. "But we
didn't want to mess with his memory,
At Carrier, electroshock was frequently used for schizophrenic
patients, who generally got three times as many treatments --
twenty-five versus eight -- as patients suffering from
depression.` Garber said, "What we were trying to do was to gain
control of that patient -- to break through his excitement,
panic, depression -- in the shortest possible time." 10
Generally, psychotic patients were initially treated with
Thorazine, and those whose disturbed behavior didn't improve
quickly were also treated with electroshock. Some of the
psychiatrists at Carrier felt that the shock treatments were
effective and produced fewer side effects than neuroleptic drugs.
In any case, despite the nearly universal belief around Princeton
that


Nash received electroshock treatments at Carrier, he          721
apparently did not.
Nash spent most of the next five months of 1963 in Kindred One,
the only locked ward at Carrier. He said later that he made
efforts to overturn his commitment; if so, they were not
successful. Frank L. Scott recalled that Nash went AWOL from
Carrier at least once --
presumably after he got ground privileges --
and that he had to track him down and return him to the
hospital."
Compared to Trenton, however, Carrier was, if no country club, at
least more like a reform school than a prison. There were just
eighty patients, the majority of whom came from comfortable
middle-class homes, many from New York and
Philadelphia, and most of whom suffered from alcoholism, drug
addiction, and depression rather than from psychotic illnesses."
Carrier had a dozen psychiatrists on its staff, a more adequate
nursing staff than at Trenton, and a reasonable complement of
medical doctors, psychologists, and social workers.
Kindred One had single and double rooms. Nash, it seems, had a
room to himself. He had access to a
--------------------------------------------------------------722
telephone. He was allowed to wear his own clothing. Patients were
addressed by their titles and last names, so he was Dr. Nash, not
Johnny as he was at Trenton. Nash's wishes regarding his
vegetarianism comwh "doesn't exclude animal products, for
example, milk, but only the animal products which become
available only at the death (execution of the animal)"-were
apparently respected." Alicia visited regularly, as did a number
of others from Princeton, among them Spencer, Tucker, and the
Borelsdd14
Probably the best thing that happened to Nash at Carrier was that
he met a psychiatrist, Howard S. Mele, who was to play an
important and positive role in his life for the next two
yearsdd"The psychiatrist, who happened to be on duty the night
that Nash was brought to Carrier, was assigned to care for him. A
short, soft-spoken, dapper man of Italian descent who got his
medical degree at Long Island College of Medicine and did his
residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, Mele was quiet
and carefuldd"Described by his former colleagues as
disccventional,0"cautious,0"n an exciting man," Mele was, as
later events
--------------------------------------------------------------723
showed, competent and caringdd17 He was respected by the nursing
staff. Belle Parmet, the institute's social worker at the time,
said of Mele and the other staff psychiatrists: "They weren't
just pill pushers or prescription writers. They were all
humanistic.""
Nash responded quite quickly to his initial treatment with
Thorazine. If someone responds at all to what are now called
"typical" neuroleptics, dramatic changes are usually evident
within a week, and the full effect becomes apparent within six
weeks. Two weeks after his commitment, Nash wrote a relatively
lucid letter to Norbert Wiener, saying, among other things, "My
problems seem to be essentially problems of                  A723
communications. I don't know how they can be resolved. Perhaps I
shall be able to approach their solution as a result of begging
for aid. (However, this isn't a begging letter!gg011 At this
point, Nash was seeing Mele for therapy sessions and also
participating in group therapy, which Mele particularly
favoreddd10 There was, however, no thought of releasing him
quickly. As Garber said, "Paranoid schizophrenics are not that
responsive. Once you do get them under control, you have to
satisfy yourself that they've stabilized. You
--------------------------------------------------------------724
don't want a relapse, especially if there's been a commitment
because then you and the family would have to start all over."
By August, Nash was beginning to look forward to getting out of
Carrier. He wrote to Virginia that he was anticipating Alicia's
visit on the weekend and was "thinking of getting out.0"He added
that "Mele thinks it depends on having a
jobdd"Nash admitted that he was ill and in need of treatment but
said that "Michigan might have been a better dealdd"He asked
Milnor for help in getting a job. On September 24, Nash wrote
again saying that Sunday was "a sad day" because Alicia had to
work overtime and couldn't come to take him out. He said that the
Institute for Advanced Study had decided to offer him a
position." A week later, upbeat again, he wrote that he was
thinking of buying a car and that there were "good propects for a
reconciliation"with Alicia."
It is a discouraging but well-documented fact that people who
suffer from schizophrenia face an extremely high risk of suicide,
comparable to those who suffer from severe depressions and one
hundred times that of the general populationdd14 This risk is
greatest not when the person is sickest, but shortly after a
course of
--------------------------------------------------------------725
treatment has been declared a success. Though no one else can
truly know the state of mind that leads someone to take his life,
one can imagine that this is a time when the absence of delusions
allows other feelings, including very painful ones, to emerge and
that hopes that one has been nurturing for months collide with
harsh reality.
Louisa Cauvin, who married Jean-Pierre Cauvin in the summer of
1963, has a haunting memory, which likely dates from that summer,
the only time she ever talked with Nash." They met at a party.
(Presumably he was home from Carrier on a pass.) Nash told Louisa
that he didn't feel life was worth living and saw no reason why
he should not do away with himself. There is no evidence to show
that Nash ever came close to acting on this thought. But he was
certainly depressed. His hope for a reconciliation with Alicia,
for example, proved overly optimistic. Alicia insisted that Nash
live apart from her and Johnny (as John Charles was now called),
so, instead of moving back to Spruce Street, Nash found himself
in a rented room at 142 Mercer Street, a few doors down from the
house occupied by Einstein during his Princeton years.


Once again, Borel and Selberg had arranged a one-year         726
membership at the Institute for Advanced Study, although this
time they did so with less hope .16;The 1963-
64 membership was probably a rescue mission. Borel later said,
"All members are voted by the whole school of people, I did the
legwork. It was only to present the case to my
colleagues.0"Oppenheimer decided this time to use the Institute's
own funds, saying in a note to Selberg, "This enterprise seems to
me not too suitable for contract fundsea"implying that, in
contrast to the previous 1961-62 appointment, this one was more
clearly a charitable exercise
.21
Meanwhile, Nash's old friends outside Princeton had not lost
interest in his progress. A letter from David Gale to Deane
Montgomery at the Institute, with copies to Milnor and
Morgenstern, gives a flavor of the level of interest in and
concern about Nash's situation:
We got onto the subject of John Nash and wondered what his
present situation was, in particular with regard to his state of
his mind. It turned out that none of us knew what was going on
--------------------------------------------------------------727
medically nor did we know of any one else who knew. We had all
heard rumors varying from "the doctors say there is no hope"to
"he's doing mathematics again."
The thing that disturbed us was not our own lack of knowledge
about Nash's condition but the thought that perhaps everyone in
the mathematical community was in the same position we were and
that consequently Nash might not be getting the best possible
medical attention. It is certainly true that the mathematical
community has provided fellowships and jobs of various sorts for
Nash whenever he has needed them. This is as much as we should be
expected to do, provided some other competent, informed and
adequately endowed person or persons are looking after the
medical situation. Since Nash is now at the Institute, I thought
you might be in a position to know whether such a person exists
and to reassure us that everything that can be done is being
taken care of. If it should turn out that for lack of money, for
instance, Nash was not getting the care he ought to have, I'm
confident that we could get together a friends of Nash group to
see what could be done about
xdd19
To come out, to go through the motions of starting over, to see
one's old friends and colleagues again was not easy.
--------------------------------------------------------------728
Nash stayed out of sight at the Institute. Few of that year's
visitors recalled seeing him there. He complained in the fall of
"feeling lonelydd010 He and Alicia still attended parties
together, but she resisted any idea of their resuming their
marriage. She was having difficulties at her job and found her
son hard to handle. But when her mother took John Charles to El
Salvador for several months that winter, she missed him terribly.
Nash tried to be sympathetic, writing in March that "Alicia is
seeing a psychiatrist. She is very depressed. She was cryingdd"I
I
Yet he also said that he was "learning new things"and        A728
then, in December, that Selberg was trying to arrange visiting
positions for him either at MIT or Berkeley." He continued to
hope for a reconciliation; he and Alicia continued to socialize
as a couple. Nash seemed, as the fall unfolded, to be in far
better shape than he had been during his previous interlude at
the Institute. As he said in his Madrid lecture, he "had an idea
which is referred to as Nash Blowing UP which I discussed with an
eminent mathematician named Hironakadd011 (Hironaka eventually
wrote the conjecture Upddgg14 William
--------------------------------------------------------------729
Browder, who was also visiting at the Institute that year,
recalled: "Nash was working on real algebraic varieties. Nobody
else had been thinking about these problems.""
During the winter, Milnor, by now chairman of the department,
comand his colleagues became greatly impressed by "some extremely
interesting ideas [of Nash's] in algebraic geometry."" The new
work sparked a wave of optimism and renewed a desire to help
Nash. There was a growing feeling, both at the institute and at
the university, that Nash might well be able to resume his
interrupted career. Milnor decided to offer Nash a one-year post
as research mathematician and lecturer. In April 1964, Milnor
tentatively proposed that Nash teach one course the following
fall and perhaps two in the spring."
Milnor consulted Nash's psychiatrist, Howard Mele, who confirmed
on March
30 that Nash was seeing him regularly for psychotherapy, noting
that this was the first time that Nash had agreed to seek
outpatient treatment since the onset of his
illneSSDD31
Garber recalled: "[Mele] tried to keep him
--------------------------------------------------------------730
on medication. He also helped Nash initiate relationships with
other people. In my experience, positive relationships plus
medication does wonders. 'Someone likes me`: thafs an experience
that's almost impossible for a schizophrenic to havedd019
Mele felt that Nash's recovery was permanent and that he could
handle one or two courses without difficulty during the next
academic year. He went on to say: "I cannot guarantee his future
mental health (any more than I could my own or that of anyone
else), but I do feel strongly that a recurrence is unlikely in
his case."
40
Dean of Faculty Douglas Brown wrote to President Goheen, saying,
"This is a special situation"adding that Nash "is now
recovered.... He needs a chance to get back into teaching
gradually and to re-establish his statusdd1141 Brown said that
the mathematics department unanimously supported the proposal. "I
am strongly inclined to go along. It is a part of our job, I
feel, in putting one of our most brilliant Ph.Ddds back into top
productivitydd"The appointment was made officially
--------------------------------------------------------------731
on May
1.41
Sadly, just when things looked brightest, and despite all    A731
of Nash's hard work, Mele's support, and the outpouring of
goodwill on the part of colleagues and the university, another
storm was gathering. As early as February, Nash began complaining
of sleeplessness and of his "mind [being] filled with the thought
of performing imaginary computations of a meaningless
Sortdd041
A comment, made in early March, that he had "avoided falling back
into delusions"suggests that Nash was already being besieged by
such thoughts." And by the end of that month, Nash, who said he
still hoped for a reconciliation with Alicia, mentioned that he
felt he might have to leave Princetondd45
By the time the Princeton job was offered, Nash was already
convinced that he ought to return to France, clear evidence that
he was nowhere near as well as his behavior suggesteddd41 His
letters home were sufficiently strange to alarm Martha, who
contacted Meledd47
Mele was at first reassuring; he wrote back that Nash was no
longer taking medication, but that Nash was still in therapy and
that the therapy seemed to be working
--------------------------------------------------------------732
Welldd411 Nash also wrote reassuringly, apparently in reply to
questions from an anxious Virginia, that he was still seeing
Meleddbled' But around that time, Nash paid an unexpected call on
his former French professor Karl Uitti. He appeared "rather
anxiousea"Uitti recalled. "He said, `I'm interested in getting
the addresses of Jean Cocteau and Andr6 Gide. I have to write
them letters.` I gently informed him that both Gide and Cocteau
were dead and
that writing letters to them would be impossible. Nash was very,
very disappointeddd010
By May, Nash was complaining that he was having trouble working:
"I have some ideas but many of them don't seem to work out.""
Nash had apparently been in touch with Grothendieck once more.
Grothendieck evidently responded with an invitation to the IHES
for the following year. At the beginning of the summer, Nash
wrote to a colleague in Europe, saying that he wished to spend
the following year in France rather than stay in Princeton and
accept the university's offer."
Nash complained of finding himself in a "troubled situation
saying that he had difficulty when he tried to work on
mathematics, and also that his relations with various
--------------------------------------------------------------733
faculty and students at the university were troubled as well. It
is not clear to whom or what he was referring-the job offer from
the mathematics department had been supported unanimously by
Milnor and the rest of the faculty and Nash's contacts with
students were presumably limited to the Fine Hall common room. He
wrote that he expected something to change by June 1, but that he
wasn't certain of that, adding: "Si ma situation reste
essentiell6ment la meme comme c'est de maintenant0ggIf my
situation remains essentially the same as it is now), drawing a
circle in the middle of the page accompanied by the parenthetical
remark, "(Ici-compris ma situation de famille, etc., etc.)"
(Including my family situation). He went on, "Et si je       A733
peux travailler effectivement aux math6matiques par 1ence temps
de I'automne, je pense que je devrais accepter l'offre de
Grothendieck plut6ment que l'off-re de l'Universit6, s'il pourra
encore me dormer cet offre d'emploi0ggAnd if I can work
effectively at mathematics by the fall, I think I should accept
Grothendieck's offer over the offer from the university, if he
will still extend me this offer of
--------------------------------------------------------------734
employment).
As far as the institute knew, Nash was planning to spend the
entire summer at Fuld Hall, with the exception of about three
weeks, before going to France in the fall. On May 24, in response
to a note from Oppenheimer granting him funds for the summer
"with the understanding that you will remain at the Institute
during the summer;` Nash wrote that he planned to be away from
June 22 through July
19 at a conference in Woods Hole on Cape Cod, organized by John
Tate, on the theory of singularities, classifications of surfaces
and modules, Grothendieck cohomology, zeta-functions, and
arithmetic of Abelian varieties." According to Tate and other
participants, Nash never went to the conferencedd14 Instead, he
went to Europe.
He sailed on the
Queen Mary,
stopped briefly in London, and went to Parisdd"There he tried to
get in touch with Grothendieck, who evidently wasn't in towndd16
After hanging around a few more days, Nash flew to Rome. He was,
as he later said, thinking of himself as a "great but secret
religious
--------------------------------------------------------------735
figure.0"Th may have
accounted for his desire to be in Rome, where, as he later said,
he visited "the Forum and the catacombs but avoided the
Vaticandd018 The Pope was, in any case, not in Rome at the time.
He was standing in front of the Forum when he began to hear
voices "like telepathic phone calls from private individualsdd019
They seemed to him, at the time, he said in Madrid in 1996, to be
the voices of "mathematicians opposed to my ideas." He wrote in a
letter later in the
1960's:
"I observed the local Romans show a considerable interest in
getting into telephone booths and talking on the telephone and
one of their favorite words was pronto. So ifs like ping-pong,
pinging back again the bell pinged to
medd060
Something odd was happening, he concluded. Harold Kuhn later
said, "The stream of words was obviously being fed into a central
machine where they were translated into English. The machine
inserted the words, now in English, into his brain.""
Nash, however, did send a postcard from Rome, dated September 1,
saying that he was returning


to Paris and that he had attempted to contact Grothendieck    736
and other mathematiciansdd61 He said he would be staying at the
Grand H6mentel de Mont Blanc, where he and Alicia had stayed five
years earlier. Two days later, he was back in Paris, but had not
yet managed to see Grothendieck, who was apparently awaydd"The
staff at the IHES "suggested contacting Jean-Pierre Serreea"b
Serre does not remember Nash's ever getting in touch with hmdd64
Nash's next postcard home was a collage: a card devoid of any
writing, with a Parisian scene and a French coin and a long
number for a return address."
Meanwhile, Nash had not informed the mathematics department at
Princeton that he was not intending to take their offer. Finally,
on September 15, Tucker sent a terse note to Dean Brown,
canceling the appointment and saying that Nash had gone to the
University of Paris."
Nash hung around Paris a few more weeks until he finally gave up.
In midSeptember, he wrote to Virginia from Paris that he would be
returning on the
Queen Mary
on the twenty-fourth, adding a postscript:
--------------------------------------------------------------737
"Situation looks dismal.""
Back in Princeton, Nash took to calling people again and turning
up at the Institute to write strange messages on the blackboards
of various seminar rooms. Atle Selberg recalled one such message
involving several Social Security numbers. "He tried to find
mysterious patternsea"Selberg recalled. "He claimed that he was
born in a county named Mercer that had a town named Princeton. He
seemed to find this a mysterious
signdd0611
By mid-December, Nash was back in Carrier. Once again, it was
Alicia who had to make the painful decision. A letter written to
John Milnor shows how fast Nash's thoughts were racing and how
one association prompted another comeven as Nash was conscious
that Milnor would find the letter mad. Labeled "crazy letter for
your entertainment," it was a fantastic monologue, skipping from
slave calendars and lunar eclipses to advertising jingles and
equations from Milnor's papers. 6`
Mele once again took over Nash's care and Nash once again
responded
quickly and dramatically to antipsychotic drugs.
--------------------------------------------------------------738
He was well enough in early April
1965 to leave Carrier for the day to attend a banquet with John
Danskin at another game-theory conference in Princetondd"Z
Danskin recalled, "Nash's name was being mentioned a lot at the
meeting. I thought it would be nice to produce him.0"Once Nash
learned that he would be going, he telephoned Harold Kuhn and
asked him to bring a couple of game-theory books to Carrier,
which Kuhn did, recalling that "it was a barracks-like place, not
much privacy."" Nash stayed on at Carrier until midsummer, his
departure delayed until Mele was confident that both a job and a
psychiatrist were waiting for his patient.
In April Richard Palais, a mathematician at Brandeis, drove down
to the institute to turn in a manuscript. "That day Borel    A738
said why not have lunch with Jack Milnor and me. We had lunch;`
he recalleddd71 Halfway through they started talking about Nash.
Milnor and Borel thought Nash was much better now. They thought
it would be a good thing for him to gradually get back to
academic life. They believed Boston would be a good place. MIT
and Harvard would be too difficult after he had insisted on
resigning from MIT and threatened
--------------------------------------------------------------739
to sue the university. The Harvard department was too small.
There was no way they were going to hire him. The Institute in
those days didn't have five-year memberships, and it was almost
unheard of to have someone more than two years
.74
Norman Levinson, who had been in contact with Mele, Milnor, and
Borel, offered to support Nash with his ONR and NSF grants. He
felt that it was too soon for Nash to have an office at MIT.
Palais recalled:
I had a feeling they were on the level in helping him get back to
the mainstream and that it would be better for him to be in
Cambridge, away from Princeton. It was very late. I'm surprised
we were able to do anything. But the [Brandeis] administration
really liked the math department and Joe [Kohn, then chairman]
would go and get what we wanted.
There was a lot of that feeling [about Nash]. People were
expecting an awful lot from this guy. In any four-
or five-year span, there are one or two young bright people who
are recognized as special. Everybody tries to get them. He was
coming into that category. He was very special
.71
--------------------------------------------------------------740
When Nash got out of Carrier this time, in mid-July, he spent a
couple of nights at John Milnor's house and then took a train to
Bostondd71 He was, once again, hopeful and, in contrast to a year
earlier, accepted the likelihood that he might have to start a
new life without Alicia.
Boston, 1965-67
IT
WAS STRANGE-TO
be back in Boston alone and after an absence of half a dozen
years. The city had changed almost as much as Nash himself.
Sundays were the bleakest. Nash's "traditional Sunday[so]" as he
called them, were spent alone, sitting in one of the libraries
trying to work, or, more often, walking for hours at a time, and
then stopping to watch the ice skaters and hockey players in the
Public Garden.` The evenings were given over, more often than
not, to writing letters, one to Alicia, one to Virginia, and one
to Martha, with whom Nash had lately developed a warmer, more
confidential relationship.` Mailing the letters provided an
excuse for a final nighttime stroll.

Weekdays, when he commuted to Waltham in a


ratty old Nash Rambler convertible purchased on his arrival   741
in Boston, were better. He was almost enjoying being at Brandeis.
The place was undeniably lively, full of former students and
acquaintances from the old days in Cambridge, former MIT
undergraduates like Joseph Kohn, now chairman of the math
department, and Also Vasquez, now an assistant professor. He
liked having an office again, going to seminars, eating lunch
with other mathematicians, tossing around ideas and mathematical
gossip.

But he was terribly lonely. He missed Alicia and John Charles. He
felt his new, humbler status in the mathematical hierarchy most
acutely. But he also could see, perhaps for the first time since
the onset of his illness, that there was, after all, a future for
him, and he entertained hopes of reestablishing himself as an
academic and even of finding someone new to share life with.

He had left Princeton almost immediately after being released
from Carrier on July

29, traveling to Boston by train and staying in a Cambridge hotel
while he found an apartment and a car.` He had seen Norman
Levinson, who, in his gruff, taciturn, immensely tactful way,
--------------------------------------------------------------742
had let Nash know that he would be paying Nash's salary with
National Science Foundation and Navy grants, and that he hoped
Nash would be able to pursue his own research ideas, as before.
He would have no teaching responsibilities, at least in the fall,
which was a reliefddbled

He started to see a thirty-three-year-old psychiatrist, Pattison
Esmiol. An affable Coloradan with a medical degree from Harvard,
Esmiol had just left the Navy to open a private practice in
Brookline. Esmiol prescribed an antipsychotic drug, Stelazine,
similar to Thorazine. Nash didn't like the drug and its side
effects, worrying that they would prevent him from thinking
clearly enough to resume mathematical work. But Esmiol,
sympathetic to his client's concerns, kept the doses as low as
possible, and Nash was grateful for the dependable human contact
of his weekly appointments.
Nash was seeing Eleanor and John David, now a tall, handsome boy
of twelve, every week or so.` Nash was glad for the dinners
Eleanor cooked him and glad to have the company. The three of
them spent Halloween together, he wrote to Virginia.` However,
the old tensions in his relationship with
--------------------------------------------------------------743
Eleanor quickly surfaced again, and there were new and
unanticipated tensions between himself and John David. Nash
described Halloween as a "sad" occasion, for example, although it
was not clear whether the sadness stemmed from friction that
arose during the evening, or simply from a realization that his
long separation from his son had produced a gulf that he could
see no obvious way of bridging. John David was a particularly
beautiful boy, musical and obviously bright. But Nash found it
difficult to hide his dismay over his son's faulty grammar   A743
and indifferent performance in school comall John David had to do
was to let a "you was" slip out and Nash would be all over hmbb7
this, of course led to flare-ups with Eleanor and a rekindling of
all the old resentments. John Stier recalls his father's visits
as "frustrating.0"He was always humming:` Stier said. "He'd eat.
He'd chill out. He'd leave. He never helped me with my homework
or asked how I was doing. He was just very aloofdd"I
Before he became a teenager and he and Eleanor began living in
Hyde Park, John Stier lived in two dozen different places, with
and without his motherdd9 They included, between infancy and six,
a series of foster homes in Massachusetts and Rhode
--------------------------------------------------------------744
Island, an orphanage on the outskirts of Boston, and when finally
reunited with Eleanor, the Charden Home for Women and Children, a
home for the destitute (no boys over age nine allowed!). In some
school years, he attended three new schools and was deemed a
"behavior problem." On one occasion, he was held back. The moves
were prompted by the calamities that are regular events in the
lives of poor families: lost jobs, ill health, lack of childcare,
fear of crime. On one occasion, Eleanor recalled, "I had a woman
taking care of him. She said John had been bad to her little boy.
So she hit him and gave him a black eye. I didn't work for a
while. I was always on edgedd010
It was, as he said, "a miserable childhood, a shitty
childhood.0"His mother loved him, of course, but was herself
desperately unhappy. Eleanor was often ill, suffering at times
from severe anemia, frequently lost jobs, and when she was
working often held two jobs. John David's illegitimacy was a
dirty secret; Eleanor concocted a tale to explain away his
fatherlessness and the child was forced to tell it at the
different schools and neighborhoods, while living in constant
dread of
--------------------------------------------------------------745
discovery. "There was a real stigma," John Stier said. "I had to
lie."
In John David's eyes, however, his father's sudden reappearance
in his life was a fine thing. Being corrected for the way he
spoke and being admonished to work harder in school conveyed not
just criticism, but fatherly interest. Nash also promised to pay
for John David's college education, explaining that "his
educational background will shape the whole future course of his
lifedd"Nash sometimes took pains to please his son. On Saturdays,
he would take John Stier and a friend bowling, Afterward, they'd
go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. On John Stier's thirteenth
birthday, Nash surprised him by taking him to a neighborhood
bicycle shop and buying him a ten-speed racer. The next year,
perhaps partly inspired by his father's interest in him, John
Stier worked extremely hard in school, took a citywide
examination, and got a place in one of Boston's elite
"exam"schools.
In January, Nash wrote that "I have less time for Eleanor;`
hinting perhaps that he felt his early dependence on her company
easing and feeling some relief on this accountdd"Th would have
given Eleanor new grounds for grievance; she may well have   A745
felt
--------------------------------------------------------------746
that he was once again using her without much intention of giving
her very much in return. But at the end of February, Eleanor and
John David were "among my few social contacts." 11 There were
repeated flare-ups. "Eleanor was not nice to meea"he wrote after
they went to a restaurant togetherdd14 In April when Eleanor
moved to a new apartment, several days went by before she was
willing to give him her new telephone numberdd"In May there is
another reference to Eleanor's not being nice, which again made
Nash feel rather "sad."
16
If Nash's reappearance in Boston raised again the possibility of
his marrying Eleanor comei in her mind or his comthere is no hint
of this in Nash's letters to Martha. Nash still had not
completely given up hope of a reconciliation with Alicia.
On that sad Halloween, he had been thinking a great deal of
Alicia. "I was very fond of herea"he wrote to Virginiadd"His
sadness on that night probably had a good deal to do with the
fact that she was discouraging him from visiting her in
Princeton, as he had hoped to do, on Thanksgiving. She apparently
put him off with excuses, citing among other things "propriety."
11 Nash persisted and Alicia
--------------------------------------------------------------747
continued to discourage him, so that a week before the holiday
Nash said that he still had no invitation. Alicia was now talking
of his coming down at Christmas, but it is not clear that the
visit took place. In and amongst it all, perhaps because he was
now aware of John David's discomfort around him, he expressed
fear that his younger son, John Charles, was "forgetting his
fatherdd019
It was not all that easy to renew his old acquaintanceships,
though he saw a bit of Arthur Mattuck and his wife, Joan, as well
as Marvin and Gloria Minskydd"P were kind but busy. He was
anxious for anything to fill his evenings and went to a great
many movies, plays, and concerts by himself." Alicia, who
continued gently to discourage any possibility of reconciliation,
was encouraging him to find some female companionship. He wrote
to Martha: "Alicia doesn't leave much
317
hope.0"In January, Nash was making awkward inquiries about
datingdd13 He thought of inviting the Mattucks to his house for a
meal and "making it a foursomedd"Jean Mattuck reintroduced him,
apparently, to Emma Duchane, who later could recall none of
thdd14 He pursued Emma for
--------------------------------------------------------------748
several weeks, saying to Martha, "She's a good conversationalist,
but she isn't pretty really", before discovering that Emma had a
fianc6, After seeing
A Hard Dqy Night
one Sunday afternoon in early November, he was seized by a
terrible sense of regret that he poured into a poignant and
introspective letter to Martha, full of references to the
struggle between his "merciless superego"and "old simple     A748
medd"Th is the letter in which Nash referred to the "special
friendships"in his life and his realization, in 1959, of "how
things had beendd"He admits that "away from contact with a few
special sorts of individuals I am lost, lost completely in the
wilderness. . . .was
Brandeis was lively. A
post-Sputnik
infusion of money and a commitment on the university's part to
building a serious graduate program in mathematics had attracted
eight or nine young comers, all in their thirties. "We had lots
of research money. We had plenty of money to pay for research
associates and part-time instructors. We did everything together
,` recalled Richard Palaisdd11 The atmosphere was friendly and
informal,
--------------------------------------------------------------749
and Nash felt welcome there. "Everybody was well aware that he
was a first-class mathematician;` said Palais, adding:
I ate with him most lunches. It was nice to see him more or less
back. He was pretty sane. He was being treated with antipsychotic
drugs. He was a much nicer person after he got sick than before.
I kind of knew him when I was an instructor at Harvard, but not
personally. I'd ask him a question. He'd be all snotty, proud of
himself. You'd be afraid to ask him anything. He'd put you down
without a thought. Typically, I'd say, "I have this problemea"and
Nash would shoot back, "Oh my God, how can you ask me this
question? How stupid are you? How come you don't know this?"
Afterward, he was nice, gentle, lots of fun to talk to. This old
ego stuff was gone.
Vasquez has similar memories: "When Nash first showed up at
Brandeis he was pretty zombielike. At the beginning, he said
nothing. That changed over the course of the year. He got more
and more normal. He started interacting with people. We mostly
talked about mathematics. He never talked about his personal
lifedd016
Nash's renewed appetite for life was most
--------------------------------------------------------------750
evident in the energy with which he was able to work that year.
During that fall at Brandeis he wrote a long paper, "Analytic-
ity of Solutions of Implicit Function Problems with Analytic
Data,0"t pursued to their natural conclusion his ideas about
partial differential equations. He circulated his draft for
comments and submitted the paper to the
Anndd715 ofMathemdtiCs
in early Januarydd"Armand Borel, one of the editors, sent it to
Jilettergen Moser to referee. After a few telephone consultations
between Borel and Nash, Nash quickly revised the paper and got a
final acceptance from the
Annals
on February 15. Nash was thrilled, writing to Martha on
Washington's birthday that the
Annals
was "the most prestigious American mathematical journaldd019
His renewed productivity produced a rush of self-confidence. He
went to see Oscar Zariski at Harvard to discuss some new     A750
ideas -- and possibly to inquire about a visiting position. He
made friends with a young German mathematician,
--------------------------------------------------------------751
Egbert Brieskorn, who was visiting at MIT that year. He showed
Brieskorn his justcompleted paper and talked over ideas for
future work. Brieskorn was doing some interesting work in
singularities. "Nash had interesting ideasea"Brieskorn recalled.
"He was always making propositions about what one could do. But I
always got the feeling that he either couldn't or wouldn't do
them himself0"A touch of Nash's old arrogance returned. There was
some talk, apparently, of his teaching at Northeastern in the
spring. "I'd rather be at a more famous place `was he confided to
Martha. He thought he would apply for a position at MIT instead.
He wrote Martha that he felt MIT ought to reinstate him, adding,
"Of course, MIT isn't the most distinguished ... Harvard ranks
much higherdd"I` Throughout the spring he would fret about being
forced to take a position at a second-rate institution: "I hope
to avoid stepping down in social status because it may be
difficult to come up again."
As early as the beginning of February, Nash had an idea for a
second paper, but two weeks later he wrote to Martha that he was
"sad because part of my new math idea fell apart."" He was able,
however,
--------------------------------------------------------------752
to take the disappointment in stride, and by early April he was
already working on another paper on the "canonical resolution of
singularitiesdd"Many years later he would call this effort "more
interesting" than his 1966
Annals
paper. In May he gave a seminar on the subject at Brandeis, and
by the end of the month he had completed a draft that he showed
to Brieskorn for commentsdd"Nash quite likely submitted this
paper to the Annals
as well, but it was never publisheddd14 A copy finally wound up
in Fine Hall Library at Princeton in September 1968. It was
regularly cited in the succeeding years and was ultimately
published in the
Duke Journal ofMathematics
in 199 5 in a special issue in honor of Nash.
The quality of these two papers comthe first of which geometer
Mikhail Gromov calls "amazing"?-constitutes the single strongest
reason for questioning Nash's diagnosis of paranoid
schizophrenia."` Producing papers that broke new ground was a
remarkable feat for someone who had,
--------------------------------------------------------------753
by 1965, been psychotic for most of six years and suffered
substantial memory impairmentdd"Unlike manic depression, paranoid
schizophrenia rarely allows sufferers to return, even for a
limited period, to their pre-morbid level of achievement, or so
it is believed." However, at least one other mathematician with
chronic schizophrenia was able, during a brief
remission, to produce excellent workea39 and Nash's papers,
though superb, were not as ambitious as those that he had planned
to write before he became ill.                               A753
At the end of June, Nash moved into Joe Kohn's apartment at 38
Parker Street in a two-family house not far from Harvard
Squaredd40 Kohn was off for a year's sabbatical in Ecuador. The
sublet was arranged by Fagi Levinson, who recalled: "Everybody
wanted to help Nash. His was a mind too good to waste dis041
Nash enrolled in Operation Match, a Cambridge computer dating
service. He was going on blind dates, acutely aware that "I'll
need to learn how to behave properly and be polite etcdd"He
--------------------------------------------------------------754
wrote that he was "hopeful and optimistic": "I think I'll develop
some good friends and I'll get remarried if not to Alicia and
then I'll have a happy family lifedd041 He had an appointment at
MIT lined up for the fall: Ted Martin had offered to let him
teach a senior seminar in game theory. In May Nash wrote to Kuhn
saying that he wanted to "collect appropriate materials and learn
about the more recent developments"in game theory and asking Kuhn
for suggestionsdd43
Something, however, was no longer quite right. Some of his
colleagues at Brandeis recalled an abrupt change sometime in the
late spring. Palais recalled: "He sort of lost his balance
completely. He went completely haywire."-
Vasquez remembers a more gradual unraveling: "He went right past
normal and became hyper. At some point, he wouldn't stop talking
and he didn't make any sense. By the summer, he wasn't able to
interact any more
.1141
It's hard to say what triggered his relapse. Possibly, Nash had
become overconfident and had stopped taking his medication.
--------------------------------------------------------------755
He evidently spent the summer in Cambridge. By September, his
letters to Martha were distinctly delusional. In one he referred
to "the Indian wheel of life.... If a person is always correct
and right ... there is good reason to hope."
46
Alarmed, Martha wrote to Esmiol saying that her brother sounded
"optimistic but not Welldd047 She quoted him saying that "I have
put my delusions aside"b she was sure that the delusions were now
back in full force
.41
Esmiol wrote back in early October saying that he had seen Nash
and that "he was about the same as last timedd"He urged her to
express her concern directly to her brother
.41
A day later, Nash wrote to Martha reassuring her that his
optimism was well-founded but admitting there disare always
dangers to worry aboutdd"B in the next breath, he went on to say
that he'd had an "interesting"letter from Alicia about "a large
gift of moneydd010 Martha later recalled that Nash, in his
delusional periods, was always hinting that "something great
--------------------------------------------------------------756
was about to happendd"I I
By November, the tone of his letters had become paranoid, as in
one to Virginia: "I'm very disillusioned in the past ... hoping
also that my future relations with all the relatives and     A756
especially you and Martha will be much better.0"At
Thanksgiving he wrote: I didn't have much to be thankful for this
Thanksgivingea"He planned to go to Roanoke for Christmas and to
spend New Year's-Alicia's birthday comin Princeton." Vasquez, who
had an apartment near Nash's, was running into Nash wandering
around Harvard Square the way he later wandered around Princeton:
He was concerned with the politics of Mao Tse-tung, that sort of
thing. In Harvard Square, he was talking about a committee that
was communicating with foreign governments who manipulated the
news in
The New York Times
in order to send messages to him. He had this idea that with this
information he could find out how negotiations between various
powers were goingdd14
Nash was still attending the Harvard math colloquiurn on
Thursdays. "He was very peculiar;` Vasquez recalled. "He believed
that there were
--------------------------------------------------------------757
magic numbers, dangerous numbers. He was saving the world."
Soon Kohn was getting letters from his neighbors, the landlords
of the house, complaining that Nash wasn't taking out the garbage
and that his apartment was full of piles of newspapers." Fagi
recalled feeling horribly embarrassed and responsible. "Joe
wanted to give up the apartment. He tried to reach Norman. He
couldn't, so he called me. So I called Nash every hour on the
hour. I was worried. I got this crazy idea to call up this
minister he had been seeing. The minister told me Nash was out of
town." 56
just after the New Year, Nash left Boston for the West Coast. He
traveled first to San Francisco where he spent several days
visiting his cousin Richard Nash. He called his cousin first,
who, in turn, called Martha. "He blamed Martha for hospitalizing
himea"recalled Richard Nash. "It was very hard for her to take."
He came to my office. He was good-looking, very muscular. He was
softspoken but his voice was much stronger than now. He was a lot
of fun to talk to. He liked to talk a lot late into the night.
Sometimes he spoke rationally, almost poetically. He
--------------------------------------------------------------758
was very concerned about not being able to contribute. "I started
out so wellea"he said. "I think of myself as a valuable person.
But I'm not contributingdd"Other times he made no sense. He had
these things he was concerned about. He went to see a Catholic
priest in San Francisco. I said, "I thought you were an atheist."
17
Richard Nash, a broker, would drive to work in San Franciso and
take Nash with him. Once there, "He'd get on the bus and go all
around." Dick Nash expressed astonishment that Nash mastered
complex schedules, went all over, but always managed to meet Dick
at the appointed place for the return trip at exactly the right
time.
After that, Dick Nash recalled, "John called me at odd hours. He
had no
awareness of time. I told him to stop calling me after bedtime.
Then I'd get calls with just breathing. I was rude. I wish   A758
I'd been nicer."
After leaving San Francisco, Nash went next to Seattle, arriving
there on February 3.11 He almost certainly went there to visit
Amasa Forrester, the only person he knew in Seattle. He seems to
have spent nearly a month with Forrester, because
--------------------------------------------------------------759
he did not arrive in Santa Monica, his next destination, until
Easter, which fell in mid-March that yeardd19 There, apparently,
Shapley and other acquaintances from RAND refused to see him.
Nash visited Jacob Bricker in Los Angeles as well. Bricker
recalled that Nash "was acting really
wilddd060
Nash apparently called Esmiol from time to time, although he
disregarded Esmiol's pleas that he return to Boston and resume
his treatment. Martha also called Esmiol a number of times that
month. Esmiol's idea was to use the promise of a job at MIT as a
lever to get Nash back into treatmentdd61
Martin was talking about letting Nash teach a section of linear
algebra the following
falldd61
Levinson, still hopeful, was planning on Nash's being at MIT. He
solicited a letter of recommendation from Armand Borel at the
Institute. Borel's letter, dated May 17, was a strong
endorsement:
In the last eight years or so, he has been very much hampered by
his health problems. Even then, he has
--------------------------------------------------------------760
managed to produce some interesting work.... Nash is clearly one
of the most individualistic among the presently active
mathematicians. He does not work systematically at long range
programs, whose progress along more or less foreseen lines can be
rather confidently expected but is more the pioneer type who
proceeds along new paths. He is thus rather unpredictable; but in
a way it makes it appear more likely that he might score new
successes in spite of his ups and downs in health. Any
contribution in mathematics on the level of his past work would
be extremely valuable, and so I feel strongly that he should be
supported .61
It's not clear exactly when Nash returned to Cambridge. But when
he did, he was extremely ill. After a terrible scene, John David
locked him out on the porch on a freezing nightdd64 Nash told
Palais at some point that he'd stopped taking medication. "Why,
when they were making you well, did you stop taking drugs""He
answered, "If I take drugs I stop hearing the voices
dis061
A letter from Nash to Moser captures something of
--------------------------------------------------------------761
Nash's state of mind when he returned to Cambridge in late May.
Nash gives his return address as Heilwigklang University, Harbin,
Manchuria.
The Oblast in Russia, on the Manchurian border ... there's the
city of Birbidzhan.... If all the atomic powers of the security
council of the United Nations did an action, and they were
numbered 0, 1,2,3,4 then one would be able to say nobody     A761
did it, everybody did it, all did it ...
The letter was signed "Chiang Hsin (New River)dd066
Fagi ran into John on the subway, His manner was slippery, shady,
shy, almost ashamed, a peculiar smile pulling at the corners of
his mouth. She asked where he was going. He answered: "Home to
Roanoke to stay with my mother for a
whiledd067
Nash left Cambridge on June 26, leaving his apartment in a
shambles. He drove to Princeton, stayed in a hotel "for
propriety"r than with Alicia and John Charles, and proceeded to
Roanoke a few days
laterdd61
--------------------------------------------------------------762
Fagi called Joe Kohn and said she'd get a moving van and send
Nash his furniture. "I felt so guilty that I said to myself, I'll
get his stuff moved out. I did, too, everything except the
bathroom scale. I never even went into the bathroomdd069 Anna
Rosa, Kohn's wife, went into the Parker Street apartment: "There
were folded bags, one upon another, and cereal boxes. Not awful,
but signs of compulsiondd010 A few days later, Norman Levinson
wrote to Martha: For the past two years John has been employed as
a research associate on my contract. John doesn't want to live
here and I couldn't convince him to stay. A few days ago John
left 38 Parker Street. There were piles of rubbish. Hints of bank
accounts. Also other accounts here and abroad. John was very
disturbed this past year. But in 1965-1966 he functioned very
well and did fine work."
in a Strange World
Roanoke, 1967-70
And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down
An d h it a World, a t e very plunge..
- Emm
--------------------------------------------------------------763
Y DicKmsoation,
Number 280
TE
SUMMER NASH TURNED
forty, in 1968, he looked into the mirror in the bathroom of his
mother's apartment and saw what he later called "a cadaver,
almost."` Hollow-cheeked, sunken-eyed, gray-haired, with his
shoulders hunched forward, he looked more like an old man than
one just entering middle age. He wrote to a friend: "You should
pity me ... aging and drying processes have taken their toll." I
Images of death-in-life crowded his mind: in a letter to another
friend he invoked the images of the Parsee "Towers of Silence"in
Bombay, where followers of Zoroaster leave their dead to be
devoured by vultures.`
He had been living in Roanoke for nearly a year. He still had his
Rambler and some savings, but eight years of illness had
exhausted his former wife and friends and ruined much of his
credit with the world. He had nowhere else to go. For him,
Roanoke coma pretty little city at the foot of the Appalachians
and the headquarters of the Norfolk and Western Railroad comwas
the end of the line.                                         A763
He lived with Virginia in a small garden apartment
--------------------------------------------------------------764
on Grandin Roadddbled Martha and Charlie lived a few streets
away. No one knew him there. The existence of someone with
schizophrenia has been compared to that of the person living in a
glass prison pounding on the walls, unable to be heard, yet very
visible.` Martha recalled in
1994: "Roanoke was not a good place to be. There were no
intellectuals there. He'd be too much alone. He would wander
around town whistlingdd06
On many days, he simply paced round and round the apartment, his
long fingers curled around one of Virginia's delicate Japanese
teacups (a souvenir of her
long-ago summer in Berkeley), sipping Formosa oolong, whistling
Bach.
7
The sleepwalker's gait and fixed, faraway expression gave few
hints of the vast and unending dramas unfolding in his mind.
"Apparently I am simply passing time visiting my motherea"he
wrote, "but actually I've been under persecutions which I'm
hoping will ease."
His daily rounds extended no farther than the library or the
shops at the end of Grandin Road, but in his own mind, he
traveled to the remotest
--------------------------------------------------------------765
reaches of the globe: Cairo, Zebak, Kabul, Bangui, Thebes,
Guyana, Mongolia. In these faraway places, he lived in refugee
camps, foreign embassies, prisons, bomb shelters. At other times,
he felt that he was inhabiting an Inferno, a purgatory, or a
polluted heaven ("a decayed rotting house infested by rats and
termites and other vermin"). His identities, like the return
addresses on his letters, were like the skins of an onion.
Underneath each one lurked another: He was C.O.R.P.S.E. (a
Palestinian Arab refugee), a great Japanese shogun, C 142 3,
Esau, Uhomme d'Or, Chin Hsiang, Job, Jorap Castro, Janos Norses,
even, at times, a mouse. His companions were samurai, devils,
prophets, Nazis, priests, and judges. Baleful deities-Napoleon,
Iblis, Mora, Satan, Platinum Man, Titan, Nahipotleeron, Napoleon
Shickelgruber-
threatened him. He lived in constant fear of annihilation, both
of the world (genocide, Armageddon, the Apocalypse, Final Day of
Judgment, Day of Resolution of Singularities) and of himself
(death and bankruptcy). Certain dates
--------------------------------------------------------------766
struck him as ominous, among them May 29.
Persistent, complex, and compelling delusions are among the
defining symptoms of schizophreniadd9 Delusions are false
beliefs, beliefs that constitute a dramatic rejection of
consensual reality. Often, they involve misinterpretations of
perceptions or experiences. They are thought, nowadays, to arise
primarily because of the gross distortions in sensory data and
the way thought and emotion are processed deep in the brain.
Thus, their convoluted and mysterious logic is sometimes seen as
the product of the mind's solitary struggle to make sense    A766
of the strange and uncanny. E. Fuller Torrey, a researcher at St.
Elizabeth's in Washington, D.C., and author of
Surviving Schizophrenia,
calls them "logical outgrowths of what the brain is
experiencing"z well as "heroic efforts to maintain some sort of
mental equilibrium.""` The syndrome we now call schizophrenia was
once called "dementia praecox,` but, in fact, the delusional
states typical of schizophrenia often have little in common with
the dementia associated with, for example, Alzheimer's disease."
Rather than
--------------------------------------------------------------767
cloudiness, confusion, and meaninglessness, there is
hyperawareness, over-acuity, and an uncanny wakefulness. Urgent
preoccupations, elaborate rationales, and ingenious theories
dominate. However literal, tangential, or self-contradictory,
thought is not random but adheres to obscure and
hard-to-understand rules. And the ability accurately to apprehend
certain aspects of everyday reality remains curiously intact. Had
anyone asked Nash what year it was or who was in the White House
or where he was living, he could no doubt have answered perfectly
accurately, had he wished to.
A Man All Alone in a Strange World
325
Indeed, even as he entertained the most surreal notions, Nash
displayed an ironic awareness that his insights were essentially
private, unique to himself, and bound to seem strange or
unbelievable to others. "This concept that I want to describe ...
will perhaps sound absurdea"is the sort of preface of which he
was quite capabledd"His sentences were filled with phrases like
"consider,0"z if,0"may be thought of as," as if he were
conducting a thought experiment or realizing that someone reading
what he wrote would have to translate it into another language.
--------------------------------------------------------------768
Like all other manifestations of the syndrome, delusions are not
unique to schizophrenia; they can be present in a variety of
mental disorders, including mania, depression, and a variety of
somatic illnesses. But the types of delusions that Nash suffered
from are particularly characteristic of schizophrenia,
specifically of paranoid schizophrenia, the variant of the
syndrome from which Nash apparently suffered." Their content was,
as it often is, both grandiose and persecutory, often shifting
from one to the other in the space of moments or even including
both at the same time. At different times, as we know, Nash
thought of himself as uniquely powerful, as a prince or an
emperor; at other times he thought of himself as extraordinarily
weak and vulnerable, as a refugee or a defendant in a trial. As
is quite typical, his beliefs were what is called referential, in
that he believed that a host of environmental clues -- from
newspaper passages to particular numbers -- were specifically
directed at him and that he alone was capable of appreciating
their true meaning. And his delusions were multiple, a
particularly common feature of paranoid schizophrenia, although
all were organized, in
subtle ways, around coherent themes. Bizarreness is thought   769
to be especially characteristic of schizophrenic delusions.
Nash's delusions were clearly implausible, difficult to
penetrate, and not obviously derived from life experiences. Yet
they were less bizarre, on the whole, than many delusions
reported by other people with schizophrenia, and their
connections to Nash's life history and his immediate
circumstances, though indirect, were often discernible (or would
have been had anyone who knew him well been willing to study in
the same spirit as the loyal wife of Balzac's Louis Lambert).
Many people with schizophrenia believe that their thoughts have
been captured by outside forces, or that outside forces have
inserted thoughts into their minds, but such beliefs did not seem
to play a predominant role in Nash's thinking. Occasionally, as
in Rome, he might think that thoughts were being inserted
directly into his mind via machines, or, as in Cambridge in early
1959, that his actions were being directed by God. But, by and
large, Nash maintained a sense of himself, or selves, as the
primary actor. And many of his beliefs -- such as that he was a
conscientious objector in danger of being drafted; that he was
stateless; that mathematicians belonging to the American
--------------------------------------------------------------770
Mathematical Society were ruining his career; that various
persons, posing as sympathizers, were conspiring, with malevolent
intent, to have him incarcerated in a mental institution comwere
no more implausible than, say, a belief that one is being spied
on by the police or the CIA. Thus, in a sense, the breakdown of
reality and boundaries between self and outside world had limits
for him, even in Roanoke.
In particular, although Nash later referred to his delusional
states as "the time
of my irrationalityea"he kept the role of the thinker, the
theorist, the scholar trying to make sense of complicated
phenomena. He was "perfecting the ideology of liberation from
slaveryea"finding "a simple methodea"creating "a model" or "a
theorydd"The actions he referred to are mostly feats of mind, or
involve language. At most, he was "negotiating"or "petitioning"or
trying to persuade. His letters were Joycean monologues, written
in a private language of his own invention, full of dreamlike
logic and subtle non sequiturs. His theories were astronomical,
game theoretical, geopolitical, and religious. And while, years
later, Nash often referred to pleasant aspects
--------------------------------------------------------------771
of the delusional state, it seems clear that these waking dreams
were extremely unpleasant, full of anxiety and dread.
Before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he explained, he was a
left-wing Palestinian Arab refugee, a member of the PLO, and a
refugee making a "g-indenf` in Israel's border, petitioning Arab
nations to protect him from "falling under the power of the
Israeli state.
14
Soon afterward, he imagined that he was a go board whose four
sides were labeled Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, and Bluefield.
He was covered with white stones representing Confucians and
black stones representing Muhammadans. The "first-order"     A771
game was being played by his sons, John David and John Charles.
The "second-order, "derivative game was "an ideological conflict
between me, personally and the Jews collectively.""
A few weeks later he was thinking of another go board whose four
sides were labeled with cars that he had owned: Studebaker, Olds,
Mercedes, Plymouth Belvedere. He thought it might be possible to
construct "an elaborate oscilloscope display
--------------------------------------------------------------772
... a repentingness function."
16
It seemed to him also that certain truths were "visible in the
starsdd"He realized that Saturn is associated with Esau and Adam,
with whom he identified, and that Titan, Saturn's second moon,
was Jacob as well as an enemy of Buddha, Iblis. "I've discovered
a B theory of Saturn.... The B theory is simply that Jack Bricker
is Satan. `Iblisianism` is a frightening problem connected to the
Final day of Judgement." 17
At this point, the grandiose delusions in which Nash was a
powerful figure, the Prince of Peace, the Left Foot of God, and
the Emperor of Antarctica were no longer in evidence; instead,
the theme became predominantly persecutory. He discerned that
"the root of all evil, as far as my personal life is concerned
(life history) are Jews, in particular Jack Bricker who is
Hitler, a trinity of evil comprised of Mora, Iblis and
Napoleondd"These were, he said, simply "Jack Bricker in relation
to medd"I I At another point, he said, referring to Bricker,
"Imagine if there would be a person who pats a
--------------------------------------------------------------773
guy on the back ... with compliments and praises, while at the
same time stabbing him in the abdomen with a deadly rabbit
punchdd019 Seeing the picture so clearly, he concluded that he
must petition the Jews and also mathematicians and Arabs "so that
they have the opportunity for redress of wrongs,"
A Man All Alone in a Strange World
327
which must, however, "not be too openly revealeddd"He also had
the idea that he must turn to churches, foreign governments, and
civil-rights organizations for help. In the story of Jacob and
Esau, told in Genesis, Nash saw a parable full of meaning for his
own lifedd20 Jacob and Esau are brothers, the sons of Isaac and
Rebekah, who love each other. Esau is the elder, and his father,
Isaac, loves him, but Rebekah, their mother, loves Jacob more. As
the story unfolds, Esau is twice supplanted by Jacob. First,
Jacob tricks Esau into making a bad bargain and selling his
birthright. Then, Jacob steals the blessing of the now blind
Isaac, who had intended it for Esau. He does so by impersonating
his brother. NV-HEN Esau discovers Jacob's deception, Isaac
--------------------------------------------------------------774
rejects his claim: "See, away from the fatness of the earth shall
your home bestand away from the dew of heaven on high./0Yr sword
you shall liveeastand you shall serve your brotherbb/b when you
break looseeasty shall break his yoke from your neck." Esau, full
of hatred for his brother, tells himself, "The days of mourning
for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother   A774
Jacob."
Nash believed that he had been cast out ("I've been in a
situation of loss of favor") and ostracized. He was constantly
threatened with bankruptcy and expropriation: "If accounts are
held for a trustee, in effect, who is as good as defunct, through
lack of `rational consistency! . . . It's as if accounts are held
for persons suffering in an Inferno. They can never benefit from
them because it's as if they were supposed to come from the
Inferno --
to the bank offices -- and collect, but they need, as it were, a
revolutionary ending of the Inferno before having any sort of
possibility of benefiting from their accounts
.1121
There is a presumption of guilt. Punishment, penitence,
contrition, atonement, confession, and repentance are constant
themes -- along with fears of
--------------------------------------------------------------775
exposure and the need for indirection and secrecy comand seem
directly connected, but not limited, to his feelings about
homosexuality. He refers to "the really dubious things that I
have done in all the history of my personal lifeea"including
"draft dodging, truancy.""
Arrests, trials, and imprisonment were also recurring themes.
Like Joseph K in Kafka's novel
The Trial,
Nash imagined that he was on trial "sufficiently complete in
absentiadd"He recognizes that "it is as if the accused is his own
chief accuser ... the road of self-accusation is a road that
leads to death not redemption.0"He thinks of a "court of
inquiry"investigating "the life histories and ... interactions"
of Jacob and Esau, whom he identifies as Bricker and himself.
14
These are guilty, fearful dreams. Nash's state of imprisonment
did not, it seems, refer to his illness, for he did not regard
himself as ill except physically. It was existential. To Eleanor
he wrote, "U see, U must sympathize more with the true needs of
liberation, liberation from slavery,
--------------------------------------------------------------776
liberation from 'castration,` libera-
tion from prison, liberation from isolation ... I'm a refugee, in
fact, from false symbols and dangerous symbolsdd021 At times, he
felt that he was in danger of crucifixion.
His own needs, he said, were "to be free, and to be safe and for
friendsdd026He was always, he said, "in fear of `death` (Indian
style) through an Armageddon with Iblis ... at the Day of
Judgement." Even in these very dark hours he clung to a vision of
liberation comwh later became, more concretely, a wish for sexual
liberation. "I'm hoping fervently to be saved (delivered) before
reaching 40 in age" he had written a few weeks before his
birthday. "One cannot substitute free life and love of the 40's
for the lost possibilities of the 20's and 30's and also teens.""
Nash was acutely aware of the passage of time. "It does seem to
me that I've been as if the victim of an excessively long wait
for liberation.... It's as if there wasn't a ransom          A776
forthcoming, as if from Kuwait, which would have really
substantially shortened the time of waiting for me.""
He was waiting for deliverance: "I see, it seems surprisingly
clearly, how there's as it were, a time
--------------------------------------------------------------777
of grace before that time, a precious time of grace which is
forever lost if not seized carpe them and fully effective in its
significance."
19
Nash was also hearing voices, voices that frightened him: "My
head is as if a bloated windbag, with Voices which dispute
withindd010
Hallucinations can involve any of the senses-hearing, smell,
taste, touch, sight-but voices, one or several, familiar or
strange but distinct from one's own thoughts, are the most
characteristic of schizophrenia." These are quite distinct from
the hallucinations that are part of religious experience, or the
humming inside one's head, hearing one's name called
occasionally, or hallucinations that occur while failing asleep
or waking up. The content of schizophrenic hallucinations can be
benign, but they usually involve ridicule, criticism, and
threats, typically related to the content of the delusional
theme. The integration of voices with thought can produce an
acute sense of reality.
The so-called negative symptoms of schizophrenia are, most
clinicians agree, even more crippling than the delusions and
hallucinations. The terms used to describe them are derived from
the
--------------------------------------------------------------778
Greek: affective flattening, alogia, and avolition. There was no
trace of the sharp looks, the enthusiastic gesturing, the brash
body language that announced, "I'm Nash with a capital Ndd"His
face was blank, his eyes empty, as if the fires of delusion had
consumed everything that was once alive and left an empty husk.
One would feel comforted if one could believe that Nash, at this
terrible time in his life, was at least spared the sight of his
own condition. One of the consequences of chronic schizophrenia,
noted long ago and verified since by numerous studies, is a
curious insensitivity to physical pain. This insensitivity is
often so great that there are high rates of premature deaths from
physical illnesses among A Man All Alone in a Strange World
329
schizophrenics, at least in the era when such people spent most
of their lives in institutions. Might there not be a similar
dulling that would anesthetize one to psychic pain? Possibly. But
for Nash there were moments of lucid self-knowledge, unbearable
in their sadness: "So long a time has passed. I feel there are
many sad tragedies. Today I feel very sad and depressed.""
--------------------------------------------------------------779
It is often difficult to distinguish the effects of disease from
those of its treatment. But Nash's condition during the two and a
half years he spent in Roanoke was probably almost purely the
consequence of his disease. Six years had passed since Nash had
received insulin treatments and well over a year since he    A779
had been taking neuroleptics regularly. While some of his memory
loss was, no doubt, a result of the insulin treatments of the
first half of 1961 and some of his-extreme quietness in the early
months following his return to Cambridge no doubt reflected the
side effects of Stelazine, his condition in Roanoke is a strong
testament that lassitude, indifference, and the peculiarities of
his thought were primarily the consequences of his illness and
not of the early attempts to treat it. The popular view that
antipsychotics were chemical straitjackets that suppressed clear
thinking and voluntary activity seems not to be borne out in
Nash's case. If anything, the only periods when he was relatively
free of hallucinations, delusions, and the erosion of will were
the periods following either insulin treatment or the use of
antipsychotics. In other words, rather than reducing Nash to a
zombie, medication seemed to have
--------------------------------------------------------------780
reduced zombielike behavior.
Nash was clearly among the majority of those with schizophrenia
who benefited from traditional antipsychotics. These drugs were
the only ones available between 1952 and 1988, when the more
effective Clozapine arrived on the scene." Peter Newman, an
economist at Johns Hopkins, was editing a volume of important
contributions to mathematical economics. He wanted to include
Nash's NAS note on Nash equilibrium.
The first problem was finding him. I found him teaching or
something at a small women's college near Roanoke. I wrote to him
there to ask his permission to reprint the article. What I got
back was an envelope on which my address was written in
different-colored crayons. There was also a list of "yous" in
different languages: Du, Vous, You, etc., and a plea for
universal brotherhood. There was nothing inside the envelope at
all. I then asked the in-house editor at the Johns Hopkins Press
to call Nash. He did and he said it was the strangest telephone
conversation he'd ever had in his life. Then we tried Solomon
Lefschetz, since he was the one who sponsored the note.
--------------------------------------------------------------781
Calling Lefschetz wasn't easy either. Lefschetz only said, "Ah
yes. He is not what he wasdd"S I had to give it up. Later, when
the book was reviewed, reviewers chided me for not including the
Nash
equilibriumdd14
Nash was constantly fearful that Martha and Virginia would
hospitalize him again. As he said in one letter, "It is the
mechanism of how all the persons involved would collaborate in
hospitalizing me which endangers me and which I fear.""
Most letters from this period end with a paragraph like the
following:
Let me beg (humbly) of U that U will favor the view that I ought
to be guarded against the danger of hospitalization in the mental
hospital (involuntarily or "falsely").... simply for personal
intellectual survival as a "conscious"and
11 reasonably conscientious"human being ... and "good memory
retention."
36                                                           A781
For Virginia, Nash's illness was something that Martha later
called, in her tactful and understated way, "a private sorrow.""
Virginia never talked about it
--------------------------------------------------------------782
with the few acquaintances she had in Roanoke, mostly people she
had met playing bridge, and only rarely with Martha. Her friends
couldn't possibly have understood what it was like for her. It
was also a practical nightmare. Nash was making so many
long-distance telephone calls that Virginia had to put a lock on
her phone.
Martha, whose second child was born in 1969, was at least angry.
"It was so frustrating day by day. You wondered, is this ever
going to get any better""She realized, at least, that Roanoke was
not a kind environment. "Only one time did I ask for
helpea"recalled Martha. "The minister stopped me after church and
told me I should be helping my mother more. He didn't ask whether
I needed help. Later on I called and asked would he come to call.
He didn't come. The retired minister came but he wasn't the one I
wanted."
Virginia and Nash were nearly evicted from their apartment at one
point. Martha's voice is still full of outrage thirty years
later. There had been a fire that started in the incinerator.
Nash was home at the time. He called the fire department. "The
landlord accused John of setting it `was Martha recalled. He had
talked to the neighbors, who were
--------------------------------------------------------------783
up in arms. They found this large, strange man who walked around
the grounds of the apartment complex alarming. It was only by
begging that Martha was able to convince the landlord to let
Virginia and Nash move back in.
Virginia died shortly before Thanksgiving in 1969. Afterward Nash
was sure there was something sinister about her death. He also
felt that perhaps he had done wrong by going to the corner store
to buy her whiskey. Martha recalled, "When Mother died, it was
not a good time. We weren't close. He felt threatened. He felt
that I would put him in a hospital." At this point, Eleanor got a
court order to force Nash to continue child-support payments.
When his money had run out, Virginia had taken over the payments.
She also left small legacies for both her grandsons.
A Man All Alone in a Strange World
331
Nash then lived briefly with Martha and Charlie, but Martha found
it impossi-
ble to cope with her brother. "Once Mother was gone, I couldn't
clean with him in my home. I was here with the children and he's
wandering around drinking tea and whistling. He'd take ideas and
twist them into something
--------------------------------------------------------------784
strange."
Martha arranged to have Nash committed right after Christmas:
After Mother died, I was afraid he'd leave town. I was hoping to
get the hospital to appoint a committee so he could get Social
Security and also get it for his son.
We went to a judge. We got a court order. The court sent     A784
the police to pick him up. We had my mother's lawyer, Leonard
Muse. You could get someone committed for observation. You didn't
have to establish anything very drastic. In the hospital they
decided whether to keep somebody. De Jarnette decided that John
had paranoid ideas but that he was capable of maintaining
himself.
Nash was released from DeJarnette State Sanitorium in Staunton,
Virginia, in February. He wrote a final letter to Martha,
breaking off all relations with her because of her role in his
hospitalization. Then he boarded a bus for Princeton.
Princeton, 1970's
Much Madness is divinest Sense To a discerning Eye....
- Emm
--------------------------------------------------------------785
Y DxKwsoation,
Number 435
AN
IMPERSONAL NEW GRANITE-CLAD TOWER, built with defense dollars at
the height of the Vietnam War, had replaced the old Fine Hall and
neighboring Jadwin Hall.` Math and physics majors spent most of
their waking hours below ground where the architects had situated
the library comwh had formerly occupied the highest 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 man walking the halls, night and
day,0"with sunken eyes and a sad, immobile face."` On rare
occasions, they might catch a glimpse of the wraith comusually
clad in khaki pants, plaid shirt, and bright red high-top Keds
comprinting painstakingly on one of the numerous blackboards that
lined the subterranean corridors linking Jadwin and New Fine.`
More often, students would emerge from an 8:00 A.M. lecture to
find an enigmatic epistle written the night before: "Mao
Tse-Tung's Bar Mitzvah was 13 years, 13 months and 13 days after
--------------------------------------------------------------786
Brezhnev's circumcision," for exampleddbled Or I agree with
Harvard: There is a brain flatdd"I Or a letter from Nikita
Khrushchev to Moses with arcane mathematical statements involving
the factoring of very long, ten-
to fifteen-digit numbers into two large priMeSdd6
"Nobody knew where they came fromea"recalled Mark Reboul, who
graduated in 1977. "Nobody knew what they meantdd"I
Eventually, some sophomore or junior would clue in the newcomer
that the author of the messages, aka the Phantom, was a
mathematical genius who had "flipped"while giving a lecture;
while trying to solve an impossibly difficult problem; after
discovering that someone else had scooped him on a major result;
or upon learning that his wife had fallen in love with a
mathematical rivaldd8 He had friends in high places at the
university, the older student would add. Students were not to
bother hmdd9
Among the students, the Phantom was often held up as a cautionary
figure:
Anybody who was too much of a grind or who lacked social graces
was warned that he or she was "going                         A786
--------------------------------------------------------------787
to wind up like the Phantom.0"Yet if a new student complained
that having him around made him feel uncomfortable, he was
immediately warned: "He was a better mathematician than you'll
ever beff"I I
Few students ever exchanged a word with the Phantom, although
some of the brasher ones occasionally bummed a cigarette or asked
for a light, for the Phantom was now a heavy smoker. One new
physics student once erased two or three of the messages only to
encounter the Phantom in front of the blackboard writing a few
days later, "sweating, trembling, and practically cryingdd"The
student never erased another."
Students and young faculty members studied the Phantom's messages
and sometimes copied them down verbatim. The messages created an
aura around the Phantom and confirmed the legends of his genius.
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 time. He remembered
feeling "intrigued and impressed"and "in the presence of a great
mind.0"Mark Schneider, a physics professor
--------------------------------------------------------------788
at Grinnell who was a graduate student in 1979, recalled: "We all
found the remarkable connections, level of detail, and breadth of
knowledge ... exceptional, which is why I ... collected 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 messages read:
N1 plus 11 plus X1 plus 01 plus N1 equals 0
Can Hironaka resolve this singularity?"
Some of the messages seemed purely mathematical, at least until
one looked at them more closely, as in this 1979 message:
Open Letter to Prof. Heisuke Hironaka
0 equals Ell plus V11 plus El plus R11 plus El plus
T1,9
plus T10
2 3 2
The above algebraic variety of dimension 6, represented in affine
7-space is singular, having a point singularity at the origin
(0,0,0,0,0,0,0) of the coordinates.
--------------------------------------------------------------789
The question is: How singular comparatively, is the above
6-variety, that is, what is the comparative degree of its
singularity, compared with other singularities of such a sort as
to provide standards of comparison"16
Others contained indirect references to past events: Indian Limbo
B equals (RX) plus (MO) plus (OP) I plus (QU) 4 plus (ME)
3 plus
(OT)
2 plus
AAP
OT suggests "Occupational TheraPY07 as in Dr. O.T. Beetle, M.D.
AAP equals PR (2) -- 1, as a number. 17
And still others were slyly humorous:                        A789
True or False Question
Statement: President Jimmy Carter is suffering from the disease
of xanthochromatosis, the same disease which previously affected
the careers of Nixon and Agnew, so that the disease has
presumably jumped the gap of the apparently immune northern
republicans Ford and Rockefeller and reinfected
--------------------------------------------------------------790
Air Force One via the person of Jimmy Carter.
The above statement is true. The above statement is false."
During one period, all the messages featured a commentator named
Ya Ya Fontana who made mysterious pronouncements about current
events, principally in the Middle Eastdd19 In another period,
Alexandre Grothendieck's name appeared frequentlydd10 In still
another, Diophantine equations comequations like x-
plus y-
z, comdominated."
Margaret Wertheim, author of
Pythagoras' Trousers,
a history of mathematics, has pointed out that "people look to
the order of numbers when the world falls apartdd011 Nash's
romance with numerology blossomed when his world was falling
apart, suggesting once again that delusions -- like "mystical,
cultic religious efflorescence"
- aren't merely the ravings of madmen but conscious, painstaking,
and often desperate attempts to make sense out of chaos.
Nash was making up numbers out of names and was often
--------------------------------------------------------------791
extremely worried about what he found. "He was quite agitated
when he thought that the numbers were portents of something
serious `was 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 number of the Kremlin. He was doing the arithmetic
correctly but the reasoning for it was crazy.""
Nash did a lot of telephoning in those years. Early on, Peter
Cziffra remembers, Nash tried to call public figures as well as
people at the university: "It was a little odd.... He wanted to
talk about something that had been in the paper. A crisis in
Russia that he wanted to talk about with somebody.
24
William Browder, who was now chairman of the mathematics
department, recalled:
Nash was the greatest numerologist the world has ever seen. He
would do these incredible manipulations with numbers. One day he
called me and started with the
--------------------------------------------------------------792
date of Khrushchev's birth and worked right through to the Dow
Jones average. He kept manipulating and putting in new numbers.
What he came out with at the end was my Social Security number.
He didn't say it was my Social Security number and I wouldn't
admit that it was. I tried not to give him satisfaction. Nash was
never trying to convince anyone of anything. He was doing    A792
things from a scholarly point of view. Everything he talked about
always had a very scientific flavor. He was trying to gain an
understanding of something. It was pure numerology, not applied."
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 important, and yet that might seem crazy to others, implied
a willingness to make connections with the community at large. 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
them must be seen as evidence of some progression 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
--------------------------------------------------------------793
paved the way for an eventual remission. As James Glass, the
author of
Private TerrorlPublic Places and Delusion, put
it upon hearing about Nash's years in Princeton: "It seemed to
serve as a containing place for his madnessdd016 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,
freedom, friends. As Glass put it, "Being freer to express
himself, without fearing that someone would shut him up or fill
him up with medication, must have helped pull him out of his
disastrous retreat into hermetic linguistic isolation.""
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
--------------------------------------------------------------794
expressions.0"These are descriptions similar to those Nash
himself has given of these years in Princeton: "I thought I was a
Messianic godlike figure with secret ideas. I became a person of
delusionally influenced thinking but of relatively moderate
behavior and thus tended to avoid hospitalization and the direct
attention of psychiatrists."
The immense effort -- the reading, computations, and writing --
of producing the messages may have played a role in preventing
Nash's mental capacities from deteriorating. The messages had
their own history and evolved over time. At some point, probably
starting in the mid-1970's, Nash began writing epigrams and
epistles based on calculations in base 26.19 Base 26, of course,
uses twenty-six symbols, the number of letters in the English
alphabet, just as the base 10 of everyday arithmetic employs the
integers zero through nine. Thus, if a calculation came out
"rightea"x 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 time on his hands,        A794
taking names, converting them into numbers
--------------------------------------------------------------795
based on the letter-number correspondence, factoring the
resulting numbers, and then comparing the primes in the hope of
discovering "secref` messages. 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 numbers to each
letter, get a very large number, and then analyze that number for
hidden meaning. It had the same relationship to mathematics as
astrology to astronomy." 10 This, of course, is not only
time-consuming but remarkably difficult, and the odds of finding
meaningful words or combination of words minute.
Nash worked on one of those old-fashioned Friden-Marchant
calculators with a tiny, glowing, green CRT." He must have
written an algorithm for doing base 26 arithmetic. Performing
these calculations would have been tremendously tedious and would
have required writing down intermediate results as he went along,
since these calculators had very little storage capacity and
weren't programmable. Generating the equations that constituted
the core of his blackboard messages was not just fancy
arithmetic,
--------------------------------------------------------------796
however. As one of the former physics students remarked, "It
would have taken deep abstraction of the sort that real
mathematicians perform.""
On one occasion, Feenberg wrote a computer program for Nash:
He asked me if computer programming was something he should do.
He'd seen me working with computers. He wanted to factor a
twelve-digit number, which he felt was a composite number. He had
already tested it against 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 minutes to write the program and test it. The answer
came back: His number was a composite number that was the product
of two primes."
Nash was beginning to develop an interest in learning how to use
the computer. (If one spent time in the computing center one bad
to sit at those ancient
desk calculators by the hour, shuffling decks of computer cards.)
Hale Trotter, who was working half-time in the computer center in
those days, described it: "It was the old days. We fed cards into
the computer. There was a large `ready room` with a big counter,
a card reader, table, and chairs and
--------------------------------------------------------------797
another room with a calculator. There was always lots of paper
arounddd014
At the time, Trotter recalled, he kept track of people's computer
time but nobody was billed. At some point the administration
decided that he had to charge individual research accounts.
Students and faculty alike had to open accounts and get
passwords. Trotter initially told Nash that Nash could use his
account number. At weekly meetings, the subject of           A797
regularizing the situation with Nash came up. Some students were
wondering what was going on with Trotter's name on Nash's output.
Someone suggested, said Trotter, "Why not give him his own
account?" Everybody agreed to give him a free account. "He never,
never made any trouble. If anything, he was embarrassingly
diffident. Sometimes if one was having a conversation with Nash,
it was hard to break away."
For most of the 1970's, Nash conducted his elaborate researches
in the reference room of Firestone Library, where he was known to
successive generations of students as "the library crazy man"and
later as "the mad genius of Firestone."" In the late 1970's, he
was often the last to leave the library at midnight. He spent
evenings in the
--------------------------------------------------------------798
reference room, his floppy golf 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 ofScientific Biography,
had an office on the third floor of Firestone Library. Every day
Nash would arrive at Firestone, marching down the walk, eyes
straight 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 good morning. Nash
was always silent.
16
Nash did, however, occasionally strike up acquaintanceships, as
when he got to know two Iranian students during the summer of
1975. Amir Assadi, a big, smiling bear of a man, now on the
mathematics faculty at the University of Wisconsin, recalled:
My brother spent the summer with me while I was studying for my
generals. He used to wait for me in the common room. I'd seen
Nash around and heard about
--------------------------------------------------------------799
him, but one day when I walked in he and my brother were talking
intensely and I joined him. After that, I always said hello and
we talked occasionally. He was extremely gentle and very shy. He
seemed just so lonely. We were among the few people who talked to
him. But he spoke freely to my brother. I suppose he saw a lonely
foreigner.
Usually the conversations were quite short, but sometimes he
would go
on and on. It seemed scholarly to us. He didn't act bizarre. He
used to read the
Encyclopaedid Britannica.
He had enormous knowledge. Nash was interested in Zoroastrian
religion. Zarathustra was an ancient Iranian prophet. He wasn't
mad. He wasn't someone who "had a yellow camel [i.e.,
crazy]dd"The religion 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 we went and really read
something.                                                   A799
In Iran the sense of sympathy and deep regret for a person being
lonely is very great. We felt
--------------------------------------------------------------800
sorry."
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,
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 some time, he became a regular at
Fine Hall teas. The year Joseph Kohn became chairman of the math
department, 1972, Kohn spent "many sleepless nights"over Nash.
Some of the math department secretaries had come to him at
various times saying that Nash's behavior worried themdd"Kohn
couldn't remember exactly what the behavior was but guessed that
it involved stating. In any case, he brushed the women's
complaints aside, saying that there was nothing 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, who was on the economics faculty at
the time, recalled:
He was an intriguing mystery. He just seemed to be around. Here
was this giant and all of us were standing on his
--------------------------------------------------------------801
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 xdd19 Mostly it was students who knew a bit of his legend,
who generally found him nonthreatening, who sought him out.
Feenberg, for example, had lunch with Nash. "Everyone knew he was
a great man and just having lunch was an interesting experience.
It was sad also. Here was this presence, this very famous person
in our midst that people outside of Princeton often thought was
deaddd040
in 1978, largely thanks to the kindness of his old classmate from
graduate school and RAND, Lloyd Shapley, Nash was finally awarded
a mathematical prize. He was awarded 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
.41
Nash won for his invention of noncooperative equilibrium; Lemke
for his work in computing Nash
--------------------------------------------------------------802
equilibria
.41
Lloyd Shapley was on the prize committee. It was his idea. "I
felt sentiment and nostalgiaea"he recalleddd43 Shapley, having
received the honor himself the year before, thought: "Here's a
chance to do something for Nash." He was motivated, he later
said, by the hope that honoring Nash would somehow help Alicia
and Johnny. "My sentiment, such as it was, was based on picturing
him growing up. Here's this kid growing up and his dad       A802
isn't there. This might do something to increase his self-esteem.
His father isn't there, but he's great, his work is being
recognized."
44
Nash was not, however, invited to the prize ceremony in
Washingtondd41 Instead, Alan Hoffman, a mathematician at IBM and
the second member of the prize committee, went down to Princeton
to present Nash with the awarddd41 He said: "We gathered in Also
Tucker's office. Al and Harold Kuhn were there, so we chatted a
while. Nash was sitting in the corner. Let me tell you, seeing
this man who was a genius and now functioning at subadolescent
level really was tragic. There's a difference between knowing and
seeingdd041
--------------------------------------------------------------803
Princeton, 1970-90
I have been sheltered here and thus avoided homelessness. comJOHN
NASH,
1992
V VHEN 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 mentally ill
exhusband, they played no role in her thinking: She was simply
not prepared to turn her back on him.
Alicia also was moved by the conviction that she had something
more to offer Nash than physical shelter. She believed, perhaps
somewhat wishfully, that living in an academic community among
his own kind, without the threat of further hospitalization,
would help him get well. She took Nash's own assessment of his
needs -- for safety, freedom, and friendship --
literally. In a letter to Martha written at Nash's request in
late 1968, when he was convinced that his mother and sister
planned to hospitalize him again, Alicia had argued that
hospitalization was unnecessary and harmful: "Much of his past
hospitalization I now
--------------------------------------------------------------804
feel was a mistake and had no beneficial permanent effects,
rather the opposite. If he is to make a lasting adjustment, I
think this has to be done under normal conditionsdd"I
In 1968, Alicia had attributed her change of heart not just to
the fact that Nash had relapsed despite aggressive treatment but,
more important, to her own experiences since her divorce, which
gave her new insights into Nash's plight. She wrote to Martha, "I
feel that I now understand his difficulties much better than I
ever did in the past, having experienced some of his type of
problems personally." I Like many of those who tried to help
Nash, Alicia was moved by a very personal and direct
identification with his suffering.
Alicia's beauty and vulnerability, a mix made even more potent
because of her history of personal tragedy, made it likely that
someone would fall in love with her.
Forty-something, a professor of mathematics, John Coleman Moore
might have inhabited the pages of an F. Scott Fitzgerald     A804
novel rather than an office at Fine Hall. His dark good looks,
formal manners, and custom-made suits distinguished him from the
rather scruffy ranks of fellow
--------------------------------------------------------------805
mathematicians. And his command of French and intimate knowledge
of his native New York and assorted European capitals lent him a
sophisticated aura. A bachelor, Moore was also a ladies' man.
When they returned from their separate years in Paris, Moore,
Nash, and Alicia sometimes had dinners A trois. But it wasn't
until after the Nashes' divorce, in mid-1963, and after Moore,
described by a former girlfriend as "rigid and
priMbb'3
suffered a devastating mental collapse of his own that the
relationship turned romantic. Plagued by alcoholism and severe
depression, Moore was hospitalized at a swank, psychoanalytically
oriented hospital outside Philadelphia
.4
During two and one-half lonely years in which Moore remained in
the hospital, other than Donald Spencer and George Whitehead, his
thesis adviser from MIT, Alicia was his only regular visitor.
Whitehead, who ran into Alicia a few times there, recalled:
"There were lots of people in P-town who didn't come and see
--------------------------------------------------------------806
him. He was remarkably thankful for visitorsdd"I
The friendship, born out of shared experiences and mutual
sympathy, blossomed into romance .6Moore returned to Princeton
and his teaching duties in the summer of 1965, about the same
time that Nash moved to Boston. He became Alicia's regular escort
at Princeton dinner parties, concerts, and the like. Whether it
was a great love match, as her marriage to Nash had been, isn't
clear. Moore, for all his charm and kindness, had little of the
sort of charisma that had attracted Alicia so wildly to Nash. She
yearned for someone who could take care of her, though. And for
some time it appeared that they would marry.
At the time that Nash left Princeton, Alicia was still working at
RCA. Her mother, who moved in with her after the death of her
husband, kept house for Alicia as she had done in Cambridge years
earlier. Mrs. Larde also helped take care of Johnny, who had
grown into an extremely bright and altogether adorable boy, tall,
sweetfaced, and still very blond.
Things started to unravel when Alicia suddenly lost her job at
RCA. The company's space division
--------------------------------------------------------------807
had been periodically buffeted by contract cancellations and
layoffi. Alicia, who was frequently absent, often late, or simply
too depressed when she was at work to be effective, was
particularly vulnerable.` She found another job fairly quickly,
but it didn't last. She could not seem to get on her feet again.
For a grim period that lasted several years, she drifted from job
to job and was frequently unemployed, a fact to which she alluded
obliquely in her letter to Martha. Alicia was determined to get a
job that matched her educational credentials, but few aerospace
companies were hiring female engineers in that era, and Alicia
was turned down for more than thirty such positions.         A807
"There were times when I was going to interviews every day all
dayea"she later recalled. "But I never got any offers. It was
very depressingdd"I
Things got so bad after her unemployment benefits ran out that
she was forced to go on welfare and to use food stampsdd9 Her
hope of marrying Moore came to nothing. He backed away, finding
the prospect of taking on a stepson as well as a wife "too
muchdd010 Her mother "held everything togetherea"z Alicia later
said, but it was very hard." Alicia and her mother were forced to
give up the nice
--------------------------------------------------------------808
house they were sharing on Franklin Street in the heart of
Princeton proper." Alicia found a tiny nineteenthcentury frame
house in Princeton Junction, long ago swathed in Insulbrick, to
rent. It was in poor repair, but cheap and convenient for
commuting, since it was literally across the road from the
railroad station. Johnny, who was twelve by this time, was
extremely unhappy over having to leave his school and friends.
But Alicia had little choice.
Nash moved to the Junction with her, contributing some of his
small income from the trust left by Virginia to pay the rent and
household expenses. Alicia referred to him as a "boarder;"` but
in fact they ate meals together and Nash spent a fair amount of
time with Johnny, sometimes helping him with his homework or
playing chess with hmdd14 Alicia had taught her son, who would
later become a chess master, how to play.
Nash was very withdrawn, very quiet. "He was not a
troublemakerea"Odette recalleddd"Haphazardly dressed, his gray
hair long, his expression blank, he would wander up and down
Nassau Street. Teenagers would taunt him, planting themselves in
his path, waving their arms, shouting rude things
--------------------------------------------------------------809
directly into his startled facedd16 Alicia was a proud woman,
always sensitive to appearances; her loyalty and compassion
outweighed her concern for what others might think.
She was patient. She bit her tongue. She made very few demands on
Nash. Looking back, her gentle manner probably played a
substantial role in his recoverydd"Had she threatened or
pressured Nash, he very well might have wound up on the street.
This point was made by Richard Keefe, a psychiatrist at Duke
University. Contrary to conventional wisdom, which held that
families of the mentally ill should "let it all out," more recent
research suggests that people with schizophrenia are no more able
to tolerate the expression of strong emotion than patients
recovering from a heart attack or cancer surgery."
Alicia is a scrupulously honest person. She says of the role she
has played in protecting Nash simply, "Sometimes you don't plan
things. They just turn out that waydd019 She does see that it
helped him, though, saying, "Did the way he was treated help him
get better? Oh, I think so. He had his room and board, his basic
needs taken care of, and not too much pressure. That's what you


need: being taken care of and not too much pressure."         810
In 1973, Alicia's circumstances started to improve. She had filed
a sex discrimination suit against Boeing, one of the companies
that had turned her down for a
job in the late 1960'sdd11 It was a feisty thing to do, and the
suit, which eventually netted her a modest out-of-court
settlement, helped boost her morale. She got a programming job at
Con Edison in New York City, where her old college friend Joyce
Davis was workingdd"X wasn't easy. She got up every morning at
four-thirty to make the two-hour commute from Princeton junction
to Con Edison's Gramercy Park headquarters in downtown Manhattan
and came home well past eight every evening. She often felt
frustrated by the work itself, her boss, Anna Bailey, another
acquaintance from MIT, recalled. She felt that her brains and
education weren't being sufficiently recognized."
But now that she was making a good salary again, she was able to
enroll Johnny in the Peddie School, a private preparatory school
in Hightstown, about ten miles west of Princeton." Johnny, who
--------------------------------------------------------------811
had become moody and difficult at home, was nonetheless an
excellent student. By the end of his sophomore year, when he won
a Rensselaer Medal in a national competition, he had a 4.0
averagedd14 And he was showing a marked interest in and a talent
for mathematics. "John talked to Johnny a lot about mathematics
when he was growing upea"Alicia later recalled, adding, "If his
father hadn't been a mathematician, Johnny would have been a
doctor or a lawyer."" Johnny started hanging around the Fine Hall
common room to play chess and go and talk mathematics with
various graduate students. Amir Assadi remembered him as "gentle,
a nice kid, a tiny bit awkward, like other mathematicians ...
until they find their context."
16
Johnny was obviously gifted. Assadi recalled that be was studying
disv high-powered math books." Sometimes father and son would
come to Fine Hall together. Johnny didn't seem embarrassed, but
neither did he ever refer to his father when talking to the
students. Assadi recalled, "He disappeared one day. When he came
back he'd shaved his head and had become a born-again
--------------------------------------------------------------812
Christian."
In 1976, Solomon Leader was visiting his friend Harry Gonshor-the
same Gonshor who had been part of Nash's crowd at MIT, now a
professor on the Princeton faculty comat the Carrier Clinicdd17
As the orderly ushered Leader through the locked door of the
ward, a tall, wild-eyed young man suddenly loomed before him, "Do
you know who I am?" he shouted right into Leader's face. "Do you
want to be saved""Leader noticed he was clutching a Bible.
Afterward, Gonshor told him that the man was the son of John
Nash.
By the time Johnny was hospitalized at Carrier at his mother's
initiative, he had been truant for nearly a year." He had dropped
all of his old friends. For many months, he had refused to leave
his room. When his mother or grandmother tried to intervene, he
lashed out at them. He bad begun reading the Bible obsessively
and talking about redemption and damnationdd19 Soon he       A812
began hanging out with members of a small fundamentalist sect,
the Way Ministry, and handing out leaflets and buttonholing
strangers on street corners in Princeton."
It was not immediately obvious to Alicia or her mother that
Johnny's troubling behavior was anything more than
--------------------------------------------------------------813
an outburst of adolescent rebellion. In time it became clear that
Johnny was hearing voices and that he believed that he was a
great religious figure. When Alicia tried to get him into
treatment, he ran away. He stayed away for weeks and Alicia had
to go to the police for help in tracking him down and bringing
him back. And then, when her son was in Carrier, Alicia learned
that the thing she most dreaded, had dreaded all along, was true.
Her brilliant son was suffering from the same illness as his
father."
Johnny seemed to improve quickly after the first hospitalization.
But he did not return to school for three yearsdd"Alicia never
talked about him at work except when she was forced to ask for
time off." She never told anyone at Con Edison that John Nash was
living with her again. Like Virginia Nash a decade earlier, she
treated her woes as her private sorrow. She tried to cope with
Johnny's refusal to take medication, his constant running away,
his periodic need for hospitalization, and the terrible drain on
her slender resources without giving in to her own depression.
"You sacrifice so much, you put so much into it, and then it all
goesea"she said laterdd14
--------------------------------------------------------------814
As the trouble with Johnny overwhelmed her, Alicia turned to her
friend Caby Borel for support. Gaby accompanied Alicia on visits
to Carrier, and later to Trenton Psychiatric, talked with her on
the telephone, and invited the Nashes to dinner." Moore confirms
this: "Gaby is the closest female friend Alicia has around here.
Gaby is very good. Nobody else was around consistently."
16
Caby's tribute to Alicia's stoicism holds true to this day: "At
first, you cannot tell anything about her. You do not realize who
she is. She has put a sort of shield around herself. But she is a
very brave and faithful woman.""
In 1977, John David Stier made a cameo appearance in Nash's
lifedd"Father and son had been in touch by letter at least since
1971, John David's senior year in high school. Nash had become
quite concerned about his son's college plans, and Alicia had
written Arthur Mattuck to ask him to advise John Daviddd19 John
David enrolled at Bunker Hill Community College and supported
himself by working as an orderlydd41 Four years later, he applied
to a number of four-year
--------------------------------------------------------------815
schools, was offered several scholarships, and in 1976
transferred to Amherst, one of the most elite liberal arts
colleges in the country.
That fall Norton Starr, a professor of mathematics at Amherst,
hired a student to do some yard work for hmdd41 Afterward, Starr
invited him into the house for a cold drink. As they chatted, the
young man learned that Starr had done his Ph.D. at MIT.      A815
Had he known a mathematician there named John Nash? Only by sight
and reputation, Starr replied. "He's my fatherea"the young man
said. Starr looked at him searchingly. He looked at the young man
again. "My God, you do look just like him," he said. Shortly
afterward, John David drove down to Princeton to visit his
father. Alicia was friendly. He met his brother, Johnny, for the
first time.
The following Christmas, Johnny came up to Boston to stay with
Eleanor and John David. Eleanor welcomed him warmly, cooked him
nice meals, fussed over him. He came without a winter coat, so
Eleanor bought him a down jacket. Johnny was well-behaved around
his older brother, but could turn nasty when he was alone with
her. At the end of the holiday, Eleanor recalled, "he didn't want
to let John go. So John took him back
--------------------------------------------------------------816
to school with
hiMdd041
The reunion between Nash and John Stier did not lead to a lasting
reconciliation. "It just sort of petered outea"John Stier
recalled. His father was more interested in talking about his own
problems than his son's. "When I asked him for advice, he'd
answer with something about Nixonea"he sddd41 Nash's confidences
were unsettling. Nash had some idea that his son, having attained
his majority, would play "an essential and significant personal
role in my personal long-awaited `gay liberation! "44 He had
waited a long time, as he said at the time, to "tell him about my
life and problems and life historydd"Eleanor Stier recalled that
he did SDD41
John David eventually stopped returning his father's calls. The
two would not meet again for seventeen years. "I haven't always
wanted to have contact with himea"John David said. "Having a
mentally ill father was rather disturbing."
More often than commonly realized, schizophrenia can be an
episodic illness, especially in the years following its initial
onset. Periods of acute psychosis may be interspersed with
periods of
--------------------------------------------------------------817
relative calm in which symptoms diminish dramatically either as a
result of treatment or spontaneouslydd46 This was the pattern for
Johnny.
In 1979, on the first day of the fall semester at Rider College
in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Kenneth Fields, the chairman of the
mathematics department, was asked to talk with a freshman who had
made a pest of himself at the math orientation session,
questioning everything and protesting that the presentation was
not rigorous enough
.47
"1 don't need to take calculusea"the young man said when he
arrived in Fields's office. "I'm going to major in math." Since
Rider rarely attracted students with an interest or background in
mathematics, Fields was intrigued. Quizzing the student as they
walked around the campus, he quickly concluded that no
mathematics course at Rider was advanced enough for this young
man and offered to tutor him personally. "By the way,        A817
what's your name""he finally asked. "John Nashea"the student
replied. Seeing Fields's look of astonishment, he added, "You may
have heard of my father. He solved the embedding theorem." For
Fields, who had been an
--------------------------------------------------------------818
undergraduate at MIT in the 1960's and was familiar with the Nash
legend, it was an amazing moment.
Fields proceeded to meet with Johnny weekly. Johnny took a while
to buckle down, but he was soon plowing through difficult texts
in linear algebra, advanced calculus, and differential geometry.
"It was obvious that he was a real mathemati-
cianea"said Fields. He was also bright and friendly, a
fundamentalist Christian who made friends with other religious,
intellectually precocious students. He talked to Fields, who has
several relatives who suffer from schizophrenia, about his mental
illness. Occasionally he would do a riff on extraterrestrials,
and on one occasion he threatened a history professor. By and
large, said Fields, Johnny's symptoms seemed to be under control.
He got straight A's and won an academic prize in his sopbomore
year. Fields soon concluded that Johnny was wasting his time at
Rider and belonged in a Ph.D. program. In 1981, despite his lack
of a high school or college diploma, Johnny was accepted at
Rutgers University with a full scholarship.
--------------------------------------------------------------819
Once there, he breezed through his qualifying examinations. From
time to time he would threaten to drop out of school and Fields
would get frantic calls from Alicia begging him to talk to
Johnny. When Fields did, Johnny would answer, "Why do I have to
do anything? My father doesn't have to do anything. My mother
supports him. Why can't she support me""B he didn't drop out. He
succeeded brilliantly.
Melvyn Nathanson, then a professor of mathematics at Rutgers,
liked to assign what he called simple versions of unsolved
classical problems in his graduate course on number theorydd41 "I
gave one the first weekea"he recalled. "Johnny came back with the
solution the following week. I gave another one that week and
a
week later he bad that solution too. It was extraordinary."
Johnny wrote a joint paper with Nathanson that became the first
chapter of his dissertationdd49 He then wrote a second paper on
his own, which Nathanson called "beautiful"and which also became
part of the thesis." His third paper was an important
generalization of a theorem proved by Paul Erd6's in the 1930's
for a special
--------------------------------------------------------------820
case of so-called B sequencesdd"Nei Erd6's nor anyone else had
succeeded in proving that the theorem held for other sequences,
and Johnny's successful attack on the problem would generate a
flurry of papers by other number theorists.
When Johnny got his Ph.D. from Rutgers in 1985, said Nathanson,
he seemed poised for a long and productive career as a first-rate
research mathematician. An offer of a one-year instructorship at
Marshall University in West Virginia seemed like the first of the
usual steps that eventually carry new mathematics Ph.D4's    A820
to tenured positions somewhere in academia. While Johnny was in
graduate school, Alicia Larde returned to El Salvador for good
and Alicia Nash moved to a job as a computer programmer at New
Jersey Transit in Newarkdd"Things seemed rather hopeful.
PART FIVE
The Most Worthy
As you know, he has had his illness, but right now he fine, ft
not attributable to One or several things. lt just a question
Oflivinga quiet life. ALSO-ICIA NA-SH,
--------------------------------------------------------------821
1994

PETER

SARNAK,
a brash thirty-five-year-old number theorist whose primary
interest is the Riemann Hypothesis, joined the Princeton faculty
in the fall of 1990. He had just given a seminar. The tall, thin,
white-haired man who had been sitting in the back asked for a
copy of Sarnak's paper after the crowd had dispersed.
Sarnak, who had been a student of Paul Cohen's at Stanford, knew
Nash by reputation as well as by sight, naturally. Having been
told many times Nash was completely mad, he wanted to be kind. He
promised to send Nash the paper. A few days later, at teatime,
Nash approached him again. He had a few questions, he said,
avoiding looking Sarnak in the face. At first, Sarnak just
listened politely. But within a few minutes, Sarnak found himself
having to concentrate quite hard. Later, as he turned the
conversation over in his mind, he felt rather astonished. Nash
had spotted a real problem in one of Sarnak's arguments. What's
more, he also suggested a way around it. "The way he views things
is very different from other peopleea"Sarnak said
--------------------------------------------------------------822
later. "He comes up with instant insights I don't know I'd ever
get to. Very, very outstanding insights. Very unusual
insightsdd"I
They talked from time to time. After each conversation, Nash
would disappear for a few days and then return with a sheaf of
computer printouts. Nash was obviously very, very good with the
computer. He would think up some miniature problem, usually very
ingeniously, and then play with it. If something worked on a
small scale, in his head, Sarnak realized, Nash would go to the
computer to try to find out if it was "also true the next few
hundred thousand times."
What really bowled Sarnak over, though, was that Nash seemed
perfectly rational, a far cry from the supposedly demented man he
had heard other mathematicians describe. Samak was more than a
little outraged. Here was this giant and he had been all but
forgotten by the mathematics profession. And the justification
for the neglect was obviously no longer valid, if it had ever
been.
That was 1990. In retrospect, it is impossible to say exactly
when Nash's miraculous remission, which began to be noted by
mathematicians around Princeton roughly at the beginning     A822
of this decade, really began. But, in contrast to the onset
--------------------------------------------------------------823
of his illness, which became full-blown in a matter of months,
the remission took place over a period of years. It was, by his
own account, a slow evolution, "a gradual tapering off in the
1970's and 1980's."`
Hale Trotter, who saw Nash nearly every day in the computer
center during those years, confirms this: "My impression was of a
very gradual sort of improvement. In the early stages he was
making up numbers out of names and being worried by what he
found. Gradually, that went away. Then it was more mathematical
numerology. Playing with formulas and factoring. It wasn't
coherent math research, but it had lost its bizarre quality.
Later it was real researchdd"I
As early as 1983, Nash was beginning to come out of his shell and
making friends with students. Marc Dudey, a graduate student in
economics, sought Nash out in 1983. "1 felt bold enough at the
time to want to meet this legenddd0bled He discovered that he and
Nash shared an interest in the stock market. "We'd be walking
along Nassau Street and we'd be talking about the market `"Dudey
recalled. Nash struck Dudey as a "stock picker" and on occasion
Dudey followed his advice (with less than stellar
--------------------------------------------------------------824
results, it must be said). The following year, when Dudey was
working on his thesis and was unable to solve the model he wanted
to use, Nash helped to bail him out. "The calculation of an
infinite product was involved;` Dudey recalled. "I was unable to
do it, so I showed it to Nash. He suggested I use Stirling's
formula to compute the product and then he wrote down a few lines
of equations to indicate how this should be donedd"All during
this time, Nash struck Dudey as no odder than other
mathematicians he had encountered.
By 1985, Daniel Feenberg, who bad helped Nash factor a number
derived from Rockefeller's name a decade earlier and was now a
visiting professor at Princeton, had lunch with Nash, He was
deeply struck by the change he saw in Nash. "He seemed so much
better. He described his work in the theory of prime numbers. I'm
not competent to judge it, but it seemed like real mathematics,
like disreal research. That was very gratifying."`
The changes were for the most part visible only to a few. Edward
G. Nilges, a programmer who worked in Princeton University's
computer center from 1987 to
--------------------------------------------------------------825
1992, recalled that Nash "acted frightened and silent"at
firstdd6
In Nilges's last year or two in Princeton, however, Nash was
asking him questions about the Internet and about programs he was
working on. Nilges was impressed: "Nash's computer programs were
startlingly elegant."
And in 1992, when Shapley visited Princeton, he and Nash had
lunch and were able, for the first time in many, many years, to
have quite an enjoyable conversation. "Nash was quite sharp
thenea"Shapley recalled. "He was free of this distraction. He'd
learned how to use the computer. He was working on the Big   A825
Bang. I was very pleased."`
That Nash, after so many years of severe illness, was now "within
the normal range for the `mathematical personality` "raises a
great many questions. Had Nash really recovered? How rare is such
a recovery? Did the "recovery" indicate he had never really had
schizophrenia, which, as everyone knows, is incurable? Were his
psychotic episodes in the late 1950's through the 1970's really
symptoms of bipolar illness, which is generally less debilitating
and carries better odds of recovery?
--------------------------------------------------------------826
Absent a re-diagnosis based on Nash's psychiatric records, no
absolutely definitive answer is possible. Psychotic symptoms
alone, psychiatrists now agree, "do not a schizophrenic make,"
and distinguishing between schizophrenia and bipolar illness when
symptoms first appear remains difficult even with today's more
precise diagnostic criteria.` Nonetheless, there are strong
reasons for believing that Nash's initial diagnosis was, in fact,
correct and that he is one of a very small number of individuals
who suffered a long and severe course of schizophrenia to
experience a dramatic remission.
The fact that Nash's younger son has also been diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder is strong
evidence that Nash himself had schizophreniadd9 In contrast to
the Freudian theories popular in the 1950's, when Nash was first
diagnosed, schizophrenia is now thought to have a strong genetic
component. 11
The duration and severity of Nash's symptoms comhis inability to
do work that was, prior to and since his illness, the principal
passion of his life, and his withdrawal from most human contact
comis also powerful evidence. Moreover, Nash has described his
--------------------------------------------------------------827
illness not in terms of highs and lows, bouts of mania followed
by disabling depression, but rather in terms of a persistent
dreamlike state and bizarre beliefs in terms not dissimilar to
those used by other people with schizophrenia." He has spoken of
being preoccupied by delusions, of being unable to work, and of
withdrawing from the people around him. Mostly, however, he has
defined it as an inability to reason." Indeed, he has told Harold
Kuhn and others that he is still plagued by paranoid thoughts,
even voices, although, in comparison to the past, the noise level
has been turned way downdd"Nash has compared rationality to
dieting, implying a constant, conscious struggle. It is a matter
of policing one's thoughts, he has said, trying to recognize
paranoid ideas and rejecting them, just the way somebody who
wants to lose weight has to decide consciously to avoid fats or
sweets.
14
While psychiatry has made progress in defining disease,
definitions of recovery remain controversial. The absence of
obvious symptoms, as George Winokur and Min Tsuang wrote, "does
not necessarily mean that [individuals] are well, since they
still may be suffering from a

defect state that is stabilized and with which they have      828
now learned to copedd"B such an assessment, possibly appropriate
to Nash's state in the late 1970's and early 1980's, seems overly
pessimistic now. Both the perceptions of those who know Nash and
his own indicate a more expansive, farreaching change. "John has
definitely recovered," said Kenneth Fields of Rider College, who
has known Nash since the late 1970's and has had a great deal of
firsthand experience with people who suffer from schizophrenia.
It would be more accurate to describe Nash's recovery as a
"remissiondd"And, it turns out, the remission, though miraculous,
is not unique. Until a few years ago,
nobody knew much about the life history of people with
schizophrenia. The only studies dated to the 1970's and were done
by psychiatrists who worked at state hospitals. Since the only
older people who were still there to be studied were still sick
enough to require constant hospitalization, schizophrenia was
viewed as a degenerative disease. Its assault on the brain was
thought to continue, more or less evenly, until death. Manfred
Bleuler, a German psychiatrist, was the first researcher to
systematically challenge this
--------------------------------------------------------------829
viewdd"In a twenty-year follow-up of more than two hundred
patients, he found 20 percent "fully recovered." Moreover, he
concluded that long-lasting recoveries did not result from
treatment and hence appeared to be spontaneous. Then a German
team at the University of Bonn did a long-term follow-up of
patients who had been admitted to one of the city's psychiatric
hospitals during the late 1940's and early 19 50's.
16
Going back to the records, they reviewed the diagnosis of
schizophrenia and chose only patients whose histories and
symptoms were consistent with modern definitions of the disease.
There were about five hundred. Then they located the people or
their families and, through interviews with the patients and
people who knew them, created detailed portraits of what had
happened to them.
Many -- about a quarter -- had died, mostly suicides. Some were
still institutionalized, apparently unresponsive to any drugs or
to electroshock treatment, which was used far more extensively
than in the United States. Another group was living with their
families, but still had symptoms, especially the
--------------------------------------------------------------830
negative symptoms of lethargy, lack of drive, and lack of
interest and pleasure in life. But a surprisingly large group --
perhaps a quarter -- seemed to be symptom-free, living
independently, with a circle of friends and jobs in the
professions for which they had been trained or had held before
they got sick. Most of these had not been under the care of a
physician for years,
The researchers were extremely surprised. As news of the study
results spread through the small global community of
schizophrenia researchers, a team in the United States at the
University of Vermont decided to undertake a similar long-term
study. Despite their initial skepticism, their results were
remarkably similardd"Ten years after the disease struck,     A830
most patients were still extremely sick. Thirty years later,
however, a significant minority were leading fairly normal lives.
Only about
5 percent conformed completely to the backward image. Most of
those who committed suicide, it turned out, did so in the first
ten years of the disease. These appeared to be people who got
well enough between acute episodes to appreciate the awfulness of
what lay ahead of them and succumbed to despair. And most of the
damage
--------------------------------------------------------------831
to thinking and emotion from the disease seemed to occur in those
years as well. After that, symptoms seemed to level out.
Subsequent research has somewhat tempered these optimistic
conclusions.`,, All long-term studies are plagued by
uncertainties about diagnoses and by differences over what
constitutes "recoverydd"A study by Winokur and Tsuang of 170
patients, perhaps the most rigorous, found that thirty years
after the onset of the illness, just 8 percent could be
considered well. 19
Thus, while Nash's dramatic recovery is not unique, it is
relatively rare.
While none of the studies was able to pinpoint factors that
favored recovery, they suggest that someone with Nash's history
prior to the onset of his illness-high social class, high IQ,
high achievement, with no schizophrenic relatives, who gets the
disease relatively late in the third decade, who experiences very
acute symptoms early and gets sick at the time of some great life
change comhas the best chance of remissiondd10 On the other hand,
young men like Nash for whom the contrast between early
achievement and the state to which they are reduced by the
--------------------------------------------------------------832
disease is greatest are also most likely to commit suicide. Since
suicides are relatively rare for hospitalized patients, Martha
may have saved Nash's life by insisting, during the 1960's, that
he be hospitalized. Whether or not insulin shock and
antipsychotic drugs, which apparently produced the temporary
remissions Nash experienced in the first half of the 1960's,
increased the odds of a remission later in life is unclear. Vvle
a larger number of patients who got sick during the 1950's, when
antipsychotic drugs became available on a wide scale, were among
those who were symptom free in late middle age, early treatment
with drugs wasn't a particularly accurate indicator of what would
happen laterdd"At the same time, Nash's refusal to take the
antipsychotic drugs after 1970, and indeed during most of the
periods when he wasn't in the hospital during the 1960's, may
have been fortunate. Taken regularly, such drugs, in a high
percentage of cases, produce horrible, persistent symptoms like
tardive dyskinesia comstiffening of head and neck muscles and
involuntary movements, including of the tongue -- and a mental
fog, all of which would have made his gentle
--------------------------------------------------------------833
reentry into the world of mathematics a near impossibilitydd21
Nash's remission did not come about, as many people later
assumed, because of some new treatment. "I emerged from      A833
irrational thinkingea"he said in 1996, "ultimately, without
medicine other than the natural hormonal changes of aging.""
He described the process as one that involved both a growing
awareness of the sterility of his delusional state and a growing
capacity for rejecting delusional thought. He wrote in 1995:
Gradually I began to intellectually reject some of the
delusionally influenced lines of thinking which had been
characteristic of my orientation. This began, most recognizably,
with the rejection of politically-oriented thinking as
essentially a hopeless waste of intellectual effort.
14
He believes, rightly or wrongly, that he willed his own recovery:
Actually, it can be analogous to the role of willpower in
effectively dieting: if one makes an effoyt to "rationalize"one's
thinking then one can simply recognize and reject the irrational
hypotheses of delusional thinking."
--------------------------------------------------------------834
"A key step was a resolution not to concern myself in politics
relative to my secret world because it was ineffectualea"he wrote
in his Nobel autobiography. "This in turn led me to renounce
anything relative to religious issues, or teaching or intending
to teach.
"I began to study mathematical problems and to learn the computer
as it existed at the time. I was helped (by mathematicians who
got me computer time)dd011 By the late 1980's, Nash's name was
appearing in the titles of dozens of articles in leading
economics journalsdd"B Nash himself remained in obscurity. Many
younger researchers, of course, simply assumed he was dead.
Others thought that he was languishing in a mental hospital or
had heard that he had a lobotomydd"Even the best-informed saw
him, for the most part, as a sort of ghost. In particular, with
the exception of the 1978 von Neumann Prize comthe result of
Lloyd Shapley's efforts comthe recognition and honors routinely
accorded scholars of his stature simply failed to materializedd19
One particularly egregious episode in the academic year 1987-88
illustrated just how powerfully the perceptions of Nash's mental
illness worked
--------------------------------------------------------------835
to reinforce his marginalized status, even in the field,
economics, that he had helped to revolutionize.
Being elected a Fellow in the Econometric Society is, as one
former president of the society put it, tantamount to getting
one's membership card in the club of bona-fide economic
theorists."` By 1987, there were some 350 living Fellows,
including every past and future Nobel Laureate to date but
Douglass North (presumably excluded because he is an economic
historian, not a mathematical economist), as well as every
leading contributor to game theory-Kuhn, Shapley, Shubik, Aumann,
Harsanyi, Selten, and so forth comb not Nash. I I In late 1988,
Ariel Rubinstein, a recently elected Fellow, was surprised to
discover this "historic mistake" and promptly nominated Nash."
The nomination came too late for the November 1989 election.
Further, the society's bylaws required any candidate proposed by
a sole sponsor to pass muster with the society's             A835
five-member nominating committee-one of whose main tasks was, in
any case, to "determine whether
--------------------------------------------------------------836
previous nominating committees had overlooked p"and to correct
such oversights." As a result, the nomination was forwarded to
the committee, which took it up in the spring of 1989. By then,
Rubinstein, a game theorist who holds professorships at the
University of Tel Aviv and Princeton University, was a member of
the committee. The other members, all professors of economics,
were Mervyn King at the London School of Economics (also a
vice-chairman of the Bank of England), Beth Allen at the
University of Minnesota, Gary Chamberlain at Harvard, and Truman
Bewley at Yaledd14
ReRVSS-IOn
The proposal to put Nash on the ballot sparked an intense
controversy be-
tween Rubinstein and the rest of the committee, one that dragged
on for months. From the start, the issue was Nash's mental
illness. Mervyn King said in 1996: "People felt in some vague
sense this was relevant."" Other committee members pointed out
that Nash had no recent publications, was not even a member of
the society, and was unlikely to participate actively, if
elected.
--------------------------------------------------------------837
16
At one point Truman Bewley, the committee's chairman, wrote to
Rubinstein, "I doubt [Nash] would be elected, since he is well
known to have been crazy for years,"ddmissing the nomination as
"frivolous."
17
When Rubinstein refused to back down, Bewley asked him to find
out more about "the current status of Nash's healthdd"Af
Rubinstein objected that no other candidates were being similarly
investigated, Bewley made his own inquiries, calling, among
others, his colleague at Yale Martin Shubik, who had known Nash
in graduate school and had received some of Nash's "mad"letters.
Bewley reported back to the committee: "Regarding Nash, I
inquired and learned that he is still crazy. Fellowship is an
activity more than a reward for pastddwork. The fellows are the
ultimate governing body of the Econometric Society.""
In June, the committee voted four to one to keep Nash off the
November
1989 ballot. Rubinstein was the sole dissenter. Beth Allen
recalled, "People were asked to give a rank ordering. Nash didn't
make it. Ariel had
--------------------------------------------------------------838
a fit. He insisted Nash be put on the ballot anyway." Bewley made
it clear that the matter was closed, a decision he later
regretted. "It was the wrong decision;` he said in 1996.19 The
episode is reminiscent of the Institute for Advanced Study's
refusal, for many years, to grant a mathematics professorship to
the world-renowned logician Kurt Gbdeldd41 But, in that case,
there was considerably more justification, since the Institute's
tiny mathematics faculty feared that G6del's well-known      A838
paranoia and terror of decision-making would hamstring its
ability to conduct business, which included the selection of each
year's visiting scholarSdd41
The crowning irony of this affair is that when Nash did get on
the ballot, in the election for 1990 (because Rubinstein
circumvented the nominating committee by submitting a joint
nomination with Kenneth Binmore, at the University of Michigan,
and Roger Myerson, at Northwestern Universityggea41 he received,
according to the Secretary of the society, Julie Gordon, "the
overwhelming majority of the votesdd041
You will have to wait to find out [the story of Nash prize] in
fifiyyears. We will never reveal it.
--------------------------------------------------------------839
-
CARL-OL-OF JA-COBsoation,
secretary general, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, February
1997
IT
is
TuESDAY,
October 12, 1994. J6rgen Weibull, a personable young professor of
economics, looks at his watch for perhaps the fiftieth time.` He
is standing near the front of the massive Sessions Hall of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences coma jewelbox of a room with a
heavily ornamented ceiling and portrait-lined walls comwh, at the
moment, is crowded with reporters and camera crews, jammed in
narrow aisles between the U-shaped tables. Near-pandemonium
reigns. Everybody is milling around, speculating in loud voices
about the delay. Weibull had been so elated when he left his
office at the University of Stockholm that midmorning that he
half walked, half ran through the highway underpass and up the
hill to the academy half a mile away. Assar Lindbeck, the
chairman of the prize committee, had asked him if he wouldn't
mind being on hand to answer questions at the
--------------------------------------------------------------840
press conference -- quite an honor. But now Weibull's mouth feels
dry, his shoulders ache, and he can feel the first twinges of a
headache as he tries to imagine what has gone wrong.
The Nobel press conference had, as usual, been called for
eleven-thirty. These staid, heavily scripted events are always
held right after the final, ceremonial vote
and always
start on time. But it is one o'clock and there is no sign of any
academy officials and no word either. All the reporters are
saying that nothing like this has ever happened before.
Suddenly, the enormous doors to his left swing open and a small
knot of academy officials burst into the hall, all wearing
slightly dazed expressions, like moviegoers stepping out of a
theater into daylight. They hurry past the milling, shouting
throng, ignoring the questions, brushing aside the demands for
explanations. But Weibull, who is standing near the table with
the microphones, manages to catch Lindbeck's eye for a fraction
of a second. The relief is overwhelming. "Lindbeck didn't signal
or anything like thatea"be said later, "but I saw right      A840
away that everything had turned out all
--------------------------------------------------------------841
rightdd"I And the relief turns into something like joy when he
listens to Carl-Olof Jacobson, the academy's handsome,
silver-haired
secretary general, read the first few words of the press release:
"John Forbes Nash, Jr., of Princeton, New jersey. . ."`
The behind-the-scenes saga of John Nash's Nobel Prize is almost
as extraordinary as the fact that the mathematician became a
Laureate at all. For years after the idea of a prize for game
theory was first considered, even Nash's most ardent admirers
considered the likelihood of his winning impossibly remoteddbled
But much later, when the prize was virtually his, after he had
been told that he had won it, and within an hour of the official
notification, the
ne plus ultra
of honors very nearly eluded him comwith far-reaching
consequences for the future of the economics prize itself.
This previously untold story is one that the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Foundation comintent on
preserving the Olympian aura that surrounds the prizes-have tried
very hard to keep under wraps. The academy is one
--------------------------------------------------------------842
of the most secretive of societies, and all details comthe
nominations, inquiries, deliberations, and votes-of the lengthy
selection process are among the most closely guarded secrets in
the world. The very statutes of the prize demand it:
Proposals received for the award of a prize, and investigations
and opinions concerning the award of a prize may not be divulged.
Should divergent opinions have been expressed in connection with
the decision of the prize-winning body concerning the award of
the prize, these may not be included in the record or otherwise
divulged. A prize-winning body may, however, after due
consideration in each individual case, permit access to material
which formed the basis for evaluation and decision concerning a
prize, for purposes of historical research. Such permission may
not be granted until at least 50 years have elapsed after the
date on which the decision in question was taken.`
There have been breaches, of course. In the 1960's and 1970's,
advance rumors
of the literature Laureates used to trickle out of the Academy of
Arts and Letters with notorious regularity.` In 1994, a member of
the
--------------------------------------------------------------843
Norewegian Nobel Committee quit over the impending peace prize to
the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, and took his protest to the
media. Michael Sohlman, the executive director of the Nobel
Foundation, still sounds furious when he recounts the incidentdd7
But, few, if any, cracks have appeared, figuratively or
otherwise, in the gray Beaux Arts walls of the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences, guardian of the physics, chemistry, and
economics prizes. If not for the mysterious one-and-a-halfhour
delay on the day that the Nash prize was announced, the academy
might well have succeeded in protecting the secrecy of the   A843
process. As it was, academy officials not only refused to explain
the delay but denied that it was in any way significant. Indeed,
they very quickly began to assert that it had never happened.
Recently, Karl-G6ran Mdler, a member of the economics prize
committee in 1994 and privy to all of the events that transpired,
said, "I do not recall
any
delaydd"I
The prize in economics is something of a
--------------------------------------------------------------844
stepchilddd9 Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and
inventor, did not have the dismal science in mind when he wrote
his famous 1894 will creating Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry,
medicine, literature, and peace. The economics prize was not
created until nearly seventy years later, the brainchild of the
then head of the Swedish central bank. The prize is financed by
the bank and administered by the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences and the Nobel Foundation. It is not, in fact, a Nobel
Prize, but rather "The Central Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic
Science in Memory of Alfred Nobel." To the public, that is a
distinction without much of a difference. The early winners of
the economics prize -- among them Paul Samuelson, Kenneth Arrow,
and Gunnar Myrdal- were generally acknowledged to be intellectual
giants and lent their distinction to the prize. And, so far at
least, it has become "the ultimate symbol of excellence for
scientists and laymen alike"and does in fact make economics
Nobelists "life peers in the world community of scholarsdd011
The criteria, rules, and procedures for the economics prize are
patterned after those that apply
--------------------------------------------------------------845
to the science prizesdd"Candidates must be living. No more than
three can share a prize, which is less of a problem in economics
than in physical science, where teamwork is more the norm. Though
many people, even those who participate in the nominating
process, have failed to appreciate it, the Nobel is not a prize
for outstanding individuals nor is it a lifetime achievement
award. The prize is awarded for specific achievements,
inventions, and discoveries. These can be theories, analytical
methods, or purely empirical results. As in physics, in which
mathematics plays as big a role as in economics, there is a
strong bias against prizes for only mathematics." (Nobel himself
is said to have hated mathematicians, though some of the best
stories about why-revolving around sexual and professional
jealousy -- turn out to have been apocryphal). I I
The prize selection process is also virtually identical to the
cycles for the science prizes.
14
A five-member prize committee, composed of senior Swedish
economists, gathers nominations and referees reports from elite
academics around the world. The committee makes its choice every
spring,


usually in April. The so-called Social Sciences Class-all     846
academy members in economics and other social sciences
comendorses the candidate or candidates in early fall, usually
late August or early September. And the academy votes on the
nominees in early October, on the day that the winner or winners
are announced.
On paper, at least, all the members of the prize committee are as
distinguished as the candidates, and the selection of winners is
a detached, disinterested, and, ultimately, democratic exercise
in scientific judgment comz divorced from personal likes and
dislikes, prejudices, or political and pecuniary considerations
as the business of determining the winners in a sports
tournament. There is some, even a
good deal, of truth in this idealized description of what
actually goes on, but it is not anything like the whole story.
Assar Lindbeck, who joined the prize committee in 1969 and became
its chairman in 1980, has dominated the economics selections for
the entire history of the Nobel Prize." Tall, red-haired,
powerfully built, he looks like the
--------------------------------------------------------------847
boss of a machine too] shop or a mine. He is from the far north
of Sweden, a little crude, a little uptight, more than a little
brusque. He has opinions, strong ones, about nearly all topics
that engage his lively mind, and as a result is quite unpopular
in the academy. But he is not without a certain earthy charm. His
sense of humor is sly and dry. He is a Sunday painter comshowing
up at prize committee meetings with paint spatters on his
horn-rimmed glasses. A large -- and extremely graphic -- erotic
painting hangs in his office at the university.
Lindbeck is Sweden's most important economist. Top academic
economists in Sweden, where academia, government, and industry
have long been closely entwined, have traditionally wielded a
great deal more political power than their American counterparts.
16 Bertil Ohlin, the committee's first chairman, was for years
the leader of Sweden's opposition. Gunnar Myrdal, who won the
prize in 1974, was a minister in the Social Democratic
government. Lindbeck himself was a prot6ong6 of Prime Minister
Olof Palme, has held many political advisory posts, and has been
involved in most public policy
--------------------------------------------------------------848
debates since the 1960's.
Unlike Ohlin and Myrdal, Lindbeck never abandoned his research
career to become a full-time politician. Indeed, he is generally
considered a likely contender for a Nobel himself. Even today, at
age sixty-eight, there is a small assembly line on the shelves
behind his desk at the University of Stockholm: impressively
large piles of paper marked "Articles Under
Preparation,0"Articles Submittedea"and "Articles Accepted." And
he has used his political savvy and prestige to build up
economics departments and research institutes. "He's kind of a
mafia leader, a fixer `was said Karl-Gustaf Laf9ren, an adjunct
member of the economics prize committee and a professor of
resource economics at the University of Umea.
17
He adds:                                                     A848
I never did any resource economics, but I became a professor of
resource economics. [Lindbeck] has good ideas about who to move
here and there. He listens. He has his own opinions. I like him.
He's a very sound guy. Very smart.
--------------------------------------------------------------849
Lindbeck has a reputation for getting his way. His style is that
of a central
banker rather than a chief executive officer. As his longtime
friend Wer put it, "Assar never controlled with commandsdd011 In
an article Lindbeck wrote on the economic prize in the
mid-1980's, he bragged: "So far the proposals of the prize
committee to the Academy have been unanimous. A consensus has in
fact developed quite 'automatically` within the committee, as if
by some kind of invisible
hand, after intensive discussionsdd019 The invisible hand, of
course, was his own. "You
could
put it that wayea"said Wgren, laughing. "You can
sdy
it's unanimous. ... But he's a dominating person. We don't vote
officially. You agreedd010
Kerstin Fredga, the president of the Swedish Academy of Sciences,
said at one point, "Very few people have ever dared say no to
Assardd"I I Ironically, by December
1994, when Fredga made the remark, it was no longer true.
--------------------------------------------------------------850
John Nash's name first appeared as a candidate for a Nobel in the
mid-1980'sdd11 The Nobel selection process is like a giant
funnel, At any given time, the economics prize committee has a
dozen "investigations" running of fields and clusters of possible
candidates. But, fairly quickly, the focus shifts to the hottest
fields and candidates. By 1984, the "obvious" Nobels had been
handed out to the likes of Samuelson, Arrow, and James Tobin. The
committee was looking further afield among newer branches of
economics, and nothing was newer or hotter at that particular
moment than game theory." In 1984, the prize committee contacted
a young researcher at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A combat
veteran and an activist in Israel's peace movement, Ariel
Rubinstein took months to write a painstaking ten-page report on
potential candidates for a prize in game theory. He placed Nash
at the top of the Ji/Dd14
The 1982 paper that established Rubinstein as one of the leading
researchers in game theory was an extension of Nash's 1950
bargaining paperdd15 Rubinstein's sense of indebtedness to Nash
and his
--------------------------------------------------------------851
appreciation for Nash's original achievement were thus very
vivid. Having encountered Nash on a visit to Princeton,
Rubinstein also could not help but be struck by the stark
contrast between Nash's past contributions and his current
circumstances. His outrage was fueled partly by a firsthand
encounter with the stigma of mental illness: his mother was once
hospitalized for depression, and Rubinstein never forgot the lack
of basic human respect accorded her by doctors and           A851
relativesdd16
The Nobel Prize committee did not take up the matter again until
1987, when it commissioned a second report, this time from
Weibulldd17 After he submitted it, Lindbeck told him that the
committee wanted to ask him some questions and asked him to
attend a couple of committee meetings at the Royal Academy.
Weibull was, of course, pledged to complete secrecy.
When Weibull walked into the paneled room, introductions were
hardly necessary. As a member of Sweden's small academic elite,
Weibull already knew the five men, mostly academics, sitting
around the enormous table. He was nonetheless slightly awed,
realizing from the committee's questions that
--------------------------------------------------------------852
he was being given the opportunity to participate at the earliest
stage of a historic decision. "My impression ... [was] that it
was the first time that the committee had met to consider
thisdd018 Weibull presented a verbal summary of his report,
telling the committee about the central ideas in game theory,
their importance for economic research, and the
key contributors. He, too, had placed Nash at the top of his list
of half a dozen seminal thinkers.
The committee's questions were carefully phrased to hide the
members' own opinions, and focused, in the first session, on
whether game theory was just a fad or really an important tool
for investigating a wide range of interesting economic problems.
By the second meeting, however, Lindbeck, the committee chairman,
zeroed in on Nash. Was what Nash did merely mathematics? Lindbeck
asked. Did he simply formalize ideas that economists had
formulated at least a hundred years earlier? Was it true that
Nash had stopped doing research in game theory in the early
1950's? That question was the closest anyone came to mentioning
the subject of Nash's mental illnessdd19
--------------------------------------------------------------853
When Weibull left the meeting, he thought that there was a good
chance that the committee would eventually agree to award a prize
in game theory, but he had no reason, given Nash's illness and
the decades that had passed since his early papers, to believe
that Nash would make the cut.
Eric Fisher, a visitor at Stockholm University's Institute for
International Economics that year, recalled being quizzed by
Assar Lindbeck about Nash's mental state. Fisher had been an
undergraduate at Princeton, where he used to see Nash hanging out
in the foyer of Firestone Library. Lindbeck wanted to know
whether Nash was "competent enough to handle the publicity that
winning [a Nobel] might entaildd010
It was two years later, the fall of 1989, that Weibull hurried
across the Princeton University campus to meet Nash for the first
time." After weeks of delicate negotiation, with the chairman of
the mathematics department acting as a go-between, the elusive
mathematician had finally agreed to have lunch. Weibull had a
specific motive for the meeting. Lindbeck had pulled him aside
shortly before his departure from Sweden and asked him to report
back to him on Nash's mental
state. There was some talk, Lindbeck said, that Nash had      854
some sort of remission and was behaving quite reasonably. Was it
true? Weibull was about to find out.
Weibull knew instantly that the tall, white-haired, frail-looking
man standing in the driveway in front of Prospect House,
Princeton's Florentine faculty club, was Nash. He was standing
there rather awkwardly, smoking, looking down at the ground,
obviously dressed up for the occasion, wearing white tennis shoes
but also a long-sleeved dress shirt and long pants. As Weibull
drew nearer, he could see that Nash was deathly nervous. When
Weibull gave him his ready, friendly smile and extended his hand,
Nash was unable to meet his eye and, after the briefest of
handshakes, instantly put his hand back into his pocket.
They ate, not in the main, formal restaurant, but downstairs in a
small cafeteria. Weibull, a gentle, soft-spoken man, asked Nash
questions about his work. Sometimes the conversation took odd
turns. When Weibull asked Nash about refining the Nash
equilibrium concept by, perhaps, taking into account irrational
moves by players, Nash answered him
--------------------------------------------------------------855
by talking, not about irrationality, but about immortality. But
on the whole, Nash struck Weibull as no more eccentric,
irrational, or paranoid than many other academics. Weibull
learned interesting details about Nash's game theory papers that
he hadn't known. Nash had gotten his idea for the bargaining
solution as an undergraduate at Carnegie Tech by thinking about
trade agreements between nations. While he had used both
Brouwer's and Kakutani's fixed-point theorems to prove his
equilibrium result, he still thought that the proof relying on
Brouwer was both more beautiful, and more apt. He said that von
Neumann had opposed his idea of equilibrium, but that Tucker had
supported him.
Afterward, though, what stood out for Weibull about the meeting,
and the thing that transformed him that day from a detached
observer and objective informant into an ardent advocate, was
something Nash said before they walked into the club. "Can I go
in""Nash had asked uncertainly. "I'm not facultydd"T this great,
great man did not feel that he had a right to eat in the faculty
club struck Weibull as an injustice that demanded remedy.
By the summer of 1993, rumors about a possible
--------------------------------------------------------------856
prize in game theory were rampantdd"A very small, very select
symposium on game theory had taken place in mid-June, at what
used to be Alfred Nobel's old dynamite factory in Bjorkborn, a
few hundred kilometers north of Stockholmdd"Sch symposia,
sponsored by the prize committee, are invariably seen as Nobel
beauty contests. This one was organized by Karl-Gbran Maler with
the help of J6rgen Weibull and a Cambridge economist, Partha
Dasgupta. Lindbeck, who was spending the spring term in
Cambridge, oversaw the preparations by telephone. The dozen or so
invited speakers represented two generations of leading
game-theory researchers, mostly theorists and experimentalists,
among them John Harsanyi, Reinhard Selten, Robert Aumann, David
Kreps, Ariel Rubinstein, Also Roth, Paul Milgrom, and Eric
Maskin. The topic? Rationality and Equilibrium in            A856
Strategic Interaction.
Most of the participants took it for granted that they were
performing for the benefit of the prize committee and assumed
that the three graybeards in the group, Harsanyi, Selten, and
Aumann, were the likely Laureatesdd14 Aumann, the white-bearded
--------------------------------------------------------------857
Israeli dean of game theory, was strutting around "as if he had
already wondd"Much was made of the choice of topic, which was
theoretical and focused on noncooperative as opposed to
cooperative games, and those who hadn't been invited comNash most
obviously, of course.
As it turned out, the prize committee was far from committing
itself to a candidatedd"Protestations that the main motivation
for the symposium was to create an opportunity for the committee
"to educate itselfea"z Torsten Persson of the prize committee put
it later, were accurate. Only one other prize committee member
besides MA-LER was even there-and that was Ingemar Stahl. His
brother, Ingolf, was one of the speakers, and Ingemar intimated
that he had come to hear him. But everyone assumed that he was
there to act as a spy for the committeedd16
A few weeks later, Harold Kuhn, the professor of mathematics and
economics at Princeton University, got an urgent fax from
Stockholm. It was from Weibull, who wanted Kuhn to send a number
of documents, among them Nash's Ph.D. thesis and a RAND
memorandum-"no later than mid-August pleasedd03fulWeibull also
asked Kuhn to get him a transcript of an
--------------------------------------------------------------858
interview with Nash conducted by Robert Leonard, the historian.
Leonard, who had not taped the interview, wrote Kuhn a note in
which he said that the request "sent my mind reeling in the
Swedish direction."
31
In Stockholm, meanwhile, the prize committee was about to report
to the so-called Ninth Class of the academy-all the academy
members in the social sciences. 19 The bulk of the report, of
course, was devoted to the proposed candidates for 1993, two
economics historians, Robert Fogel of the University of Chicago
and Douglass North of Washington University in St. Louis. But the
committee also updated the class on two or three other proposals
that constituted the top choices for subsequent prizes. One of
them was a prize in game theory; Nash was on the short list of
half a dozen candidatesdd40
Nearly the only point the prize committee had agreed on was that
it wanted to go ahead with a prize in game theory in 1994, the
fiftieth anniversary of John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern's
great opus.
Lindbeck and the others were still toying with "every possible
--------------------------------------------------------------859
configuration"of two and three winners
.41
The short list comthe candidates that the committee had focused
most of its attention on comhad scarcely changed since the prize
was first conceiveddd41 Apart from Nash it included Lloyd
Shapley, whom Nash had known as a graduate student at        A859
Princeton. Shapley was the most direct intellectual descendant of
von Neumann and Morgenstern and the clear leader of the field in
the
1950's and 1960's when most of the work was in cooperative
theory. Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi, who had elaborated the
theory of noncooperative games, were also on it. Harsanyi's
breakthroughs permitted analysis of games of incomplete
information while Selten developed a way to discriminate between
reasonable and unreasonable outcomes in games. Aumann, who
developed the role of common knowledge in games, was also on the
list. And Thomas Schelling, who invented the notion of the
strategic value of brinkmanship, was being considered because of
his broad vision for the application of game theory to the social
sciences.
The prize decision is made in stages
.41
--------------------------------------------------------------860
Each year the committee starts meeting soon after the January 31
deadline for the two hundred or so nominations that the committee
solicits from prominent economists around the world. By April,
the committee decides on a particular candidate or candidates. In
late August, it submits the proposal comalong with a document
several inches thick that includes the referee reports,
publications, and other supporting material comto the Ninth Class
for endorsement. The academy then votes on the candidates in
early October. But, as everyone involved was well aware, the
power truly resides in the committee and,
until recently, in one man, Assar Lindbeck. #6Fgren said, "The
prize committee meets for a whole year. It's technically
impossible for the higher body to make the decisiondd044
Debate in the committee was unusually contentious from the first
meeting, attended by Lindbeck, M51er, Stahl, Persson and Lars
Svensondd41 Lindbeck had come to the conclusion that the prize
should be for contributions to noncooperative theory alone. These
were the ideas that had proved fruitful for economics, "the most
important so farea"z Lindbeck later said, adding "cooperative
theory
--------------------------------------------------------------861
has a few interesting applications in economics, but perhaps more
in political sciencedd046 Although Maler sided with Lindbeck from
the start, convincing the rest of the committee was harder than
the latter anticipated. "It seemed self-evident afterward. But it
took a long time to come to this conclusion. And to convince
othersdd041
Of
course, he later admitted, narrowing the prize down in this way
would immediately knock out some of the obvious contenders,
namely Shapley and Schellingdd41 And here was the real bone of
contention: Focusing on noncooperative theory also meant that it
would be difficult to deny Nash the prize. "Once we decided to
limit the prize to noncooperative theory then it was very easy to
decide who were the ... [key contributors). Then it was obvious
that Nash is [part of the] Nobeldd049 Lindbeck proposed a
three-way prize for the definition of equilibria in          A861
noncooperative games: Nash, Harsanyi, and Seltendd111
This was where the debate got nasty.
The person on the committee least intimidated by Lindbeck and
best equipped intellectually
--------------------------------------------------------------862
to challenge him was Ingemar Stahl, a sixty-year-old professor at
Lund with a joint appointment in economics and law." Stahl is a
quick study and a brilliant debater, a man who delights in taking
contrarian, often extreme positions, in any debate. He had long
been one of the most active committee members and had written
many of the committee's prize proposals since the early 1980's.
Stahl is short, with a large head and a big belly. His detractors
call him Zwergel or "little dwarf"bbh his back. A onetime
wunderkind who never quite lived up to his early promise, Stahl
owes the prestigious chair at Lund, his academy membership, and
his longtime position on the prize committee more to his
political connections and his high-profile posture in public
policy debates than to his research output. Like Lindbeck, Stahl
began his upward climb early, while he was still in high school,
as a prot6ong6 of various Social Democratic politicians,
including Palme, but he had gone over to the conservative
opposition in the late 1960's. Stahl was deeply and adamantly
opposed to awarding the prize to Nash. From the start, he was
highly
--------------------------------------------------------------863
skeptical of game theory comz indeed he is of all pure theory. He
is an institutionalist, likes intuitive rather than formal
reasoning, and is leery of mathematics and "techniciansdd"He was,
for example, a main mover behind the prizes for James Buchanan in
1986 and Ronald Coase in 1991 --
economists whose theories focus on the way governments and legal
structures affect the workings of
365
markets. He also prides himself on grasping Nobel politics. The
more he learned about Nash, the less he liked the idea of giving
Nash a prize. In particular, he considered giving the prize to
Nash the kind of ill-considered gesture that was likely to result
in embarrassment and, more important, make the committee look
bad.
"I knew he had been illea"he said later. "I didn't think many
people knew about it. I guess I heard Hbrmander's version."
51
Stahl had done quite a bit of digging. In the early fall, he had
made a call to Lars H6rmander, Sweden's most eminent
mathematician and winner of the
--------------------------------------------------------------864
1962 Fields Medal." Hbrmander had just retired from the
University of Lund. Stahl identified himself as a member of the
Nobel Prize committee. He'd heard that Hbrmander had known Nash
quite well in the 1950's and 1960's, he said. The committee was
thinking of giving Nash a Nobel Prize. Could H6rmander give him
the lowdown on Nash?
Hbrmander was surprised. Like most other pure mathematicians, he
didn't think much of Nash's work in game theory. And the     A864
last time H6rmander had laid eyes on Nash was in the academic
year 1977-78. Hbrmander had been in Princeton and he had seen
Nash hanging around Fine Hall. Nash was "a ghostdd"H6rmander
didn't think Nash had recognized him or had even been aware of
his presence. Hbrmander hadn't even tried to speak with him. To
give such a man a prize seemed to him "absurd, risky."
14
Hbrmander was precise and frank. His memories of Nash were
extremely distasteful. He recalled Nash's decision to give up his
citizenship; his deportation, first from Switzerland, then from
France; Nash's bizarre behavior at the 1962 conference in
--------------------------------------------------------------865
Paris; the stream of anonymous cards, with their hints of envy
and hostility, that came after Hbrmander won the Fields in 1962.
Stahl had also made inquiries among several psychiatrists he knew
who, he says, described the illness as unlike depression or
mania, where the self remains intermittently at least
recognizable. "I knew this type of illnessea"he said later. "I
know some psychiatrists here. Some of the best head shrinkers.
When I talked to them I found out that with this disease there is
a complete change of personality. He is not the man who did the
thing.""
Lindbeck, relying on reports from Weibull and Kuhn, was telling
committee members that Nash was much improved, that he had, in
fact, recovered his sanity. 16 About this, too, Stahl was deeply
skeptical. The psychiatrists he spoke to told him that
schizophrenia is a chronic, unremitting, degenerative disease.
"It's a very tragic illness. It gets calmed down but actually
recovering is another matter.""
Stahl knew that there was great sympathy for Nash. And he could
see that Lindbeek had made up his mind. So he didn't attack
frontally, but simply
--------------------------------------------------------------866
raised question after question. "He'd throw out an argument and
somebody would shoot it downea"said another member of the
committee. "Then he'd shift to another argument. He tried to
irritate and confuse us ... to raise doubts."
18
Stahl would say, "He's sick.... You can't have a person like
thatdd019
He asked what would happen at the ceremony, "Would he come? Could
he handle it? It's a big shoWdd061
He quoted Hbrmander and others who had known Nash in the 1950's
and
1960's. He read them what he considered a particularly damning
quotation from a book by Martin Shubik, who had known Nash as a
graduate student.
"The most damning thingea"Stahl repeated later, was something
Martin Shubik wrote in one of his books: that "you can only
understand the Nash equilibrium if you have met Nash. Ifs a game
and it's played alonedd061
He brought up Nash's work for RAND: "These guys worked with the
atom bomb during the cold war. It would be a shameful thing for
the prizedd061                                               A866
--------------------------------------------------------------867
He brought up Nash's lack of interest in game theory after
graduate school. As Lindbeck, Jacobson, the academy's secretary
general, and others later hinted, Stahl was not the first member
of a Nobel Prize committee who was motivated by deep animus
toward a particular candidate or who embraced a wide range of
intellectual objections in an effort to derail the candidatedd61
But as the spring wore on, Stahl made a great many midnight phone
calls. He seemed, Weibull later recalled, to be trying out any
and all arguments against Nash's candidacydd61
What was certainly the case throughout those months, a member of
the Swedish academy said, was a growing feeling on Stahl's and
others' part that "a few bad choices would sink the prize. Nash
was of course a very weak prize. People were afraid that the
thing would blow up. A big scandaldd061 And David Warsh, a
syndicated columnist in whom Stahl evidently confided,
subsequently wrote, "The whole intellectual world is watching to
see what the Swedish Academy of Sciences is going to do about
Nash. The Swedes are known to be worried about what Nash might
saydd066 Christer Kiselman, head
--------------------------------------------------------------868
of the mathematics class of the academy at the time and a member
of the academy's governing council, remembers talking to Stahl.
He recalls that Stahl told him that Nash's work was done too long
ago and was too mathematical to warrant a prizedd61 Kiselman,
whose son Ola has suffered from schizophrenia since age sixteen,
had a different interpretation: "[Stahl) was afraid of
schizophrenia. So he had some prejudices. So he thought other
people would think the same way. He was afraid of some scandal
that would reflect on the committee."
61
One by one Lindbeck knocked down Stahl's objectionsdd69 Lindbeck
has a reputation for courage. He has never been afraid to take
unpopular positions, even at the risk of alienating his political
allies. In the late 1970's, for example, he had publicly opposed
a favorite Social Democrat proposal to promote worker ownership
of manufacturing concerns that had become trendydd70 Now Lindbeck
took the position that Stahl's objections-that Nash was a
mathematician, that Nash had stopped being interested in game
theory forty years
--------------------------------------------------------------869
earlier, that Nash was mentally ill comwere irrelevant. He too
was worried that Nash would do something peculiar at the
ceremony, but he was sure that could be
managed. In any case, it was no basis for denying the prize to
someone who was, on intellectual grounds, obviously worthy.
Besides, he found that his emotions were involveddd71 Most
Laureates were already famous and much honored. The Nobel was
only a crowning glory. But in Nash's case it was quite different.
Lindbeck thought a great deal about the "misery of his life"and
that Nash bad been, for all intents and purposes, forgotten.
Later, he was to say, "Nash was different. He had gotten no
recognition and was living in real misery. We helped lift him
into daylight. We resurrected him in a way. It was           A869
emotionally satisfying.0"The only other time Lindbeck had felt
similarly was when a Viennese libertarian and critic of Keynes,
Friedrich von Hayek, won. "Hayek was so hated, so despised....
He'd been in a very deep depression, he told me. It was terribly
satisfying to indicate his greatness.""
The committee listened to Stahl, but it soon became
--------------------------------------------------------------870
clear that he wasn't going to win allies. The younger men,
Svenson and Persson, were keen on a game-theory prize, and the
older ones weren't inclined to pick a fight with Lindbeck.
The normal procedure when there are unresolved disagreements is
to append a formal reservation -- a minority opinion -- to the
committee reportdd14Such reservations, which are duly reported to
the full academy at the voting session, are not unheard of in
physics or chemistry." And, although they are not reported in the
announcements at the time of the decision, they become part of
the official record and may be made public after fifty years.
Things were different in the economics committee. Lindbeck was
extremely proud of its record and apparently regarded unanimity
as necessary in maintaining the prize's credibilitydd16
As the report to the Ninth Class was being readied, Stahl
threatened to register a formal reservationdd"In the end-whether
because of pressure from Lindbeck, advice from his old friend
Maler, or simply a reluctance to go down in history as first to
break the former pattern of unanimity-he did not. The Class,
which is used to going along with committee proposals, endorsed
the proposal.
--------------------------------------------------------------871
To Lindbeck, this was the end of the matter. He had prevailed, as
he usually did. He felt, however, that extraordinary measures
were necessary to make sure that everything would go smoothly
once the media furor broke. He took an unprecedented step. He
telephoned Kuhn in Princeton and told him that "it's ninety-nine
percent certain now"t Nash would get the prize. "The votes were
unanimousea"he told Kuhn, not giving any hint of the
controversy." He gave Kuhn permission to inform the president of
Princeton University of the impending award so that the
university could make arrangements. As it turns out, Kuhn had to
wait until after Labor Day to pass along his exciting newsdd71
Harold Shapiro, president of Princeton, was away on vacation.
For once, Lindbeck, for all his political savvy, was wrong. It
was not just that Stahl, who was far angrier than Lindbeck
appreciated at the time, was a powder keg
waiting to explode. Rather, Lindbeck's own long reign, and,
indeed, the economics prize itself, were on shakier ground than
he imagined. Powerful critics of both within the academy,
including a former secretary general of the academy and a number
of
--------------------------------------------------------------872
prominent physicists, were itching to do something. This prize
had become an issue for them. Few people outside Sweden, indeed,
few outside the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, realize how
controversial, even vulnerable, the economics prize has been
since its creation in 1968 and continues to be to the        A872
present.
The economics prize has never been especially popular within the
academy, "Many people question the Nobel Prize [in economics]
hereea"said one longtime member." Oldtimers still thought it had
been a grave mistake to add a new Nobel to the original prizes.
They thought it cheapened the currency and had, after the
"mistake" of accepting the economics prize, successfully fought
off efforts to establish other prizes that used the Nobel name.
Erik Dahmen, an economist who was a close adviser to one of the
richest families in Sweden, the Wallenbergs, calls it "the
so-called Nobel Prize in economics.0"He adds:
This is not
really
a Nobel Prize. It should never be spoken of together with the
other prizes. The academy should never have accepted the prize in
economics. I have been against
--------------------------------------------------------------873
the prize since I became a member of the academy.
One physicist said: "The economics prize was just a way of
jumping on the Nobel bandwagon, piggybacking on the Nobel.""
Economics was not held in high regard by many of the natural
scientists who dominated the academy. It is not, they said, a
sufficiently scientific field to deserve equal footing with hard
sciences like physics and chemistry. Ideas, they said, slipped in
and out of fashion, but one could not point to scientific
progress, a body of theories and empirical facts about which
there was certainty and near-universal agreement. Anders
Karlquist, a physicist, said, "It's not as solid and big an
enterprise as chemistry and physics."" Lars GA-RDING, a
mathematician at the academy, for example, said later that Nash's
prize was for "a very small thing."
14
Finally, there is a widespread feeling, particularly on the part
of natural scientists and mathematicians, that the shallowness of
the field was leading to a sharp and rapid decline in the quality
of Laureates coma decline that would necessarily
--------------------------------------------------------------874
worsen with time. Bengt Nagel, secretary of the physics Nobel
Prize committee, jokingly quotes an economist who is supposed to
have said in the early 1980's, "All the mighty firs have fallen.
Now there are only bushes left.""
There are occasional calls to abolish the prize. After Myrdal won
the prize, he is supposed to have suggested abolishing the prize
because there were no longer any prizeworthy candidatesdd16As
recently as 1994, Kjell Olof Feldt, the former minister of
finance and soon-to-be chairman of the board of the Bank of
Sweden comwh finances the prize comsuggested in a lengthy article
in a political monthly that the prize be done away with."
But although many academy members regret that the prize was
established in
the first place, said Karlquist, they "realize that it's a fact
of life."", By 1994, in fact, the critics' objective was to wrest
control of the prize from the economists. Lindbeck was personally
unpopular. It was particularly galling that membership in    A874
the economics prize committee seemed to be a lifetime sinecure
and that its members could choose winners without any real
accountability to the
--------------------------------------------------------------875
academy.
In February, an academy committee had "suggested"t the economics
prize committee be forced to operate by the same rules that apply
to the physics and chemistry committeesdd19 The suggestion was
not binding, but it was a warning note, the first concrete sign
that critics of the prize were gaining momentum, and it carried
with it the promise that the academy council would, when it got
around to it, appoint another group specifically mandated to deal
with the matter of the economics prize. The imposition, as for
other standing committees, of term limits would, of course, have
a drastic and immediate effect on the economics committee. It
would eliminate Lindbeck, Miler, and Stahl, the three longtime
members, and virtually end their reign. The other, and more
drastic, suggestion was to widen the membership to include
non-economists and, most radically, to transform the economics
Nobel into, in effect, "the Nobel Prize in social sciences," a
notion that appealed not only to natural scientists, but also to
the psychologists, sociologists, and other non-economists in the
academy's Ninth Classdd90
Thus the debate between Lindbeck and Stahl over
--------------------------------------------------------------876
whether Nash was a suitable candidate for the prize, a debate
that really turned on whether the choice of Nash would embarrass
the committee, took place in an unusually hostile atmosphere and
under intense scrutiny. The future of the prize committee and the
prize looked more vulnerable than they had in times past. All of
these behind-the-scenes opinions and maneuvers explain why,
between early September and early October, Stahl acquired a
powerful set of allies who joined him for reasons quite apart
from Nash's candidacydd91 The stage was set.
In the end, Nash and the two other candidates for the 1994
economics prize passed by a mere handful of votes comthe first in
the history to skirt so close to defeat."` It is a peculiarity,
indeed a major administrative and logistical headache, of the
Nobel Prize process that no award can really be said to exist
until the members of the fall body of the Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences have had their say. They have "the sole right to
decideea"z a Nobel Foundation booklet puts it: "Even a unanimous
committee recommendation may be overruleddd091 Only when the
plenary session has cast ballots and the votes are counted and
the results
--------------------------------------------------------------877
announced do the secretary general and members of the prize
committee march off to telephone the winners. They then proceed
to the Sessions Hall to announce the winners` names to the world
press. Other prizes, like the Fields Medal for mathematics or the
John Bates Clark medal for economics, by contrast, are settled
months ahead of time, their winners notified after a leisurely
interval and carefully instructed to sit on the secret until the
awarding institutions get around to issuing their press      A877
releases or
holding their festivities. Presumably, the inconvenience of the
last-minute Nobel vote is outweighed by the benefit of being able
to avoid leaks before the official announcement.
The Nobel vote, moreover, is traditionally a mostly ceremonial
affair, the final flourish after a lengthy selection procedure
that is more or less completely dominated by the senior members
of the prize committees. In the case of the economics prize, a
few dozen random academicians coma fraction of the number who
turn out for the physics or chemistry prizes, the other two Nobel
awards administered by the academy- assemble in the second week
of October largely for the pleasure of hearing
--------------------------------------------------------------878
a distinguished lecture on the proposed candidates' contributions
to scientific progress. As one academy member put it, "Members
attend less for the vote itself than for a chance to hear the
presentations."
14
In some recent years, the modest quorum of forty academy members
has proved difficult to achievedd91 According to the rules,
academy members have three options. They may vote for the
candidate or candidates proposed by the committee and endorsed by
the Social Sciences Class. They may vote for an alternative
candidate of their own choosing. Or they may vote not to give a
prize that year. The winner or winners must obtain a simple
majority of votes. Until 1994, no candidates proposed by the
committee had ever failed to gain a wide majority of votes.
The academy meeting that began promptly at 10:00 A.M.
on Tuesday, October
12, in a rather small, poorly ht auditorium tucked in a far comer
of the academy's ground floorea96 promised to be no more or less
interesting than previous years' meetings. Fewer
--------------------------------------------------------------879
than sixty members were scattered around the room, but, as the
officials present noted with satisfaction, there was no question
of not getting a quorum. (A couple of years earlier, thirty-nine
members had sat in that room waiting for a fortieth -- who did
finally show upddgg91 Kerstin Fredga, the astrophysicist who was
the academy's president, and Carl-Olof Jacobson were sitting side
by side on the stage. The ballot box was perched at the end of
the platform. The five members of the prize committee who
belonged to the academy were sitting near the front of the room.
Lindbeck was at the podium in a few long strides. Wearing his
thick blackrimmed glasses and usual frown of concentration,
Lindbeck dove right into his subject, an overview of the entire
process by which the committee had arrived at its recommendation
for a prize in game theory, Always intense, Lindbeck stuttered
with excitement, waved his long arms, and made a good many very
dry jokesdd91 He was followed by Jacobsonealow-keyed by contrast,
who gave the official endorsement of the Social Sciences Class.
Both men claimed that the decisions by the committee as well as
the Class were, as always,

unanimous. Lindbeck added that unanimity had come about "as   880
if by an Invisible Hand `was his standing joke. Finally, M51er
got up and launched the main presentation, a lecture on the
contributions of the three candidates.
The lecture was quite disappointing. M51er, never a brilliant
speaker, was more nervous and unsure of himself than usualdd99 He
quickly became mired in technicalities and jargon. He read most
of it, His wife had left him a few weeks
earlier, he was agitated and depressed, and he had had a terrible
time preparing the talk.
All this took something like an hour. Had things proceeded as
usual there would have been a few rather perfunctory and mostly
polite questions from the floor, perhaps a standard monologue by
one of the oldtimers about the dubiousness of the economics prize
in the first place, before a general silence, a passing-out of
plain squares of white paper and number two pencils, quick
scribbles, folding, and the drifting down of academicians to the
stage to stuff their ballots in the box.
Instead, all hell broke loose. Later the president of the Nobel
Foundation remarked wryly that "Troy could only have been
destroyed by someone inside
--------------------------------------------------------------881
the walls. And that's what happened here."""No one recalls
whether
Stahl launched
the first verbal grenade, but it was soon obvious to Lindbeck and
M51er that they were in the midst of an ambush. Stahl challenged
Maler to give a single major example showing that the theory had
any empirical validity whatsoever. Wer, who was in particularly
poor shape to answer questions, fumbled. Stahl did notcontrary to
a story six weeks later in
Dagens Nyheter,
one of Sweden's two dailies comd anything as crass, or risky, as
to urge the academy to withhold the prize to Nash because of the
mathematician's mental illness."" Instead, he argued, forcefully
and brilliantly, that a prize for non-cooperative game theory was
too narrow, too insubstantial, too technical. He reminded the
audience that Nash's contribution had been made nearly half a
century earlier and that it was more mathematics than economics.
He derided Harsanyi and Selten for being "boring,0"mere
techniciansdd"Other members of the audience soon chimed in.
Stahl did not make the mistake of merely
--------------------------------------------------------------882
criticizing the committee's proposal, which, after all, he had
signed. He had an alternative, he said.",` In light of the
members' unhappiness, in light of unanswered questions, in light
of Wer's clearly unsatisfactory report, might it not be more
prudent to postpone the prize in game theory? Why not vote
instead to give the prize to Robert Lucas, the University of
Chicago professor whom the committee had virtually decided to
propose for the following year."` Everybody, he reminded them,
was enthusiastic about Lucas, who had invented a theory to
explain why governments` efforts to manage the business cycle
were doomed to failure com"rational expectations"- and was
clearly one of the most important economists of the          A882
century. It was an unassailable choice.
Lindbeck, who had at first seemed stunned by the audacity of
Stahl's surprise attack, told the members in no uncertain terms
what Stahl was implying. He reminded the members that Stahl had
signed on to the game-theory prize and accused Stahl of wishing
to scuffle the prize because of Nash's illness. He told the
membership that it would be a grave injustice to withhold the
prize. He did not
--------------------------------------------------------------883
tell them that, in an absolute breach of the Nobel rules, he had
already informed Princeton University's president, Alicia Nash,
and Nash himself that he was getting the prize. But those facts
were very much in his mind as he appealed to the members.
114
By the time Carl-Olof Jacobson called for the vote, the
atmosphere in the room was tense and bitter. An unusually large
number of academicians stayed to
hear the vote count. Two members of the academy chosen by the
president and Jacobson removed the ballots in front of the
audience and tallied the votes. The paper was handed to Jacobson,
and Jacobson read the votes one name at a time. For Lindbeck it
was, as he later said, a moment of unbearable suspense. Mr. Nash
... Mr. Harsanyi ... Mr. Selten ... Mr. Lucas ... no prize....
A few moments later, Fredga, Jacobson, Lindbeck, and Wer, very
much shaken, were the only ones left in the room. Their
candidates had gotten all that they needed: a slim majority of
the votes. Later, in public, these individuals would all
--------------------------------------------------------------884
deny that anything extraordinary had happened. They would pretend
that Wer's report had been unusually long, that there had been a
great many questions, that the Laureates had been difficult to
reach, or simply state baldly that the delay had never occurred.
But behind closed doors, within the academy, there would be
shock, consternation, and fingerpointing. "It was a unique event.
It had never happened beforeea"said one member of the academy.
"It's not good for the academy to have close votesea"said
Kiselman."` The very next day the council hastily appointed an ad
hoc committee "to study the future of the economics prize."
1116
Afterward, a committee member friendly to Stahl would say that
Stahl had been "used by the physicistsdd0101 Stahl's double-cross
had backfired. Instead of being regarded as the man who saved the
prize committee from an embarrassing mistake, he had set into
motion the very consequences he feared. Like players in So Long
Sucker, the game that Nash and his friends at Princeton had
invented forty years earlier, Lindbeck and MA-ER formed a
temporary coalition with the critics of the economics prize. They
threw themselves behind the rules changes. They were
--------------------------------------------------------------885
determined to punish Stahl and get him off the committee -- even
if the new rules meant that they bad to step aside as well. One
prize committee member called their strategy "elegantdd0101 Had
Nash known about it, he would have appreciated it as a textbook
execution of McCarthy's Revenge Rule, especially because     A885
Lindbeck could reasonably expect to get elected to the committee
again after a three-year interlude, but Stahl, who had provoked
the scandal and compounded his sin by talking to a reporter, was
out for good.
The consequences did not end there. According to several members
of the academy, the ad hoc committee went on record to recommend
changing the very nature of the economics prize. In its report,
issued a few months later, in February
1995, the committee issued an instruction that essentially
redefined the economics prize as a prize in social sciences, open
to great contributions in fields like political science,
psychology, and sociologydd109 It also ordered the committee
membership to be opened to two non-economists. No public
announcement of these far-reaching changes was made. But within a
year, Lindbeck, Wer, and Stahl were gone; two social
--------------------------------------------------------------886
scientists who weren't economists-a statistician and a
sociologist- were
members of the prize committee; and among the top candidates for
the prize was Amos Tversky, an Israeli psychologist who works on
irrationality in decision making."`
In the auditorium on October 12, the three men rushed over to a
small committee room."` Jacobson was armed with a page of
telephone numbers for the Laureates. It was he who would inform
the Laureates of the honor that was about to grace them.
They tried to reach Selten first since Selten was in Germany and,
unlike Nash or Harsanyi, would not necessarily be asleep. It was
early in the morning for Nash in New Jersey and the middle of the
night for Harsanyi in California. As it turns out, Selten was out
grocery shopping. Jacobson then tried Harsanyi and, when he got
him, quickly put Wer, who knew Harsanyi well, on the line to
quickly assure him, with much joviality, that Jacobson was not
some student or, worse, reporter playing a trick on him."`
Nash was the last to be called. Jacobson waited expectantly as
the telephone rang. Unbeknownst to most of Jacobson's colleagues
at the
--------------------------------------------------------------887
academy, he bad a brother who, like Nash, had been diagnosed with
schizophrenia as a young man in the 1950's and had been
institutionalized ever since."` It was a moment of incredible
poignancy for Jacobson, "the greatest momentea"he later said, of
his twenty-year tenure at the academy.
"He was unusually calmea"he said afterward. "That was my thought.
'He is taking this very calmly.`"
114
Washington, D.C., December 1994
ON
THE AFTERNOON-OF
December 5, 1994, John Nash was riding in a taxi headed to Newark
Airport on his way to Stockholm, where he would, in a few days'
time, receive from the King of Sweden the gold medal engraved
with the portrait of Alfred Nobel.` At around the same time, a
few hundred miles to the south, in downtown Washington, DddC,,
Vice-President Also Gore was announcing with great fanfare   A887
the opening of "the greatest auction ever."`

There was, as
The New York Times
would later report, no fast-talking auctioneer, no
--------------------------------------------------------------888
banging gavel, no Old Masters.` On the auction block was thin
airairwaves that could be used for the new wireless gadgets like
telephones, pagers, faxes -- worth billions and billions of
dollars, enough licenses for every major American city to have
three competing cellular phone services. In the secret war rooms
and bidding booths were CEO's of the world's biggest
communications conglomerates comand an unlikely group of blue-sky
economic theoreticians who were advising them. When the auction
finally closed the following March, the winning bids totaled more
than $7 billion, making it the biggest sale in American history
of public assets and one of the most successful (and lucrative)
applications of economic theory to public policy everdd4Michael
Rothschild, dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, later
called it "a demonstration that people thinking hard about a
problem can make the world work better ... a triumph of pure
thoughtdd"I

The juxtaposition of Core and Nash, the high-tech auction and the
medieval pomp of the Nobel ceremony, was hardly an accident. The
FCC auction was designed by young economists who were using
--------------------------------------------------------------889
tools created by John Nash, John Harsanyi, and Reinhard Selten.
Their ideas were specifically designed for analyzing rivalry and
cooperation among a small number of rational players with a mix
of conflicting and similar interests: people, governments, and
corporations comand even animal species.`

The prize itself was a long-overdue acknowledgment by the Nobel
committee that a sea change in economics, one that had been under
way for more than a decade, had taken place. As a discipline,
economics had long been dominated by Adam Smith's brilliant
metaphor of the Invisible Hand. Smith's concept of perfect
competition envisions so many buyers and sellers that no single
buyer or seller has to worry about the reactions of others. It is
a powerful idea, one that predicted how free-market economies
would evolve and gave policyrnakers a guide for encouraging
growth and dividing the economic pie fairly. But in the world of
megamergers, big government, massive foreign direct investment,
and wholesale privatization, where the game is played by a
handful of players, each taking into account the others' actions,
each pursuing his own best
--------------------------------------------------------------890
strategies, game theory has come to the fore.`
After decades of resistance comPaul Samuelson used to joke about
"the swamp of n-person game theory"ful-a younger generation of
theorists began using game theory in areas from trade to
industrial organization to public finance in the late
1970's and early 1980'sdd9 Game theory opened up "terrain    A890
for systematic thinking that was previously closed." Indeed, as
game theory and information economics have become increasingly
entwined, markets traditionally seen as fitting the purely
competitive mold have increasingly been studied using game-theory
assumptions. The latest generation of texts used in top graduate
schools today all recast the basic theories of the firm and the
consumer, the foundation of economics, in terms of strategic
games."`
"Concepts, terminology and models from game theory have come to
dominate many areas of economicsea"said Avinash Dixit, an
economist at Princeton who uses game theory in work on
international trade and is the author of
Thinking Strategically,
"At last we are seeing the realization of the true
--------------------------------------------------------------891
potential of the revolution launched by von Neumann and
Morgenstern.0"And because most economic applications of game
theory use the Nash equilibrium concept, "Nash is the point of
departuredd011
The revolution has gone far beyond research journals,
experimental laboratories at Caltech and the University of
Pittsburgh, and classrooms of elite business schools and
universities. The current generation of economic policyrnakers
comincluding Lawrence Summers, undersecretary of the treasury,
Joseph Stiglitz, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers,
and Vice-President A] Gore-are steeped in the stuff, which, they
say, is useful for thinking about everything from budget
proposals to Federal Reserve policy to pollution cleanups.
The most dramatic use of game theory is by governments from
Australia to Mexico to sell scarce public resources to buyers
best able to develop them. The radio spectrum, T-bills, oil
leases, timber, and pollution rights are now sold in auctions
designed by game theorists comwith far greater success than that
of earlier policies."
--------------------------------------------------------------892
Economists like Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase have advocated the
use of auctions by government since the 1950's. 14Auctions have
long been used in markets where sellers of unusual items -- from
vintage wines to movie rights -- have no idea what bidders are
willing to pay. Their basic purpose is to make bidders reveal how
much they value the item. But the arguments of Coase and others
were stated in abstract, entirely theoretical terms, and little
thought was given to how such auctions would actually be
conducted. Congress remained skeptical.
Before 1994, Washington simply gave away licenses for free. Until
1982, it had been up to regulators to decide which companies
deserved the licenses. Needless to say, the process was dominated
by political pressures, outrageously expensive paperwork, and
long delays. The pace of licensing lagged hopelessly behind
market shifts and new technologies. After 1982, Washington
awarded licenses using lotteries, with the winners free to resell
licenses. Although the reform did speed up the granting of
licenses, the process was still hugely inefficient-and unfair.
Bidders with no intention of operating an actual telephone   A892
business
--------------------------------------------------------------893
spent millions to get into the game for the purpose of reaping a
windfall. Further, although telephone companies were forced to
pay the costs of obtaining licenses, Washington (and taxpayers)
did not get the benefit of any revenues. There had to be a better
way.
A young generation of game theorists, including Paul Milgrom,
John Roberts, and Robert Wilson at the Stanford B-school, came up
with that better waydd"Their chief contribution consisted of
recognizing, as Milgrorn said, that "the mere design
of some
auction wasn't enough.... (Gletting the auction design right was
also critically important"
16
In particular, they concluded that the most obvious auction
designs -- auctioning licenses one by one in sequence using
simultaneous sealed bids comwas the way least likely to succeed
in getting licenses into the hands of corporations that could use
them best comWashington's stated objective.
Game theorists treat an auction like a game with rules and try to
evaluate how a given set of rules, taken together, is apt to
affect the bidders'
--------------------------------------------------------------894
behavior. They take stock of the options the rules allow, the
payoffs to the bidders associated with the options, and bidders'
expectations about their competitors' likely choices.
Why did these economists conclude that traditional auction
formats would not work? Mainly because the value of each
individual license to a user depends
- as is the case with a Rembrandt or a Picasso -- on what other
licenses the user is able to obtain. Some licenses are perfect
substitutes for one another. That would be the case for similar
spectrum bands to provide a given service. But others are
complements. That would be the case for licenses to provide
paging services in different parts of the country.
"To permit the efficient license assignment, an auction must
allow bidders to consider various packages of licenses, combining
complements and switching among substitutes during the course of
the auction. Designing an auction to allow this is quite
difficult," writes Paul Milgrorn, one of the economists who
designed the FCC auction of which Gore was speaking."
A second source of complexity, Milgrorn says, is that the purpose
of the licenses is
--------------------------------------------------------------895
to create businesses for new services with unknown technology and
unknown consumer demand. Since bidders' opinions are bound to be
wildly divergent, it is possible that license assignment would
depend more on bidders' opti-
mism than on their ability to create a desired service."`
Ideally, an auction design can minimize that problem.
As Congress and the FCC inched closer to the notion of auctioning
off spectrum rights, Australia and New Zealand both conducted
spectrum auctionsdd19 That they proved to be costly flops    A895
and political disasters illustrated that the devil really was in
the details. In New Zealand, the government ran a so-called
second price auction, and newspapers were full of stories about
winners who paid far below their bids, In one case, the high bid
was NZDD7 million, the second bid NZDD5,000, and the winner paid
the lower price. In another, an Otago University student bid NZ$I
for a television license in a small city. Nobody else bid, so he
got it for one dollar. The government expected the cellular
licenses to fetch NZDD240 million. The actual revenue was NZDD36
million, one-seventh of the advance
--------------------------------------------------------------896
estimate. In Australia, a botched auction, in which parvenu
bidders pulled the wool over the government's eyes, delayed the
introduction of pay television by almost a year.
The FCC's chief economist was an advocate of auctions, but no
game theorists were involved in the first stage of the FCC
auction design. The theorists` phones started ringing only by
accident after the FCC issued a tentative proposal for an auction
format with dozens of footnotes to the theoretical literature on
auctionsdd10 That was how Milgrom and his colleague Robert
Wilson, leading auction theorists, got into the game.
Milgrom and Wilson proposed that the FCC adopt a simultaneous,
multipleround auctiondd"In a simultaneous auction, a bunch of
licenses are sold at the same time. Multiple rounds mean that,
after the first round of bidding, prices are announced, and
bidders have a chance to withdraw or raise one another's bids.
This is repeated round after round until the auction is over. The
chief advantage of this format is that it allows bidders to take
account of interdependencies among licenses. just as sequential,
closed-bid auctions let sellers discover what bidders are willing
to pay for
--------------------------------------------------------------897
individual items, the simultaneous, ascending-bid auction lets
them discover the market value of different groupings of items.
This early proposal-which the FCC eventually adopted-did not
cover seemingly small but critical detailsdd"Should there be
deposits? Minimum bid increments? Time limits? Should the bidding
system be wholly computerized or executed by band? and so forth.
Milgrom, Roberts, and another game theorist, Preston McAfee, an
adviser to AirTbuch, provided proposals on these issues. The FCC
hired another game theorist, John McMillan, of the University of
California at San Diego, to help evaluate the effect of every
proposed rule. According to Milgrom, "Game theory played a
central role in the analysis of the rules. Ideas of Nash
equilibrium, rationalizability, backward induction, and
incomplete information, though rarely named explicitly, were the
real basis of daily decisions about the details of the auction
process."" By late spring 1995, Washington had raised more than
$10 billion from
spectrum auctions. The press and the politicians were ecstatic.
Corporate bidders were largely able


to protect themselves from predatory bidding and were able    898
to assemble an economically sensible set of licenses. It was, as
John McMillan said, disa triumph for game theorydd"14
50 Reawakening
Princeton, 1995-97
Mathema6cs is a young man game. Yet it is not bearable to
contemplate a brief distinction and burgeoning ofactivity...
followed by a lifetime of boredom.
comNoRBERT WIENER
ON
THE AFTERNOON
of the Nobel announcement, after the press conference, a small
champagne party was in progress in Fine Hall. Nash made a short
speech.` He was not inclined to give speeches, he said, but he
had three things to say. First, he hoped that getting the Nobel
would improve his credit rating because he really wanted a credit
card. Second, he said that one is supposed to say that one is
really glad he is sharing the prize, but he wished he had won the
whole thing because he really needed the money badly. Third, Nash
said that he had won for game theory and that he felt that game
theory was like string theory, a subject
--------------------------------------------------------------899
of great intrinsic intellectual interest that the world wishes to
imagine can be of some utility. He said it with enough skepticism
in his voice to make it funny.
All the Swedes` fears -- not to mention Harold Kuhn's own private
worries -- about how Nash would cope with the pomp in Stockholm
proved groundless. Everything went swimmingly. The receptions.
The press briefings. The Nobel award ceremony itself. The lecture
in Uppsala afterward. Indeed, in the weeks between the
announcement of the prize and the ceremony, Nash did and felt
things that had lain beyond his grasp for decades. When he first
arrived in Stockholm, J6rgen Weibull recalled, he behaved pretty
much as Weibull had remembered from Princeton a few years before:
"He didn't look you in the eye. He mumbled. Socially he was very
tentative, very uncertain. But his mood went up from day to day.
He got less and less unhappy."`
Harold Kuhn, who was to lead a Nobel seminar honoring Nash's
work, and his wife Estelle accompanied Nash and Alicia to
Stockholm.` It was exhilarating. The nicest moment of the week,
so full of grand scenes and ceremonies, came when
--------------------------------------------------------------900
Nash had his much-dreaded private audience with the King. By
tradition, the King spends
a couple of minutes alone with each Laureate. When Nash's turn
came, he grimaced and frowned so much that Harold was afraid he
might refuse to go into the King's chambers at the last minute,
but finally he followed the aide inside.
Five minutes passed, then seven. Finally, after a full ten
minutes, Nash emerged, looking relaxed, even amused. "What did
you talk about""everybody asked at once. Quite a bit, it turned
out. In 1958, John told Harold and Estelle, he and Alicia had
taken a grand tour of Europe and had driven up into the south of
Sweden in their new Mercedes 180. The King had been a student in
Uppsala then, addicted to fast sports cars. Around that      A900
time, the Swedes were shifting from driving on the left to
driving on the right. Nash and the King had spent ten minutes
chatting about the pitfalls of driving fast on the lefthand side
of the road.
At dusk, Nash and Weibull were riding in a limousine through the
countryside north of Stockholm. The farmhouses were lighting up
one at a time, the sky was beginning to glimmer. Nash reached
over to Weibull and said, "Look, Jargen. It's so beautifuldd0bled
--------------------------------------------------------------901
They were on their way back from Uppsala where Nash had given a
talk comhis
first in three decades.` Nash hadn't been asked to give the
customary hour-long Nobel lecture in Stockholm. The lecture at
the University of Uppsala was arranged by Christer
Kiselmandd6Nash's chosen topic was a problem that had interested
him before his illness and that he had taken up again since his
remission: developing a mathematically correct theory of a
non-expanding universe that is consistent with known physical
observations. The conventional view, of course, is that the
universe is expanding, and attempting to overturn the consensus
is exactly the kind of contrarian intellectual bet that Nash has
always enjoyed. Nash's talk on "the possibility that the universe
isn't expanding"bbgan with tensor calculus and general relativity
comstuff so difficult that Einstein used to say he understood it
only in moments of exceptional mental clarity. Though he later
confessed to nervousness, he spoke without notes, clearly and
convincingly, according to Weibull, who has a doctorate in
physics.` Physicists and mathematicians in the audience said
afterward that Nash's
--------------------------------------------------------------902
ideas were interesting, made sense, and were expressed with the
appropriate degree of skepticism.
It is a quiet life, despite the fairytale of Stockholm and the
lofty status of Laureate. The Nashes still live in the Insulbrick
house with the hydrangeas out front, next to the alley and across
from the Princeton train station. There is a new boiler, a new
roof, a few new items of furniture, but that's about it. (Nash
was also able to pay down his half of the mortgage.) The few
friends they see regularly, among them Jim Manganaro, Felix and
Eva Browder, and of course Armand and Gaby Borel, are pretty much
the people they have been seeing for some years. Their daily
routines have changed less than one might think, dominated as
they are by the twin needs of earning a living and caring for
Johnny. Alicia takes the train to
Newark every day. Nash, who no longer drives, rides the
"Dinky"infftown, eats lunch at the Institute, and spends the
afternoons in the library or, on rare occasions, in his new
office. Very often, when Johnny is not in the hospital or on the
road, he takes Johnny with him.
It is a life resumed, but time did not stand still
--------------------------------------------------------------903
while Nash was dreaming. Like Rip Van Winkle, Odysseus, and
countless fictional space travelers, he wakes to find that the
world he left behind has moved on in his absence. The        A903
brilliant young men that were are retiring or dying. The children
are middle-aged. The slender beauty, his wife, is now a mature
woman in her sixties. And there is his own seventieth birthday
fast approaching.
There are days when he feels that he has escaped the ravages of
time, when he believes he can pick up where he left off, when he
feels "like a person who wants to do the research he might have
done in his 30's and 40's at the delayed time of his 60's and
70'sff"In his Nobel autobiography, he writes:
Statistically, it would seem improbable that any mathematician or
scientist, at the age of 66, would be able through continued
research efforts to add to his or her previous achievements.
However, I am still making the effort, and it is conceivable that
with the gap period of 25 years of partially deluded thinking
providing a sort of vacation, my situation may be atypical. Thus
I have hopes of being able to achieve something of value through
my current studies or with any new ideas that come in the
future.`
--------------------------------------------------------------904
But many days he is not able to work. As Nash once told Harold
Kuhn, "The Phantom was not in until very late, after 6:00 Pddm.
because even a Phantom can have ordinary human problems and need
to go to a doctor." And there are other days when he discovers an
error in his calculations or learns that a promising idea has
already been mined by someone else, or when he hears of new
experimental data that seem to make certain speculations of his
seem less interesting.
On such days, he is full of regrets. The Nobel cannot restore
what has been lost. For Nash, the primary pleasure in life had
always come from creative work rather than from emotional
closeness to other people. Thus, recognition for his past
achievements, while a balm, has also cast a harsh light on the
vexing issue of what he is capable of doing now. As Nash put it
in 1995, getting a Nobel after a long period of mental illness
was not impressive; what would be impressive is persons who AFTER
a time of mental illness achieve a high level of mental
functioning (and not just a high level of social
respectability.)""
Nash gave the starkest assessment of his own situation in front
of an audience of psychiatrists to whom
--------------------------------------------------------------905
he had been introduced as "a symbol of hopedd"In answer to a
question at the end of his 1996 Madrid lecture, he said, "To
recover rationality after being irrational, to recover a normal
life, is a great thingff"B then he paused, stepped back, and said
in a far stronger, more assertive voice: "But maybe it is not
such a great thing. Suppose you have an artist. He's rational,
But suppose he cannot paint. He can function normally. Is it
really a cure? Is it really a salvation? ... I feel I am not a
good example of a person who recovered unless I can do some good
workea"adding in a wistful, barely audible whisper, "although I
am rather olddd"I I
These thoughts were much in Nash's mind when he turned down an
offer of thirty thousand dollars from the Princeton          A905
University Press in 1995 to publish his collected works.
"Psychologically I have a problem since I have been,
unfortunately, a long time without any publicationsea"he said to
Harold Kuhn. He was saying, in short, that he doesn't want to
close the door on future work by acknowledging that his lifetime
oeuvre is complete. As Nash says, "I did not want to publish a
collected works simply because I wanted to think of
--------------------------------------------------------------906
myself as, and assume the posture of, a mathematician, still
actively engaged in research and not just resting on his laurels
(as they say). And of course I knew that if a collected works was
not published at this time, then it could be published later
when, hopefully, I would have nice new things to add to it."" In
these feelings, however, he is not so different from his
brilliant contemporaries. They, too, are having to face, or have
already faced, the prospect that they are likely never to match
their past achievements. Some have remained more active than
others. But aging is a fact of life, and an especially stringent
one for a mathematician. It is, for most of them, a young man's
game.
It takes extraordinary courage to return to research after a
hiatus of nearly thirty years. But this is exactly what Nash did.
As he told the Madrid audience, "I am again engaged in scientific
study. I am avoiding routine problems and instead I am
'dabbling.` his
Nash had been thinking about a mathematical theory of the
universe since before his meeting with Einstein. Since the
lecture in Uppsala, he has suffered various setbacks. In August
1995, he said, "I got results that indicated I had made a
--------------------------------------------------------------907
fundamental error a long time ago and that I must reformulate ...
[the] theorydd"Apparently "there was stuff being lost in a
singular integration and when I considered distributed matter
instead of a point particle, I found the lost stuff which had
been erroneously ignored"- adding, with characteristic
objectivity, that "this is good since I have avoided publishing a
version based on errors." He went on to describe the specific
error: There was a discrepancy in the field ... which spoiled
things. Recalculation revealed ... there had been errors in the
calculation. Now I must finish up the calculation for a
distributed mass of gravitating matter, at least to the first
order level of approximation. This level itself could bring an
interesting (distinctive result)."
Reawakening
383
This evaluation of the difficulties encountered in his research
gives a good
idea that the problems Nash is working on are ambitious, that he
has lost none of his taste for making high-risk bets (whether on
ideas or stocks!), and that his thinking is still sharp. And even
if his chances of achieving a new breakthrough are


statistically small, as he says, the pleasures of thinking    908
about problems are once again his.
The truth, however, is that the research has not been the main
thing in his present life. The important theme has been
reconnecting to family, friends, and community. This has become
the urgent undertaking. The old fear that he depended on others
and that they depended on him has faded. The wish to reconcile,
to care for those who need him, is uppermost. He and his sister
Martha, estranged for nearly twenty-five years, now talk on the
telephone once a week. Johnny, of course, is the main thing, the
constant.
It was Nash who had told the women to call the policedd14 Johnny
had been living at home. He had been all right for a while, but
then he began to wear a paper crown. One afternoon, he wanted
some money. Because he believed he was a sovereign, he thought
that he should be able to get money from Sovereign Bank. But the
ATM in front of the bank would not spit out any cash. In fact, it
would not return his bank card. Agitated and unhappy, Johnny
called his mother, who has an account at Sovereign, and demanded
she meet him at the ATM and get his
--------------------------------------------------------------909
card out of the machine. Alicia told John, who insisted on going
with her. The couple tried, vainly, to extract Johnny's card.
They also tried, unsuccessfully, to soothe Johnny. At that point,
their son became enraged, picked up a big stick, and started to
poke first his mother, then his father. Some bystanders across
the street stopped when they saw the young man threatening the
two elderly people. Nash shouted for one of them to call the
police. A squad car pulled up. The police took Johnny, whom they
knew well, back to Trenton State. Johnny was in the hospital when
his parents got the news from Stockholm informing them of Nash's
Nobel. Nash and Micia called him first. He thought that they were
pulling his leg, that it was a joke, and hung up on them. Later
he saw his father's face on CNN."
The subject of Johnny's future'is extremely painful. Nash had
spoken matter-offactly about it. Alicia, looking miserable, said
nothing and instead sank deep into her seat and closed her eyes.
She finally interjected, "He just wants to get on with his
lifedd011
The hopeful path that Johnny seemed to be on in his early
twenties had long ago petered out. Whether
--------------------------------------------------------------910
because of the stress of teaching, the social isolation, or
because the remission had simply run its course, the year at
Marshall University was a disaster. He had come home and has not
worked since. "Of course I've been a bad exampleea"Nash admits."
Johnny wanted to get a job, Nash said, but he seemed to think he
would be able to get one in a college mathematics department. He
had been writing letters introducing himself as the son of a
Nobel Laureate and asking for a position. Now Nash was telling
the Kuhns that Johnny would not take his medicine when he was not
in the hospital. Alicia adds, "He goes to the hospital, he gets
better, but when he gets home he doesn't like to take his
medication." Then he would get sick again, hearing voices and
having delusions, He would be hospitalized again and get     A910
better. Then it would start all over again. Watching over Johnny
is now Nash's main task in life. Except when Johnny is "on the
road" wandering around the country on Greyhound buses, Nash is
his caretaker. Nash takes it for granted that his son is his
responsibility. As Nash said on one occasion, "My time of
delusional thinking is, presumably,
--------------------------------------------------------------911
in the past, but my son's time of it is right now.0"They get up
in the morning together after Alicia has gone to work. They eat
breakfast together. Nash takes him to the library, to the
institute, to Fine Hall. On Monday evenings they all attend
family therapy together. Nash has tried to get his son interested
in the computer and plays computer chess with him. He has said:
`Ultimately computers could be a good sort of occupational
therapy (as perhaps I was benefited in an OT [occupational
therapy] fashion by [Hale] Trotter's help in letting me get
familiar with computer use.) 19
Johnny is thirty-eight years old. He is tall and handsome like
his father, and he and his father share an interest in
mathematics and chess. But Johnny's illness has dragged on for
more than half his life, a quarter of a century. He has been
treated with the newest generation of drugs, including Clozaril,
Risperadol, and, most recently, Zyprexa. These drugs, which have
enabled him, for the most part, to stay out of the hospital, have
not given him a life. Time hardly passes for him. He no longer
competes in chess tournaments comonce his greatest joy. He no
longer reads, saying that he has not been able to for a
--------------------------------------------------------------912
long time. He is often angry and occasionally violentdd10
Life with Johnny is a tremendous strain on Nash and Alicia. Nash
calls it being "perturbed,0"tyrannizedea"and he is often
preoccupied with the "drift and danger of degradation."" It is a
constant disruption even when, as is often the case, Johnny is
roaming around the country on Greyhound buses. For instance,
Alicia and John go to the Olive Garden to celebrate Nash's
birthday, and Johnny calls to say that he has lost his ATM card
and has no money. The evening is spent wiring him funds. "We're
at our wits` end"Alicia said recently. "You work so hard ... and
then he's out of it. The Nobel hasn't helped Johnny at all.""
Johnny draws Nash and Alicia together and tears them apart. There
are deep conflicts. They blame each other for Johnny's
misbehavior comwhen he destroys things in the house, attacks
them, acts inappropriately in public. Nash feels that Alicia
expects him to be the bad cop, a role he's not happy with, while
she is the soft one. But they rely on each other. They agree
every day on
--------------------------------------------------------------913
what one or the
other should do. They also agree when it is time to hospitalize
him. Nash is more judgmental and apt to hold Johnny responsible
for his illness. He's sometimes quite cruel, telling Harold Kuhn
and others at times that people like Johnny ought to be jailed or
that he has chosen to be as he is: "I don't think of my son ...
as entirely a sufferer. In part, he is simply                A913
choosing
to escape from `the world! "11
Despite such moments of insensitivity, the truth is that Nash
expresses hope and pleasure when there is the prospect of a new
medication, a new therapy, or when he gets an idea -- like
teaching Johnny how to play chess on the computer that he thinks
will help him. When his friend Avinash Dixit invites him for
dinner, he immediately asks if he might bring Johnny alongdd14
At Dixifs, Johnny takes out a chess set, and father and son sit
down to play. Nash is "less than mediocredd"At one point, he says
he wants to take back a bad move. Johnny lets him. Then Nash
wants to take back another.
--------------------------------------------------------------914
"Dad, if you keep doing that, you'll winea"says Johnny.
"But when I play against the computer, I'm allowed to take back
movesea"Nash says.
"But, Dadea"protests Johnny, "I'm not a computer! I'm a
human heing!"
Men it is time to go to the pharmacy for Johnny's "meds," Nash
accompanies Aliciadd21 When it is time to attend an open house at
the outpatient program where Johnny is sometimes enrolled, Nash
is there and on timedd16 Alicia sees this and feels supported by
him. She feels that she couldn't do without him.
Marriage is easily the most mysterious of human relationships.
Attachments that seem superficial can become surprisingly deep
and lasting. Such is the bond between Nash and Alicia. In
retrospect, one feels that this is not an accidental pairing,
that these two people needed each other. Strong-minded,
pragmatic, and independent as she is, Alicia's girlish
infatuation has survived the disillusionments, hardships, and
disappointments. She takes Nash clothes shopping. She frets, when
he travels, that he'll be kidnaped by terrorists or killed in a
--------------------------------------------------------------915
plane crash or merely worn out. When his ankle swells from a
sprain, she leaves a dinner party and sits with him for four
hours in the emergency room. More telling, she looks at an old
photograph of him in bathing trunks at a poolside in California
and says with a giggle, "Aren't his legs beautiful?"
17
He, meanwhile, sets his clock by her. Stubborn, reserved,
self-centered, and jealous of his time (and money) as he is, Nash
does nothing without consulting Alicia first, defers to her
wishes, and tries to help her, whether it is by washing the
dishes, straightening out a problem at the bank, or going with
her to family therapy every Monday night. She is the one to whom
he faithfully reports the day's events, whom he ran into, what
the lecture was about, what he ate for lunch. They argue about
money, the housework, Johnny, social engagements, but he has
committed himself to making her life easier and more joyful.
Nash is trying to be more sensitive and accommodating. He said,
self-critically, "I know I have my social faults and I make
Alicia very angry when she is saying

something that I can anticipate before she's finished and     916
then I start saying something as if what she's saying is not of
an importance."" He accepts, with some humor, that his genius
does not make him the authority on all matters. When it comes to
refinancing their mortgage or choosing between gas and oil heat,
he complains humorously that Alicia does not take him seriously
as an "economics sage ... notwithstanding the Nobeldd019
He does, of course, often wound her. But he catches himself, too,
and makes amends. A typical exchange: at Gaby and Armand Borel's
dinner partyea10 Alicia announces to the assembled company that
their son has received a tentative offer to teach mathematics at
a small college in Mexico. Nash engages in an act of cruelty.
"Yesea"he says, "my son is in a mental hospital in Arkansas but
he got a job offer!" He is laughing at the absurdity of this
juxtaposition. This is too much for Alicia. "You have to be fair
to Johnny," she returns. Nash says nothing. But later in the
evening he goes to some lengths to make amends. He brings an
offering, maps of Mexico, that he found in books on the
--------------------------------------------------------------917
Borels` shelves, to Alicia. He takes the opportunity comduring a
conversation about Andrew Wiles's successful proof of Fermat's
Last Theorem -- to point out that Johnny had done some
"classical"number theory in graduate school. Johnny had published
"one correct result, one incorrect, but the correct one was a
breakthrough of sortsea"he tells the other guests. Alicia
responds by paying attention, by taking in what he means.
Much of the renewal of their marriage has taken place since the
Nobel. There is now a sense of reciprocity. It is as if regaining
the respect of his peers has made Nash feel that he has more to
offer the people in his life, and has made those close to him,
especially Alicia, feel that he has more to give. This has become
self-reinforcing. At one time, before the Nobel, Alicia referred
to Nash as her "boarder"and they lived essentially like two
distantly related individuals under the same roof. Now there is
even some discussion of remarrying, although in what was perhaps
an assertion of Nash's old insistence on "rationalityea"they gave
the idea up as impractical, as so many older couples have in
light of the attendant tax and Social Security
--------------------------------------------------------------918
penalties. However, a certificate is not of real importance. They
are a real couple again. John Stier took the first step in ending
his twenty-year estrangement from his father, mailing him a copy
of the June 1993
Boston Glohe
column that speculated on Nash's chances of winning a Nobel." He
sent the clipping anonymously, but Nash immediately guessed its
source. He was unsure whether to interpret John Stier's gesture
as a taunt or a friendly overture. He told Harold Kuhn that
something in the way the letter was addressed to him hinted at
mockery. But the following February, two months after his triumph
in Stockholm, Nash boarded a shuttle bound for Boston to spend a
weekend getting reacquainted with his older son.
Such an encounter, inspired by hopes of putting their sad history
behind them, was bound to be bittersweet, an occasion that
revived as many painful memories, disappointments, and       A918
misunderstandings as it unlocked happier feel-
ingsdd11 When the two men finally met face to face, John Stier
was no longer the nineteen-year-old Amherst College history
--------------------------------------------------------------919
major Nash remembered from their last encounter, but a man of
forty-four comnearly as old as Nash had been in 1972, when they
had last seen each other. Physically, he resembled his father to
a striking degree. The impressive stature, broad shoulders,
luminous eyes, English complexion, and finely modeled nose were
all Nash's. But in his life's choices comand in his ability to
derive great satisfaction from helping others-he was his mother's
son. John Stier had stayed in Boston, remaining single and
pursuing a career as a registered nurse. At the time, he was
thinking of returning to graduate school to obtain an advanced
degree in nursing.
In the two days they spent in each other's company comthe most
time they had ever been together at one stretch -- they touched
on personal topics only occasionally. Indeed, they were mostly
with other people; it was important for Nash to have others
confirm the reconciliation. They sat looking at old photographs
with Eleanor, had a meal with Arthur Mattuck, the closest friend
of Nash's "first family," and visited Marvin Minsky in his
artificial intelligence laboratory at MIT. At one point, Nash
telephoned Martha from
--------------------------------------------------------------920
John Stier's apartment and put his son on the phone."
When father and son did venture into personal territory, Nash
was, as usual, full of the best intentions. He wished to show his
son how vitally important he was to him, he wanted to share with
him some of his own recent good fortune, he wanted to give him
the benefit of paternal advice. He was motivated by love and by a
sense of responsibility. He told John that he would divide his
estate equally between him and his brother and he invited him to
accompany him to a conference in Berlin. All this was to the
good. But, as in so many other relationships in his life, Nash's
intentions weren't always matched by the emotional means to carry
them out satisfactorily. Even as he tried to draw his son closer,
he said and did things that could only be called insensitive and
alienatingdd14He did not try to hide his own feelings of
disappointment. He criticized his son's appearance, calling him
fat (which he is not). He criticized his son's choice of
profession, suggesting that nursing was beneath a son of his and
urging him to go to medical school instead of pursuing a master's
in nursing. He hinted strongly that he hoped John would help care
for his younger
--------------------------------------------------------------921
brother, but then angered him by saying it would do Johnny good
to be around a "less intelligent older brother."" Finally, he
said he wanted John to change his name to Nash, a suggestion
meant to be magnanimous, but which actually proved hurtful since
it implied that he meant for John to renounce all that he was and
had been. Eleanor, of course, felt injured.
A few months later, Nash did take John Stier to Berlin with him.
The tensions of their first reunion surfaced agdd16Nash      A921
remorselessly needled his son about trifles, making him turn out
the light when he wanted to read, not letting him order dessert,
telling him not to cat butter or bread. Yet even so, John Stier
felt great pride when Nash gave his lecturesdd17;And Nash was
able to write to Harold Kuhn, "Berlin was a great experience ...
my son enjoyed the trip.""`
A Nobel award has a finality about it. Yet despite the unique
honor, life continues beyond the fairytale celebration in
Stockholm. More so than for other Laureates, Nash's immediate
future is uncertain. Nobody knows whether his remission is
permanent. People have relapsed after many years of being
symptom-free. The present is precious.
--------------------------------------------------------------922
Unlike a game of Hex, outcomes in real life aren't predetermined
by the first or even the fiftieth move. The extraordinary journey
of this American genius, this man who surprises people,
continues. The self-deprecating humor suggests greater
self-awareness. The straight-from-the-heart talk with friends
about sadness, pleasure, and attachment suggests a wider range of
emotional experiences. The daily effort to give others their due,
and to recognize their right to ask this of him, bespeaks a very
different man from the often cold and arrogant youth. And the
disjunction of thought and emotion that characterized Nash's
personality, not just when he was ill, but even before are much
less evident today. In deed, if not always in word, Nash has come
to a life in which thought and emotion are more closely entwined,
where getting and giving are central, and relationships are more
symmetrical. He may be less than he was intellectually, he may
never achieve another breakthrough, but he has become a great
deal more than he ever was -- "a very fine person" as Alicia put
it once.
As we leave him now he is perhaps just hurrying under the
Eisenhart gate on his way to Fine Hall ... or sitting next to
Alicia on the living-room sofa watching Dr. Mo on the big
television ...
--------------------------------------------------------------923
or losing a game of chess to Johnny ... or spending
105 minutes on the telephone comforting Lloyd Shapley after his
wife's death ... or giving Harold Kuhn a look like a naughty
boy's when Harold asks whether the lecture notes for Pisa are
ready ... or sitting at the institute math table with his lunch
tray, nodding while Enrico Bombieri, who has just read the love
letters of Carrington, bemoans the lost art of letter writing ...
or, after listening to an astronomy lecture, gazing through a
telescope at some distant star glimmering in the night sky....
THE FESTIVE SCENE
at the turn-of-the-century frame house opposite the train station
might have been that of a golden wedding anniversary: the
handsome older couple posing for pictures with family and
friends, the basket of pale yellow roses, the 1950's photo of the
bride and groom on display for the occasion.
In fact, John and Alicia Nash were about to say "I d"forthe
second time, after a nearly forty-year gap in their marriage, For
them it was yet another stepdda big step, "according to      A923
John-in piecing together lives cruelly shattered by
schizophrenia. "The
--------------------------------------------------------------924
divorce shouldn't have happenedea"he told me. "We saw this as a
kind of retraction of thatdd"Alicia said simply, "We thought it
would be a good idea. After all, we've been together most of our
lives."
After Mayor Carole Carson pronounced them man and wife, John was
asked to kiss his bride again for the camera. "A second take""he
quipped. "Just like a movie."
A few moments before the ceremony Alicia's cousin spoke to me
about "the amazing metamorphosis"he had witnessed in John's life
since the Nobel. It's not just the many other honors and speaking
invitations from around the world that have followed, or the much
wider audience that now appreciates the full range of exciting
intellectual contributions made during his brief but brilliant
career, or even the glamour of having his remarkable story told
by Hollywood. At seventy-three, John looks and sounds wonderfully
well. He feels increasingly certain that he won't suffer a
relapse. "It's like a continous process rather than just waking
up from a dreamea"he told a
New York Times
reporter recently. "When I dream ... it
--------------------------------------------------------------925
sometimes happens that I go back to the system of delusions
that's typical of how I was ... and then I wake and then I'm
rational again." Growing self-confidence may be one reason that
he is less embarrassed by talking about his past, and now speaks
to groups that see his experience as "something that helps to
reduce the stigma against people with mental illness." For the
first time since resigning from MIT in 1959, he now enjoys a
modicum of personal security for himself and his family. Little
things that the rest of us take for granted -- having a driver's
license again, or getting a credit card -- mean a lot. "I feel I
can go into a coffee place and spend a few dollarsea"Nash told me
last year when I was working on a story about how economics
Laureates spend their prize checks. "Lots of other academics do
thatea"he said. "If I was really poor, I couldn't do that. I was
like that."
Once threatened by homelessness, John values his home and
personal belongings as few of us can. Back at the house after the
ceremony, he was looking at a 1950 Parker Brothers version of
Hex, the game he'd invented as a Princeton graduate student. He
once owned a copy, he said. "I lost so many of my possessions due
to my mental illness."
--------------------------------------------------------------926
He has been able to return to mathematics. "I am workingea"he
told the
Times
reporter. He no longer dreams of picking up where he left off,
but is glad to be able to do serious work and make a
contribution. John is once more a fixture at the math table at
the Institute for Advanced Study and at tea in the Fine Hall
common room. He now has a grant from the National Science    A926
Foundation. The other day he gave a seminar at the Institute
about his new research on the theory of bargaining. "It actually
wouldn't have been possible in those earlier days because I'm
using computational facilities that didn't exist in the `50's and
'60'sea"he said. "I'm ready to do a publication now."
Even more important, his remission and the Nobel have enabled him
to renew broken ties. He has reconnected with old acquaintances
from Bluefield, Carnegie, Princeton, and MIT. After today's
ceremony, he gossiped happily with a mathematician and an
engineer he first met in his twenties. He and Alicia were going
to spend their second honeymoon among friends in Switzerland,
where John will be giving a talk at a
--------------------------------------------------------------927
memorial celebration for Jargen Moser, who died last year.
John has been able to share his good fortune with those closest
to him. He's been in touch with John David, the older son who was
once lost to him. He spends much of his time with his younger
son, John Charles. On his wedding day, he proudly described a
mathematical result that Johnny has lately been trying to
publish. He and his sister, Martha, still talk on the phone every
week. And, as today's scene suggests, he has come to acknowledge
Alicia's central role in his life.
As for his biographer, John's attitude has changed dramatically.
While this book was being written, he said to a
New York Times
reporter, "I adopted a position of Swiss neutralitydd"Since its
publication, however, "A lot of my friends, family, and relations
persuaded me it was a good thingdd"Besides, there is so much in
the book that he had forgotten or never even knew. At this point
in life, he made it clear, retrieving some of the past has been
something of a solace.
When John met Russell Crowe, who plays
--------------------------------------------------------------928
him in the movie inspired by his life, he told me that his first
words to the Australian actor were, "You're going to have to go
through all these transformations!" Even in the three years since
the publication of this book, the transformations in Nash's life
have been as remarkable as any that will be portrayed on screen.
Princeton junction, New Jersey, June 1, 2001
Prologue
1. George W. Mackey, professor of mathematics, Harvard
University, interview, Cambridge, Mass.,
12.14.95.
2. See, for example, David Halberstam, 7he
Fifties
(New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1993). 3. Mikhail Gromov, professor
of mathematics, Institut des Hautes-9mentudes, Bures-sur-Yvette,
France, and Courant Institute, interview, 12.16.97.
war era is based on judgment of fellow 1 _A opinion among
mathematicians when he wrote: "To some, this brief paper, written
at'a e 21


for which he has won a Nobel prize in economics, may seem     929
like the least of his achievementsdd"ln"Acellratin of John F.
Nash, Jr.ea"a special volume,
Duke Mathernaticallournal,
vol. 81, no. I (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995), the
game theorist Harold W. Kuhn calls Nash "one of the most original
mathematical minds of this century."
4. Paul R. Halmos, "The Legend of John von Neumann;`
American Mathematical Monthly, vol.
80 (1973), pp. 382-94.
5. Donald J. Newman, professor of mathematics, Temple University,
interview, Philadelphia, 3.2.96.
6. Harold W. Kuhn, professor of mathematics, Princeton
University, interview, 7.26.95.
7. John Forbes Nash, Jr., remarks at the American Economics
Association Nobel luncheon, San Francisco, 1.5.96; plenary
lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid, 8.26.96.
8. John Nash, "Parallel Control;` RAND
--------------------------------------------------------------930
Memorandum no. 1361, 8.7.54; plenary lecture, Madrid,
8.26.96, op. cit.
9. Interviews with Newman, 3.2.96; Eleanor Stier, 3.13.96.
10ddJohn Nash, plenary lecture, Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
11. Jurgen Moser, professor of mathematics, ETH, Zurich,
interview, New York City, 3.21.96,
12. Interviews with Paul Zweifel, professor of physics, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute, 10.94; Solomon Leader, professor of
mathematics, Rutgers University, 7.9.95; David Gale, professor of
mathematics, University of California at Berkeley, 9.20.95;
Martin Shubik, professor of economics, Yale University, 9.27.95;
Felix Browder, president, American Mathematical Society, 11.2.95;
Melvin Hausner, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute,
1.26.96; Hartley Rogers, professor of mathematics, MIT,
Cambridge, 2.16.96; Martin Davis, professor of mathematics,
Courant
--------------------------------------------------------------931
Institute, 2.20.96; Eugenio Calabi, 3.2.96.
13. Atle Selberg, professor of mathematics, Institute of Advanced
Study, interview, Princeton, 8.16.95.
14. George W. Boehm, "The New Uses of the Abstract;`
Fortune
(July 1958), people. 127: "Just turned thirty, Nash has already
made a reputation as a brilliant mathematician who is eager to
tackle the most difficult problemsdd"Boehm goes on to say that
Nash is working on quantum theory and that he invests in the
stock market as a hobby.
15. John von Neumann, "Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele,"
Math. Ann.,
vol. 100 (1928), pp, 295-
320. See also Robert J. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to Social
Science: Von Neumann, Morgenstern and the Creation of Came
Theory,
1928-19442'JoLimal ofEconomic Literature
(1995).
16. See, for example, Harold Kuhn, ed.,                       932
Classics in Game Theor
y (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997); John Eatwell,
Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman,
The New Palgrave: Game 7heory
(New York: Norton, 1987); Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff,
Thinking Strategically
(New York: Norton,
1991).
17. Robert J. Leonard, "Reading C not, Reading Nash: The Creation
and Stabilization of the Nash Equilibrium;`
The Econorm
disciournal 42aurl'994), pp. 492- 511; Martin Shubik, "Antoine
Augustin Cournot," in Eatwell, Milgate, and Newman, op. cit., pp.
117-28.
18. Joseph Baratta, historian, interview, 6.12.97.
19. John Nash, "Non-Cooperative Gamesea"Ph.D. thesis, Princeton
University Press (May 1950). Nash's
--------------------------------------------------------------933
thesis results were first published as "Equilibrium Points in
N-Person Games,"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA
(1950), pp. 48-49, and later as "Non-Cooperative Games,"
Annals ofMathernatics
(195 1), pp. 286-95. See also "Nobel Seminar: The Work of John
Nash in Came Theory," in
Les Prix Nobel
1994 (Stockholm: Norstedts Tryckeri, 1995). For a reader-friendly
exposition of the Nash equilibrium, see Avinash Dixit and Susan
Skeath,
Games of StrateT,
(New York: Norton, 1997).
20. See, for example, Anthony Storr, Solitude: A Return to the
Self
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1988); Robert Heilbroner,
The Worldly Philosophers
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992); E T. Bell,
--------------------------------------------------------------934
Men of Mathematics
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986); Stuart Hollingdale,
Makers of Mathematics
(New York: Penguin, 1989); Ray Monk, Ludwj WjAgensteni.- The Duty
of Genius (New York: Penguin, 1990); John Dawson,
Logical Dilemmas.- The Life and Work of Kurt Gddel
(Wellesley, Mass.: A. K. Peters, 1997); Roger Highfield and Paul
Carter, The Private Lives ofAlhert Einstein
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994); Andrew Hodges,
Alan Turing: 7-85 Enigma
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983).
2 1. Anthony Storr,
The Dynamics of Creation
(New York: Atheneum, 1972).
22. Ibid.
23. John G. Gunderson, "Personality Disorders,"
The New Harvard Guide to Psychiatry (Cambridge: The          A934
Belknap Press of Harvard
--------------------------------------------------------------935
University, 1988), pp. 343-44. 24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Havelock Ellis, A
Study ofBritish Genius
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1926).
27. Rogers, interview, 2.16.96.
28. Zipporah Levinson, interview, Cambridge, 9.11.95.
29. Irving 1.
Gottesman, Schizophrenia Genesj.- The Origins of Madness
(New York: W. H. Freeman,
1991). For a contrary view, which states that cases of
schizophrenia have been documented as long as 3,400 years ago,
see Ming T. Tsuang, Stephen V. Faraone, and Max Day,
"Schizophrenic Disorders,"
New Harvard Guide to Psychiatry,
op. cit.
30. Tsuang, Faraone, and Day, op. cit., people. 259.
31. Gottesman, op. cit.; Tsuang, Earaone, and Day, op. cit.;
Richard S. E. Keefe and Philip D. Harvey,
--------------------------------------------------------------936
Understanding Schiicphrenii: A Guide to the New Research on
Causes and Treatment
(New York: Free Press, 1994); E. Fuller Torrey,
Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual
(New York: Harper and Row, 1988).
32. Gottesman, op. cit.
3 3. For an excellent summary see Michael R. Trimble,
Biological Psychiatry
(New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1996), people. 224.
34. Eugen Bleuler, quoted in Louis A. Sass,
Madness and Modernism
(New York: Basic Books, 1992), people. 14.
35. Emil Kraepelin, quoted in ibid., pp. 13-14.
36. Torrey, op. cit.
37. Gottesman, op. cit.
38. Ibid.
39. See, for example, Tsuang, Faraone, and Day, op. cit.
--------------------------------------------------------------937
40. See, for example, Gottesman, op. cit.
41. Ibid.
42. See, for example, Storr,
Solitude,
op. cit.; Cale Christianson,
In the Presence of the Creator (New
York: Free Press, 1984); Richard S. Westfaill,
The Life ofisaac Newton
(Cambridge, UX: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
(Wa 43. George Winokur and Ming Tsuang, The Natural HW-ORV of
Manii, Depression and Schiecphrenia
shington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 1996), pp. 253-68;
Manfred Bleuler,
The Schizophrenia Disorders: Long-Tenn Patient and Family    A937
Studies
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978).
44, M. Bleuler, op. cit., quoted in Sass, op. cit., people. 14.
45, Storr,
--------------------------------------------------------------938
The Dynamics of Creation,
op. cit.
46. See, for example, Gottesman, op. cit. For discussions of
differences between manic depressive illness and schizophrenia,
see Torrey, op. cit.; Kay Redfield Jamison,
Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic
Temperament
(New York: Free Press, 1993).
47. Sass, op. cit., prologue.
48. Emil Kraepelin,
Dementia Traecox and faraphrenia
(Huntington, Nddally: R. E. Krieger, 1971), quoted in Sass, op.
cit., pp. 13-14.
49. Sass, op. cit., people. 4.
50. Letter from John Nash to Emil Artin, written in Geneva,
undated (1959).
51. Letter from John Nash to Alex Mood, 11,94.
52. R. Nash, interview, 1.7.96.
53. Confidential source.
54. See, for example, Mikhail Gromov, Partial Differential
Relations
--------------------------------------------------------------939
(New York: Springer-Verlag, 1986); Heisuke Hironaka, "On Nash
Blowing Up,"
Arithmeticand Geomeby
IIGGBoston: Birkauser, 1983), pp. 103-
11; P. Ordehook,
Game Theory and Political Theory: An Introduction
(Cambridge, UX: Cambridge University Press, 1986); Richard
Dawkins,
The Seh7nessh Gene
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976); John Maynard Smith,
Did Darwin Get It Right?
(New York: Chapman and Hall, 1989); as well as
Math Reviews and Socill Science Citation Index,
various dates.
55. Eatwell, Milgate, Newman, op. cit., people. xii.
56. Ariel Rubinstein, professor of economics, Princeton
University and University of Tel Aviv, interview,
--------------------------------------------------------------940
10.18.95.
57. Eatwell, Milgate, Newman, op. cit.
58. Member, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced
Study, interview, 1995.
59. Freeman Dyson, professor of physics, Institute for Advanced
Study, interview, Princeton, 12.5.96.
60. Enrico Bombieri, professor of mathematics, Institute for
Advanced Study, interview, 12.6.96.
61. See, for example, Winokur and Tsuang, op cit., people.   A940
268.
Part One: A BEAUTIFUL MIND
1: Bluefield
1. John Forbes Nash, Jr., autobiographical essay,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
2. "Nash-Martin,"
Appalachian Power and Light Searchlight,
vol. 3, no. 9 (September 1924), people. 14.
3. Ibid.
--------------------------------------------------------------941
4. Martha Nash Le R ke, 7.31.95. tv, interv'ew, oanc,
5. The history of Nashes is based on en al gical materials,
regional histories, and newspaper clippings supplied by Martha
Legg and Richard 4ashe including
The Hlsfty Of GMYSOD County, Texas, vol.
2 (Grayson County Frontier Viluge, 1981) and Graham Landrum and
Allan Smith, Grayson County: An Illustrated History (Fort Worth,
Tex.: Historical Publishers). The facts of John Forbes Nash,
Srdd`s early life are based on interviews with Martha Nash Legg
as well as his obituary.
6. Obituaries of Martha Nash,
Baptist Standard
(1944); M. Legg, interview, 8. 1,95; R. Nash, interview, San
Francisco, 1.7.97.
7. M. Legg, interview, 7.31.95.
8. The history of the Martins and the facts of Virginia Martin's
early life are based on interviews with Martha Legg as well as
obituaries of Emma Martin and Virginia Martin
--------------------------------------------------------------942
in the
Bluefield Daily Telegraph-
9. Letter from John Forbes Nash, Jr., to Martha Legg, undated
(1969).
10, For a short history of the marriage bar, see Claudia Goldin,
"Career and Family: College Women Look to the Pastea"Working
Paper No. 5188 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic
Research, July 1995).
11. C. Stuart McGehee,
The City of Bluefield. Centennial History 1889-1989
(Bluefield Historical Society).
12. Ibid.; John E. Williams, professor of psychology, Wake Forest
University, interview, 8.95.
13. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
14. Williams, interview, 10.24.95; William Lewis, McKinsey and
Partners, interview, 10.94.
15. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
--------------------------------------------------------------943
op. cit.
16. M. Legg, interview, 8.3.95.
17. Ibid.                                                    A943
18. John G. Gunderson, 'Personality Disordersea"op. cit., pp.
343-44; also Nikki Erlenmeyer-Kimling, professor of genetics and
development, Columbia University, interview, 1. 17.98.
19. `. Le
20. Gerg in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 10.94. 21. Report 1supplied by Martha
Legg.
22. John Nash,
Les Prir Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
23. M. Legg, interview, 8.1.95.
24. Eddie Steele, quoted in William Archer,
Bluebeld Daily Telegmph, 10.
13.94.
25. Donald V. Reynolds, interview, 6.29.97.
26 Ibid,
27. Ibid.
28. M. Legg, interview, 8.2.95.
--------------------------------------------------------------944
29. Ibid.
30. E. T. Bell,
Men ofMathematics,
op. cit.; Betty Umberger, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 10. 13.94.
31. Janice Thresher Frazier, personal communication, 9.97.
32. The origin of this quotation is unknown.
33. M. Legg, interview, 10.94.
34. Kuhn, interview, 3.97.
35. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
36. Bell, op. cit.
37. Ibid.
38, Ibid.
39. Denis Brian,
Einstein: A Life
(New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1996).
40. Bell, op. cit.; also Kuhn, interview, 10.21.97.
41. Bell, op. cit.
--------------------------------------------------------------945
42. M. Legg, interview, 8.1.95. 43. Williams, interview.
44. Donald V. Reynolds, interview. 45. Interviews with Peggy
Wharton, 12.96; Robert Holland, 6.9.97; John Louthan, 6.21.97;
John Williams; Reynolds. 46. Reynolds, interview.
47. [bid.
48. Felix Browder, president, American Mathematics Society,
interview, 11.2.95. 49. M. Legg, interview, 11.94.
50. Nelson Walker, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 10.94. 51. Edwin Elliot, quoted in
William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegiraph, 11. 14.94.
53. Reynolds, interview; see also William Archer, "Boys Will Be
Boys,"
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,                                   A945
11.14.94.
54. Julia Robinson, in Donald Albers, Gerald L. Alexanderson, and
Constance Reid,
More Mathematical People
--------------------------------------------------------------946
(New York: Harcourt Brace jovanovich, 1990), people. 27 1.
55. Anthony Storr,
The Dynamics ofCreatimi,
op. cit.
56. M. Legg, interview, 11.94.
57. Vernon Dunn, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 11.94. 58. Beaver High School
Yearbook, 1945. 59. Interviews with Williams and Louthan. 60. M.
Legg, interview, 8.1.95.
61. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
62. John F. Nash and John F. Nash, Jr., "Sag and Tension
Calculations for Cable and Wire Spans Using Catenary Formulas,"
Electrical Engineering,
1945.
63. Uncle App News, 7.45.
2: Carnegie Institute of Technology
1. Nash's interest in number theory, topology, and other branches
of pure mathematics was recalled by Robert Siegel, professor of
physics,
--------------------------------------------------------------947
College of William and Mary, interview, 10.30.97; Hans F.
Weinberger, professor of mathematics, University of Minnesota,
interviews, 9.6.95, 10.28.95, and 10.29.95; Paul F. Zweifel,
professor of mathematics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
interviews, 10.94 and 9.6.95; Richard J. Duffin (deceased),
emeritus professor of mathematics, Carnegie-Mellon University,
interviews, 10.94, 8.95, and 10.26.96.
2. See, for example, Stephan Lorant, Pittsburgh: 7-85 Story ofan
American City
(Lenox, Mass.: author's edition, 1980) and interviews with Nash's
contemporaries.
3. Richard Cyert, former president, Carnegie-Mellon University,
interview, 10.26.95. Also Herbert Simon, Nobel Laureate,
Carnegie-Mellon University, interview, 10.26.95.
4. Duffin, interview, 10.26.96; Robert E. Gleeson, professor of
history, Carnegie-Mellon University, interview, 10.27.95; Glen U.
Cleeton,
--------------------------------------------------------------948
The Storv ofCamegie Tech, IT The Doherty Administration, 1936-
1950 (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Press, 1965); Robert E. Gleeson and
Steven Schlossman,
George Leland Bach and the Rebirth of Graduate Management
Education in the United States, 1945-1975
(Graduate Management Admission Council, Spring 1995); Robert E.
Gleeson and Steven Schlossman,
The Many Faces of the New Look: The University of Vjinin ` ` Came
I                                                            A948
diseTech
and the Reform ofAmerican Management Education rglnl'?` His
in the Postwar Era
(Graduate Management Mission Council, Spring 1992).
5. Interviews with Weinberger, 10.28.95; Zweifel, 10.94; George
W. Hinman, professor of physics, Washington State University,
10.30.97; David R. Lide, editor,
CRC Handbook ofChemistry and Physics, 10.
--------------------------------------------------------------949
30.97; Edward Kaplan, professor of statistics, Oregon State
University, 5.2 1.97.
6. Interviews with Martha Nash Legg, 8.2.95; Weinberger,
10.28.95; Zweifel, 10.94.
7. Interviews with Siegel, 10.30.97; Hinman, 10.30.97.
cit.
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
8. John Nash, autobiographical
op. essay,
9. Lide, interview, 10.30.97. 10.30.97.
10. Hinman, interview,
11. Lide, interview, 10.30.97.
12. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
13. Interviews with Raoul Bott, professor of mathematics, Harvard
University, 11.5.95; Hinman,
10.30.97; Cathleen S. Morawetz, professor of mathematics, Courant
Institute, and daughter of J. Synge,
--------------------------------------------------------------950
2.29.96.
14. Duffin, interview, 10.26.95.
15. Duffin, interview, 10.94.
16. Morawetz, interview.
17. Ibid.
18. Interviews with Lide, 10.30.97, and Duffin, 10.26.95.
19. Weinberger, interview, 9.6.95.
20. Siegel, interview, 10.30.97. Siegel may have been mistaken;
Bluefield had both a symphony and concert series before the war.
21. Bott, interview, 11.5.95.
22. Patsy Winter, Williamsburg, Virginia, interview, 10. 30.97.
23. Weinberger, interview, 10.28.96.
24. Lide, interview, 10.30.97.
25. Interviews with Zweifel, 10.94, and Lide, 10.30.97.
26. Weinbergerbbvintervioew, 10.28.95.
27. Siegel, inte ew 1 .30.97.
28. Hinman, interview, 10.30.97.
29. Zweifel, interview, 10.94.
30. Zweifel, interview, 1.21.98.
31. Ibid.; also interviews with Hinman, 10.30.97, and Siegel,
10.30.97.
--------------------------------------------------------------951
32. Siegel, interview, 10.30.97. 33. Weinberger, interview,
10.28.95.
34. Zweifel, interview, 10.94.                               A951
35. Fletcher Osterle, professor of mechanical engineering,
Carnegie-Mellon University, interview,
5.21.97.
36. Mathematical Monthly
(September 1947), people. 400.
37. Leonard F. Klosinski, director, the William Lowell Putnam
Mathematical Competition, interview,
10.96; Gerald L. Alexanderson, associate director, the William
Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, interview, 10.96; Garrett
Birkhoff, "The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition:
Early Historyea"and L. E. Bush, "The William Lowell Putnam
Mathematical Competition: Later History and Summary of Results;`
reprinted from
American Mathematical Monthly,
vol. 72 (1965), pp. 469-83.
38. Hinman, interview.
39. Harold Kuhn, interview, 7.97.
--------------------------------------------------------------952
40. John Nash,
Les Prir Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
41. This scene is based on recollections of Duffin, interview,
10.94 and 10.26.95; Bott, interview, 10.94; and Weinberger,
interviews, 9.6.95 and 10.28.95.
42. Duffin, interview, 10.94.
43. Bott, interview, 10.94.
4-4. Martin Burrow, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute,
interview, 2.4.96.
45. Duffin, interviews, 10.94 and 10.26.95.
46. Duffin, interview, 10.94.
47. Bott, interview, 11.5.95.
48. Weinberger, interview, 10.28.95.
49. Siegel, interview, 10.30.97.
50. Weinberger, interview,
51. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
52. See Chapter 9.
53.
The Carnegie Tartan,
--------------------------------------------------------------953
4.20.48.
54. Interviews with Kuhn, 10.97, and M. Legg, 8.3.95.
55. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
56. The perception of Harvard's relative decline and Princeton's
ascendancy by the late 1940's was widespread among Nash's
contemporaries.
57. Duffin, interview, 10.26.95.
58. Letter from Solomon Lefschetz to Nash, 4.8.48.
59. Details about the JSK Fellowship, named after John S.
Kennedy, a Princeton alumnus, are based on a memorandum from
Sandra Mawhinney to Harold Kuhn, 10.27.97.                   A953
60. Graduate Catalog, Princeton University, various years; Report
to the Dean of Faculty, Princeton University, various years.
6 1. John Nash,
Les Triv Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
62. Letter from S. Lefschetz to J. Nash.
--------------------------------------------------------------954
63. Letter from John Nash to Solomon Lefschetz, undated,
mid-April 1948. 64. Clifford Ambrose Truesdell, interview, 8.
14.96.
65. Letter from J. Nash to S. Lefichetz. For the events
transpiring then, see
Chronicle of the Twentieth Century
(Mount Kisco, N.Y.: Chronicle Publications, 1987).
66. Interviews with Charlotte Truesdell, 8.14.96, and Kaplan,
5.21.97.
67. Letter from J. Nash to S. Lefsehetz, 4.26.48.
68. Clifford Truesdell, interview, 8.14.96.
69. Charlotte Truesdell, interview, 8.14.96.
3: The Center of the Universe
1. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 8.3.95. 2. See, for example,
Rebecca Goldstein, The Mind-Body Problem
(New York: Penguin, 1993); Ed Regis, "o Got Einstein
Office? (Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley, 1987); and recollections
of Nash's
--------------------------------------------------------------955
contemporaries, including interviews with Harold Kuhn and Harley
Rogers and letter from George Mowbry, 4.5.95.
3. F Scott
Fitzgerald,
This Side ofP"mandse
(New York: Scribner, 1920).
4. Albert Einstein, quoted in Goldstein, op. cit.
5. As recalled by her niece Gillian Richardson, interview,
12.14.95.
6. Donald Spencer, professor of mathematics, Princeton
University, interview, Durango, Colorado,
11.18.95.
7. Leopold Infeld,
Quest
(New York: Chelsea Publishing Company, 1980).
8. Virginia Chaplin, "Princeton and Mathematics,"
Princeton Alumni Weekly
(May 9, 1958).
9. John D. Davies, "The Curious History of Physics at Princeton,"
--------------------------------------------------------------956
Princeton Alumni Weekly (October
2, 1973).
10, Harold W. Kuhn, interview, 1.97. 11. Eugene Wigner,
Recollections of Eugene Paul Wigner as Told to Andrew Szanton
(New York: Plenum Press, 1992).
12. Regis, op. cit.
14. Chaplin, op. cit,; William Aspray, "The Emergence of
Princeton as a World Center for Mathematical Research,       A956
1896-1939ea"in A Century of Mathematics in America, Part 11
(Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1989);
Gian-Carlo Rota, "Fine Hall in Its Golden Ageea"in Indiscrete
Thoughts
(Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America, 1996),
pp. 3-20.
15. Davies, op. cit.
16. Solomon Lefschetz, "A Self Portrait;` typewritten, 1.54,
Princeton University Archives.
17. Davies, op. cit.
18. Ibid.
--------------------------------------------------------------957
19. Ibid.
20. Robert 1. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to Social Scienceea"op.
cit.
21. Davies, op. cit.
22. Woodrow Wilson, quoted in ibid.
23. George Gray, Confidential Monthly Trustees Report,
Rockefeller Foundation Archives (November
1945).
2 plus Wigner, op. cit.
25. The account of the Institute's history is based on Regis, op,
cit.; Bernice M. Stern, A
History of the Institute for Advanced Study 1930-1950,
unpublished two-volume manuscript (1964). 26. Garrett Birkhoff,
"Mathematics at Harvard 1836-1944ea"in
A Century of Mathematics in America, Part 11
op. cit., pp. 3-58; William Aspray, "The Emergence Of Princeton
as a World Center for Mathematical Research, 1896-1939ea"in A
Century of Mathematics in America, Pqrt If
--------------------------------------------------------------958
op. cit., pp. 195.216; Gian-Cado Rota, "Fine Hall in Its Golden
Ageea"in A
Century of Mathematics in America, Part II,
op. cit., pp. 223-36.
27. Robin E. Rider, "Alarm and Opportunity: Emigration of
Mathematicians and Physicists to Britain and the United States,
1933-1945,"
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences,
yet. 15, no. 1 (1984), pp. 108-71. 28. Paul Samuelson, "Some
Memories of Norbert Wienerea"provided by author, undated. 29.
William James, "Great Men, Great Thoughts and Environment,"
Atlantic Monthly,
vol. 46 (1880), pp. 441-59, quoted in Silvano Arieti,
Creativity. The Magic Synthesis
(New York: Basic Books, 1976), people. 299.
30. See, for example, Davies, op. cit.; Chaplin, op. cit.; Nathan
Rheingold,
--------------------------------------------------------------959
"Refugee Mathematicians in
the United States of America, 1933-1941: Reception and Reaction,"
Annals of Science,
vol. 38 (1981), pp. 313-38; Rider, op. cit.; Lipman Bers, "The
European Mathematician's Migration to America,"              A959
in A Century of Mathematics in America, Part I (Providence, R.I.:
American Mathematical Society, 1988).
and World War 11ea"in
A Centur
31. See, for example, Mina Rees, `The Mathematical Sciences
v of Mathematics in America, Part I-
op. cit., Peter Lax, "The Flowering of Applied Mathematics in
Americaea"in
A Century ofMathematics in America, Pqrt If
op, cit., pp. 4 5 5 com66; Fred Kaplan, 7-h
e Wizards ofArmageddon
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 198 3). 32. Chaplin, op. cit.
33. Andrew Hodges,
--------------------------------------------------------------960
Alan Turing: The Enigma
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983). 34. Chaplin, op. cit.
35. Ibid.
36. See Kaplan, op. cit.; William Poundstone,
Prisoner Dilemma
(New York: Doubleday, 1992); David Halberstam,
The Fifiies,
op. cit.
37. Rees, "The Mathematical Sciences and World War IIEA"OP. cit.;
Lax, "The Flowering of Applied Mathematics in Americaea"op. cit.,
pp. 455-66.
38. Herman H. Coldstine , A Brief History of the Computerea"in A
Century of Mathematics in America, Part I op. cit., pp. 311-22;
Poundstone, op. cit., pp. 76-78, on von Neumann's role in the
development of the computer; Halberstam, op. cit., pp. 93-97, on
von Neumann and the computer.
39. Hartley Rogers, professor of mathematics, MIT, interview,
1.26.96.
--------------------------------------------------------------961
4:
School of Genius
1,
Solomon Leader, professor of mathematics, Rutgers University,
interview, 6.9.95
2, The portrait of Solomon Lefschetz is based on interviews with
Harold W. Kuhn, 11.97; William Baumol, 1.95; Donald Spencer,
11.18.95; Eugenio Calabi, 3.2-96; Martin Davis, 2.20.96; Melvin
Hausner,
2.6.96; Solomon Leader, 6.9.95; and other contemporaries of
Nash's at Princeton. Also consulted were several memoirs,
including Solomon Lefschetz, "Reminiscences of a Mathematical
Immigrant in the United States,"
American Mathematical Monthly,
vol. 77 (1970); A. W. Tucker, Solomon Lefschetz.- A Reminiscence;
Sir William H d e
Solomon Leischetz, 1884-1972;
Phillip Griffiths, Donald Spencer, and George Whitehead,
Solomon L,
tional Academy of Sciences, 1992);
GianmXltz:                                                    962
Biographical Memoirs
(Washington, D.C.: Na
Carlo Rota,
Indiscrete Thoughts,
op. cit.
3. Lefschetz's obituary in
The New York Times
(October 7 `1972) credits him for "develop[ing] [the
Annals of Mathematics]
into one of the world's foremost mathematical journals." 4. "It
should be noted that although Lefschetz was Jewish, he was not
above engaging in a mild form of anti-semitism. He told Henry
Wallman that he was the last Jewish graduate student that would
be admitted to Princeton because Jews could not get a job anyway
and so why bother "Ralph Phillips, "Reminiscences of the
1930's,"
The Mathematical lmtelhencer,
vol. 16, no. 3 (1994). Lefichtzs attitude toward Jewish students
was well known. Phillips's impressions were confirmed by Leader,
interview, 6.9.95; Kuhn, interview,
--------------------------------------------------------------963
11.97; Davis, interview, 2.20.96; and Hausner, interview, 2.6.96.
397
5. Baumol, interview, 1.95.
6. See, for example, Gian-Carlo Rota, "Fine Hall in Its Golden
Ageea"op. cit. DOD personnel security application, 3.10.56,
Princeton University Archives. 7. Solomon Lefschetz, "A Self
Portrait:` typewritten, 1.54, Princeton University Archives.
8. lbiand ...
9. Don24 Sluininencer, interviews, 11.28.95; 11.29.95; 11.30.95.
10. Rota, op. cit.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Leader, interview, 6.9.95.
14. Davis, interview, 2.6.96.
15. Hausner, interview, 2.6.96.
16. Leader, interview, 6.9.95.
17. Spencer, interviews.
18. Virginia Chaplin, "Princeton and Mathematicsea"op. cit.;
Davis, interview, 2.20.96; Hartley Rogers, interview,
--------------------------------------------------------------964
1.26.96.
19. Ibid.
20. Hausner, interview.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Joseph Kohn, interview, 7.25.96. 24. Robert Kanigel,
The Man "o Knew Infinity
(New York: Pocket Books, 1991); G. H. Hardy, "The Indian
Mathematician Ramanuianea"lecture delivered at the Harvard
Tercentenary Conference of Arts and Sciences, August 31, 1936,
reprinted in A
Century ofMathematics
(Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America,      A964
1994), people. 110.
25. Hardy, op. cit.
26. J. Davies, op. cit.; Gerard Washnitzer, professor of
mathematics, Princeton University, interview,
9.25.96.
27. Graduate Catalog, Princeton University, various years; Report
to the President, Princeton University, various years.
--------------------------------------------------------------965
28. Letter from John Nash Forbes, Jr., to Solomon Lefschetz
referring to request for private room, 4.46; Calabi, interview,
29. Interviews with Kuhn, 11.97; Washnitzer, 9.25.96; Felix
Browder, 11.2.96, Calabi, 3.12.96; John Tukey, professor of
mathematics, Princeton University, 9.30.97; John Isbell,
professor of mathematics, State University of New York at
Buffalo, 8.97; Leader, 6.9.95; Davis, 2.6.96.
30. Kuhn, interview.
31. Davis, interview.
32. Interviews with Washnitzer and Kuhn.
33. Washnitzer, interview.
34. Tukey, interview.
35. Kuhn, interview.
36. Calabi, interview.
37. Martin Shubik, "Came Theory at Princeton: A Personal
Reminiscenceea"Cowles Foundation Preliminary Paper 901019,
undated.
38. Interviews with Hausner; Davis; Kuhn; Spencer; Leader;
Rogers; Calabi; and John McCarthy, professor of computer science,
--------------------------------------------------------------966
Stanford University, 2.4.96.
39. Hausner, interview, 2.6.96.
40. Interviews with Davis, Leader, Spencer; Rota, op. cit.
41. Rota, op. cit.
42. Isbell, interview.
43. Tukey, interview.
44. David Yarmush, interview, 2.6.96. 45. Princeton Alumni
Directory 1997. 46. John W. Milnor, professor of mathematics and
director, Institute for Mathematical Sciences, State University
of New York at Stony Brook, interviews, 10.28.94 and 7.95.
47. Interviews with Kuhn, Hausner, John McCarthy.
48. Interviews with Hausner and Davis.
5: Genius
1. Kai Lai Chung, professor of mathematics, Stanford University,
interview, 1.96; letter, 2.6.96.
2. Abraham Pais,
Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and Life of Albert Einstein
(New York: Oxford University Press,
--------------------------------------------------------------967
1982).
3. Interviews with Charlotte Truesdell, 8.14.96; Martin Davis,
2.20.96; Hartley Rogers, 2.16.96; and John McCarthy, 2.4.96; John
Forbes Nash, Jr., Personnel Security Questionnaire, 5.26.50,
Princeton University Archives. 4. "Trivialea"Melvin Hausner,
interview; "burblingea"Patrick Billingsley, professor of
statistics, University of Chicago, interview, 8.12.97;       A967
"hackerea"Hausner, interview.
5. Rogers, interview.
6. Davis, interview.
7. Peggy Murray, former secretary, department of mathematics,
Princeton University, interview, 8.25.97.
8. Davis, interview.
9. John Milnor, interview, 9.26.95. 10. John Nash,
autobiographical essay, Les Prix Nohel 1994,
op. cit.
11. Mentioned by many of his contemporaries, this was confirmed
by Nash in a conversation with Harold Kuhn. 12. Harold Kuhn,
personal communication,
--------------------------------------------------------------968
8.96.
13. E enio Calabi, interview,
14. 1 ui T
15. Interviews with Solomon Leader and Calabi.
16. Letter from John Nash to Solomon Lefschetz, 4.48.
17. Calabi, interview.
18. John Milnor, "A Nobel Prize for John Nash,"
The Mathematical Inteffigencer,
vol. 17, no. 3 (199 5), people. 5.
19. Leader, interview, 6.9.96.
20. Ibid.
21. David Gale, interview, 9.20.95. 22. Davis, interview.
23. Kuhn, interview, 9.96.
24. Hausner, interview.
25. Milner, interview, 9.26.95.
26. Norman Steenrod, letter, 1950, quoted by Harold Kuhn,
introduction, "A Celebration of John F. Nash, Jr.;`
Duke Mathematical journal,
vol. 8 1, no. 2 (1996).
27. E. T. Bell,
--------------------------------------------------------------969
Men ofMathematics,
op. cit.
28. Steenrod, letter, 2.5.53.
29. For this assessment, I relied on Hale Trotter and Harold
Kuhn.
30. Milnor, interview.
31. Kuhn, interview, 8.97.
32. Ed Regis,
Who Got Einstein OlWce?
op. cit.; Denis Brian,
Einstein: A LITC,
op. cit.
33. John Forbes Nash, Jr., plenary lecture, World Congress of
Psychiatry, Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
34. Ibid.
35. Regis, op. cit.
36. Ibid.; also Brian, op. cit.
37. Brian, op. cit.
38. Ibid.
39. Nash, as told to Harold Kuhn; see also Brian, op.        A969
cit., for description of Kemeny's assistantship under Einstein in
1948-49.
40. Brian, op. cit.
41. John Nash, as told to Kuhn, November
--------------------------------------------------------------970
1997.
42. Ibid.
43, Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Calabi, interview,
46. William Browder, professor of mathematics, Princeton
University, interview, 12.6.96.
47. Steenrod, letter, 2.5.53.
48. Milnor, interview, 9.26.95.
49. Interviews with Leader and Kuhn.
50. Princeton University Archives.
51, Ibid.
51 Melvin Peisakoff, interview, 6.3.97. 53. RAO ers, interview.
54. Calabi, interview.
55. Hausner, interview.
56. Rogers, interview.
57. Hausner, interview.
58. Felix Browder, interview, 11.2.95. 59. Leader, interview.
60. Harold Kuhn witnessed the scene, and Mel Peisakoff confirmed
that it took place.
61. Donald Spencer, interview.
62. Letter from A] Tucker to Alfred Koerner,
--------------------------------------------------------------971
10.8.56.
63. The portrait of Artin is based on Gian-Carlo Rota,
Indiscrete Thoughts,
op. cit., as well as recollection of John Tate; Spencer,
interview, 11.18.96; Hauser, interview; and materials from the
Princeton University Archives.
64. Spencer, interview.
6: Games
1. Albert W. Tucker, as told to Harold Kuhn, interview.
2. Interviews with Marvin Minsky, professor of science, MIT,
2.13.96; John Tukey, 9.30.97; David Gale, 9.20.96; Melvin
Hausner, 1.26.96 and 2.20.96; and John Conway, professor of
mathematics, Princeton University, 10.94; John Isbell, e-mails,
1.25.96, 1.26.97, 1.27.97. 3. Isbell, e-mails.
4. Letter from John Nash to Martin Shubik, undated (1950 or
1951); Hausner, interviews and e-mails.
5. William Poundstone,
Pdsoneea6 Dilemma,
--------------------------------------------------------------972
op. cit.; John Williams,
The Compleat Strategyst (New
York: McGraw Hill, 1954).
6. Poundeatone '0 Cit.
7. Solomon Leale,, interview, 6.9.95. 8. Martha Nash Legg,
interview, 8.1.95. 9. Isbell, e-mails.
10. Hartley Rogers, interview, 1.26.96. 11. Ibid.            A972
12. Ibid.
13. Nash may have had the idea while he was at Carnegie. This, in
any case, is Hans Weinberger's recollection, interview, 10.28.95.
14. Martin Gardner,
Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959), pp. 65-70.
15. Gardner's comment, in 1959, was that Hex "may well become one
of the most widely played and thoughtfully analyzed new
mathematical games of the century."
16. Gale, interview, 9.20.95.
17. Dinner at which John Nash, David Gale, and the author were
present, January 5,
--------------------------------------------------------------973
1996, San Francisco.
Iand Gale, interview.
19. Ibid.
20. Phillip Wolfe, mathematician, IBM, interview, 9.9.96.
21. John
MilDO-RATHER,
"A Nobel Prize for John Nash;` op. cit.
22. Ibid.; Gardner, op. cit.
23. Gale, interview.
24, Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Kuhn, interview.
27. Ibid.
28. Milnor, interview, 9.26.95.
7: John von Neumann
1. See, for example, Stanislaw Ulam, "John von Neumann,
1903-1957," Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society,
vol. 64, no. 3, part 2 (May 1958); Stanislaw Ulam,
Adventures of a Mathematician
(New York: Scribner's, 1983); Paul
--------------------------------------------------------------974
R. Halmosea"The Legend of John von Neumann,"
American Mathematical Monthly,
vol.
80 (1973); William Poundstone,
Prisoner Dilemma,
op. cit.; Ed Regis,
Who Got Einstein 01ei
op. cit.
2. Poundstone, op. cit.
3. Ulam, "John von Neumannea"op. cit.; Poundstone, op. cit., pp.
94-96.
4. Harold Kuhn, interview, 1. 10.96. 5. In remarks at a Nobel
luncheon at the American Economics Association meeting on 1.5.96,
Nash traced from Newton to von Neumann to himself. Nash shared
von Neumann's interest in game I equals . I I b es, hydrodynamic
turbulence, and computer architecture. theory, quite. echaDiCs,
rea A oTnrcraic variabI
6. See, for example, Ulam, "J von Neumannea"op. cit.
7. Norman McRae,
John von Neumann                                             A974
--------------------------------------------------------------975
(New York: Pantheon Books, 1992), pp. 3 50-56.
8. John von Neumann,
The Computer and the Brain
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959).
9. See, for example, G. H. Hardy, A Mathematician
Apology (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1967), with
a foreword by C. P. Snow.
10. Ulam, "John von Neumann:` op. cit.
11. Poundstone, op. cit,
12. Poundstone,
Prisoner Dilemma,
people. 190.
13. Clay Blair, Jr,, "Passing of a Great Mind;` Life (February
1957), pp. 89-90, as quoted by Poundstone, op. cit., people. 143.
14. Poundstone, op. cit.
15. Ulam, "John von Neumannea"op. cit.
16. Harold Kuhn, interview, 3.97.
--------------------------------------------------------------976
17. Paul R. Halmos, "The Legend of John von Neumann;` op. cit.
18. Ibid.
19. Poundstone, op. cit.
20. Halmos, op. cit.
22. Poundstone, op. cit.
23. Ulam,
Adventures of a Mathematician,
op. cit.
2 plus Ulan), "John von Neumannea"op. cit.
25, Ibid.
26. Ibid., people. 10; Robert J. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to
Social Scienceea"op, cit.
27. Richard Duffin, interview, 10.94.
28. Halmos, op. cit.
29. Ulam, "John von Neumann,` op. cit., pp. 35-39.
30. Interviews with Donald Spencer, 11.18.95; David Gale,
9.20.95; and Harold Kuhn, 9.23.95.
31. Poundstone, op. cit.
32. Herman H. Goldstine, "A Brief History of the Computerea"A
--------------------------------------------------------------977
Century of Mathematics in America, Part I
op. cit.
33. John von Neumann, as quoted in ibid. 8: The Theory of Games
1. John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern,
The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1944, 1947, 1953).
2. Both von Neumann and Morgenstern came to the seminar. Albert
W. Tucker, interview, 10.94. See also Martin Shubik, "Game Theory
and Princeton, 1940-1955: A Personal Reminiscenceea"Cowles
Foundation Preliminary Paper, undated, people. 3; David Gale,
interview, 9.20.95; and Harold Kuhn, interview, 9.20.95.
3, A. W, Tucker, "Combinatorial Problems Related to Mathematical
Aspects of Logistics: Final Summary Report0ggU.S. Department of
the Navy, Office of Naval Research, Logistics Branch, February
28, 1957), people. 1.                                        A977
4. Melvin Hausner, interview, 2.6.96.
--------------------------------------------------------------978
5. Interviews with David Yarmush, 2.6.96, and John Mayberry,
4.15.96.
6. David Gale, interview.
7. Kuhn, interview.
and Ibid.; Hausner, interview.
9. Robert J. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to Social Scienceea"op.
cit.
10. See, for example, H. W. Kuhn and A. W. Tucker, "John von
Neumann's Work in the Theory of Games and Mathematical
Economics,"
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society
(May 1958).
11. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to Social Scienceea"op. cit.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Dorothy Morgenstern Thomas, interview, 1.25.96. Morgenstern
kept a portrait of the kaiser hanging in his home.
15. Letter from George Mowbry to author, 4.5.95.
16. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to Social Scienceea"op. cit.
--------------------------------------------------------------979
17. As quoted in ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. A. W. Tucker, who knew both men well, said, "If he hadn't
been forced to write a book, it wouldn't have gotten
writtenea"interview, 10.94. Von Neumann was interested in
economics before he met Morgenstern.
26. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to Social Scienceea"op. cit.
27. Ibid.
28. Von Neumann and Morgenstern, op. cit., people. 6.
29. Leonid Hurwicz, "The Theory of Economic Behavior,"
The American Economic Review
(1945), pp. 909-25.
30. Von Neumann and Morgenstern, op. cit., people. 7.
31. Ibid., people. 3.
--------------------------------------------------------------980
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid., people. 4.
34. Ibid., people. 7,
35. Ibid., people. 1
36. Ibid.
37. fbiand, people. 6.
38.
New York Times,
3.46.
39. See, for example, Herbert Simon,
The American journal of Sociology,                           A980
no. 50 (1945), pp. 5 58-60. Hurwicz, op. cit.; Jacob Marschak,
"Neumann's and Morgenstern's New Approach to Static Economics,"
Journal of Political Economy,
no. 54 (1946), pp. 97-115; John McDonald, "A Theory of Strategy,"
Fortune
(June 1949), pp. 100- 110.
40. Leonard, "From Parlor Gaines to Social Scienceea"op. cit.
42. Ibid.
43. Shubik, "Came Theory and Princeton:` op. cit., people. 2.
--------------------------------------------------------------981
44. Von Neumann and Morgenstern, op. cit. See also Falwell,
Milgate, and Newman, op. cit.
45. Von Neumann and Morgenstern, op. cit. 46. Ibid.
47. See, for example, John C. Harsanyi, "Nobel Seminarea"in
Les Prhr Nobel 1994.
48. Von Neumann and Morgenstern, op. cit. 49. Ibid.
50. Ibid.
51. Harsanyi, op. cit.
9: The Bargaining Problem
1. John Forbes Nash, Jr., "The Bargainin Problem,"
Econometrica,
vol. 18 (1950), pp. 155-62.
2. Nash's barpainin `g solution was "virtually] unanticipated in
the literatureea"ac to Roger B. Myerson, "John Nash's
Contribution to Economics,"
Games and Economic Behavior,
no. 14 (1996), people. 291. See also Ariel Rubinstein, "John
Nash: The Master of Economic Modeling,"
--------------------------------------------------------------982
The Scandinavian Journal of Economics,
vol. 97, no. 1 (1995), pp. 11 --
12; John C. Harsanyi, "Bargaining," in Eatwell, Milgate, and
Newman, op. cit., pp. 56-60; Andrew Schotter, interview,
10.25.96; Ariel Rubinstein, interview, 11.25.96; James W.
Friedman, professor of economics, University of North Carolina,
interview, 10.2.96.
3. "This is the classical problem of exchange and, more
specifically, of bilateral monopoly as treated by Cournot,
Bowley, TintneT, Fellner and othersea"Nash, "The Bargaining
Problemea"p. 155. As Harold Kuhn points out, Nash's delineation
of the history of the problem was undoubtedly supplied by Oskar
Morgenstern, "It is now clear that Nash had not read those
writersea"Harold Kuhn, "Nobel Seminar," Les Prix Nobel 1994.
For a delightful short history of exchange, including the
references to pharaohs and kings, see Robert L. Heilbroner,
The
Worldly
--------------------------------------------------------------983
Philosophers,
6th edition (New York: Touchstone, 1992), people. 27.
4. John C. Harsanyi, "Approaches to the Bargaining Problem Before
and After the Theory of Games: A Critical Discussion of
Zeuthen's, Hick's and Nash's Theories," Econometrica,
vol. 24 (1956), pp. 144-57.                                  A983
5. In his now-classic reformulation of the Nash bargaining model,
Ariel Rubinstein traces the bargainin problem to Edgeworth,
"Mathematical Psychics: An Essay on the Application of
Mathematics to the Mora Sciences" (London: C. Kegan Paul, 188 1),
reprinted in Mathematical Psychics and Other Essays (Mountain
Center, Calif.: James and Gordon, 1995). Martin Shubik writes,
"Even as a graduate student I was struck by the contrast between
cooperative game theory, the seeds of which I regarded as already
present in Edgeworth and noncooperative theory which was present
in Cournot;` Martin Shubik,
Collected Works,
forthcoming, people. 6. For lively accounts of
--------------------------------------------------------------984
Edgeworth's life and contributions, see Heilbroner, op. cit., pp.
174-76, and John Maynard Ke s "Obituar of Francis Isidro
Edgeworth, March 26, 1926ea"reprinted in Edgeworth, op. cit.
6. HeiMer, cip. city people. 17 3.
7. Ibidddeap. 174.
8. Ed worth, op. cit.
9. lbif
10. Ibid.
11. Harsanyi, op. cit.
12. John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern,
The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, op.
cit., people. 9. "It may also be regarded as a nonzero-sum
two-person gameea"Nash, "The Bargaining Problemea"op. cit.,
people. 155; "even though von Neumann and Morgenstern's theory of
games was an essential step toward a strong bargaining theory,
their own analysis of two-person bargaining games did not go
significantly beyond the weak bargaining theory of neoclassical
economicsea"Harsanyi, "Bargainingea"op. cit., pp. 56-57.
--------------------------------------------------------------985
13. See, for example, Robert J. Leonard, "From Parlor Games to
Social Scienceea"op. cit., for a history of the axiomatic
approach, and a superb interpretive discussion of "axiomatics"in
Robert J. Aumann, "Game Theory," in John Eatwell, Murray Milgate,
and Peter Newman,
The New Falgrave,
op. cit., pp. 26-28.
14. Von Neumann and Morgenstern used the axiomatic method to
derive their theory of expected or von utilities in the second,
1947, edition of
Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. `dividual Valu
problem in social sciences, I believe, was Kenneth J. Arrow's
Ph.D. thesis
Social Choice and In es
(New York: John Wiley and Sons, 195 1). Lloyd S. Shapley's "A
Value of N-Person
Gamesea"Contributions to the Theory of Games II
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 195 3), pp. 307-17, is
another stellar


exa le.                                                       986
sh Tphe
15. John Na , T Bargaining Problemea"op, cit., people. 15 5.
16. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit., pp. 276-77.
17. The sketch of Bart Hoselitz is based on an interview with his
friend Sherman Robinson, professor of economics, University of
Chicago, 7.95, and questionnaires, letters, and a curriculum
vitae from CarnegieMellon University archives.
18. This bit of history about international trade theory after
World War 11 was supplied by Kenneth Rogoff, professor of
economics, Princeton University, interview.
19. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit., pp. 176-77.
20. Nash told Myerson that he was inspired by a problem posed by
Hoselitz. Roger Myerson, professor of economics, Northwestern
University, interview, 8.7.97.
2 1. Myerson, e-mail, 8.11.97.
--------------------------------------------------------------987
22. Letter from John Nash to Martin Shubik, undated (written in
1950 or 1951).
23. Harold Kuhn was for many years convinced that Nash had mailed
a copy of his first draft to Von Neumann while he was still at
Carnegie. Also interviews with David Gale, 9.20.95, and William
Browder,
12.6.96.
24. After historian Robert Leonard published the established
version of the origins of the paper in "Reading Cournot, Reading
Nash: The Creation and Stabilisation of the Nash Equilibrium,"
The Economic journal,
no. 164 (May 1994), people. 497, Nash corrected the record at a
lunch with Harold Kuhn and Roger Myerson, 5.96, Kuhn, personal
communication, 5.96.
25. John Nash, "The Bargaining Problemea"op. cit., people. 155.
26. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit., people. 277.
10: Nash's Rival Idea
1. Harold Kuhn, interview, 4.14.97.
--------------------------------------------------------------988
2. Albert William Tucker, interview, 10.94.
3. The beer party scene was reconstructed from the recollections
of Melvin Hausner, 2.6.96, Martin Davis, 2.20.96, and Hartley
Rogers, 1. 16.96, who attended several such parties in the course
of their graduate school careers.
4. Davis, interview.
5. Ibid. Amazingly, Davis was able, forty years later, to recall
the entire song, a few lines of which are given here, interview.
6. Kuhn, interview, 4.16.97.
7. Ibid.
8. Henri Poincart, quoted in E. T. Bell,
Men ofMathematics,
op. cit., people. 5 5 1.                                     A988
9. John Nash to Robert Leonard, e-mail, 2.20.93. Further details
supplied by Harold Kuhn, interview,
4.17.97.
10, "All the graduate students were afraid of himea"ac to Donald
Spencer, interview, 11.8.95.
--------------------------------------------------------------989
11. Von Neumann's dress and manner are described by George Mowbry
in a letter, 4.5.95. Harold Kuhn, interview, 5.2.97.
12. See, for example, Norman McRae, John von Neumann,
op. cit., pp. 350-56
13. As told to Harold Kuhn, 4.17.97. 14. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
15. Silvano Arieti,
Creativity,
op. cit., people. 294.
16. J. Nash to R. Leonard, e-mail. 17. Ibid.
18. The conversation between Nash and Gale was recounted by Gale
in an interview, 9.20.95. Gale also suggested that Nash use
Kakutani's fixed point theorem instead of Brouwer's to simplify
the proof, a suggestion that Nash followed in the note in the
National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings.
19. John F. Nash, Jr., "Equilibrium Points in N-Person
Games,?-municated
--------------------------------------------------------------990
by S. Lefschetz, 11.16.49, pp. 48-49.
20. Gale, interview.
21. Tucker, interview, 10.94.
22. Gian-Carlo Rota, interview, 12.12.95.
23. Tucker's account of Minsky's thesis on computers and the
brain, "Neural Networks and the Brain Problemea"is given in an
interview with Stephen B. Maurer published in the
Two Year College Mathematics journal, vol. 14, no. 3 (June 1983).
24. Tucker, interview.
25. Harold Kuhn, "Nobel Seminar,"
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit., people. 283.
26. Tucker, interview, 10.94.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
30. Tucker, interview.
31. Letter from Albert W. Tucker to Solomon Lefschetz, 5.10.50.
--------------------------------------------------------------991
32. Ibid.
33. See, for example, introduction, John Eatwell, Murray Milgate,
and Peter Newman,
The New P-41ongrave,
op. cit.
34. "It so happens that the concept of the two-person zero-sum
games has                                                    A991
very few
real life applicationsea"John C. Harsanyi, "Nobel Seminar,"
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit., people. 285.
35. Ibid.
36. Nobel citation.
37. Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically,
op. cit.
38. Ibid.
39. "Nowadays it almost seems to be obvious that the correct
application of Darwinism to problems of social interaction among
animals requires the use of non-cooperative game theory:`
according to Reinhard Selten, "Nobel Seminar,"
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
--------------------------------------------------------------992
op. cit., people. 288.
40. "Came Theoryea"in Eatwell, Milgate, and Newman, op. cit.,
people. xiii. 41. Michael Intriligator, personal communication,
6.27.95.
43. Von Neumann, as Nash always acknowledged, nonetheless helped
to gain attention for Nash's ideas. For example, the preface to
the third edition (1953) of
TheoTy of Games and Economic Behavior directs readers to Nash's
work on noncooperative games, people. vii.
11: Lloyd
1. T. S. Ferguson, "Biographical Note on Lloyd Shapley;` in
Stochastic Games and Related Topics in Honor of Professor L. S.
Shapley, edited by T. E. S. Raghavan, T. S. Ferguson, T.
Parthasarathy, and 0. J. Vrieze (Boston: Kluwer Academic
Publishers, 1989).
2. See, for example, Carl Sagan,
Broca Brain
(New York: Random House, 1979).
3. David Halberstam,
--------------------------------------------------------------993
The Fifties,
op. cit.
4. The description of Shapley's experiences during the war, at
Princeton, and at RAND draw on the recollections of Harold Kuhn,
11.18.96; Norman Shapiro, 2.9.96; Martin Shubik, 9.27.95 and
12.13.96; Melvin Hausner, 2.6.96; Eugenio Calabi, 3.2.96; John
Danskin, 10.19.96; William Lucas, 6.27.95; Hartley Rogers,
1.26.96; John McCarthy, 2.4.96; Marvin Minsky, 2.13.96; Robert
Wilson, 3.7.96; Michael Intriligator,
6.27.95.
5. Letter from John von Neumann, 1.54.
6. Solomon Leader, interview, 6.9.95. 7. Rogers, interview,
1.26.96.
8. "It was like ESP. Shapley seemed to know where all of the
pieces were all of the timeea"Minsky, interview.
9. Hausner, interview, 2.6.96.
10. Danskin, interview, 10.19.95.
11. Letter fiom Lloyd Shapley to Solomon Lefichetz, 4.4.49.
12. Interviews with Nancy Nimitz, 5.21.96, and Kuhn,          994
4.4.96.
13. Shapiro, interview, 12.13.96.
14. Intr`linin ator, interview, 6.27.95. 15. Shubi , interview,
12.13.96.
16. Lloyd S. Shapley, interview, 10.94.
17. Ibid.
18. Shubik, interview, 12.13.96.
19. Interviews with Shapley, Shubik, McCarthy, Calabi.
20. Calabi, interview.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Shubik, interview, 9.27.95.
24. Shubik, interview, 9.27.95.
25. Letter from Nash to Martin Shubik, undated (1950 or 1951).
26. McCarthy, interview.
27, McCarthy, interview.
28. Hausner, interview, 2.6.96; M. Hausner, J. Nash, L. Shapley,
and M. Shubik, "So Long Sucker-A Four-Person Gameea"mimeo
provided by Hausner.
29. Interviews with Shubik and McCarthy.
--------------------------------------------------------------995
30. John Nash and Lloyd Shapley, "A Simple Three-Person Poker
Game;` Annals of Mathematics,
no. 24 (1950).
31. "To some extent there was a competition between Nash,
Shapley, and meea"Shubik, interview, 12.13.96,
32. Shapley, interview.
33. Shapley,
Additive andNon-Additive SetFunctions, Ph.D. thesis, Princeton
University, 1953. Shapley published his famous result-the
so-called Shapley value coma value for n-person games, in 1953.
34. Martin Shubik, "Came Theory at Princeton, op. cit., people.
6: "We all believed that a problem of importance was the
characterization of the concept of threat in a twoperson game and
the incorporation of the use of threat in determining the
influence of the employment of threat in a bargaining situation.
[Nash, Shapley, and 11 worked on this problem, but Nash managed
to formulate a good model of the two person bargain utilizing
threat moves to start withdd"Shubik is referring here to Nash's
"Two-Person Cooperative Games;`
--------------------------------------------------------------996
published in
Econometrics
in 1953 but actually written in August 1950 during Nash's first
summer at RAND.
35. Letter from Albert W. Tucker, 1953.
36 lbiand
37 Letter from Frederick Bohnenblust, spring 1953.
38. Letter from John von Neumann, 1.54. 39. Kuhn, interview,
11.18.96.
12: The War of Wits
1. John McDonald, "The War of Wits," Fortune
(March 195 1).
2. William Poundstone,                                       A996
Prjsoner Dilemma,
op. cit.; Fred Kaplan,
The Wizards of Armageddon, op.
cit.;
The RAND Corporation: The First Fifteen Years (Santa Monica,
Calif.: RAND, November 1963) and
40th Year Anniversary
(Santa Monica: RAND, 1963); John D. Williams, An Address,
6.21.50; Bruce
--------------------------------------------------------------997
L. R. Smith,
The RAND Corporation
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966); Bruno W. Augenstein,
A
Brief History of RAND Mathematics Department and Some of Its
Accomplishments
(Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, March 1993); Alexander M. Mood,
"Miscellaneous Reminiscences,"
Statistical Science,
vol. 5, no. 1 (1990), pp. 40-41.
3. Herman Kahn,
On Thermonuclear War
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960), as quoted in
Poundstone, op. cit., people. 90.
4. Isaac Asimov,
Foundation
(New York: Bantam Books, 1991).
5. Poundstone, op. cit.
6. Kaplan, op. cit., people. 52.
7. Ibid., people. 10.
8. Oskar Morgenstern,
The Question ofNational Defense
(New York: Random House, 1959), as
--------------------------------------------------------------998
quoted in Poundstone, op. cit., pp. 84-85.
9. McDonald, "The War of Witsea"op. cit.
10. The account of RAND's beginnings is based on Poundstone, op.
cit.
11. Ibid., people. 93.
12. See, for example, Stanislaw Ulam, Adventures of a
Mathematician, op.
cit.; Richard Rhodes,
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986); Hodges,
Abu Turing: The Enigma,
op. cit.
13. Mina Rees, "The Mathematical Sciences and World War IIEA"OP.
cit.
14. The sketch of RAND's mathematics, economics, and computer
groups is based largely on interviews with RAND staff and
consultants from the early Cold War period, incluggTing Kenneth
Arrow, 6.26.95; Bruno Augenstein, 6.13.96; Richard Best, 5.22.96;
Bernice Brown, 5.22.96; John Danskin, 10.19.95; Martha Dresher,
5.21.96; Theodore Harris, 5.24.96; Mario Juncosa, 5.21.96     999
and 5.24.96; William Karush, 5.96; William F. Lucas, 6.26.95;
John W Milnor, 9.95; John McCarthy, 2.4.96; Alexander M. Mood,
5.23.96; Evar Nering, 6.18.96; Nancy Nimitz, 5.21.96; Melvin
Peisakoff, 6.3.96; Harold N. Shapiro, 2.20.96; Norman Shapiro,
2.29.96; Lloyd S. Shapley, 11.94; Herbert Simon, 10.16.95; Robert
Specht, 2.96; Albert W. Tucker, 12.94; Willis H. Ware, 5 .24.96;
Robert W. Wilson, 8.96; Charles Wolf, Jr., 5.22.96.
15. Augenstein, interview, 6.13.96.
16. R. Duncan Luce, interview, 1996. 17. The descriptions of
Arrow's contributions are taken from Mark Blaug,
Great Economists Since Keynes
(Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1985), pp. 6-9.
18. Kenneth Arrow, professor of economics, Stanford University,
interview, 6.26.95. 19. McDonald, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1000
20. Richard Best, former manager of security, RAND Corporation,
interview, 5.22.96.
21. Interviews with Alexander M. Mood, professor of mathematics,
University of California at Irvine, former deputy director,
mathematics department, RAND Corporation, 5.23.96, and Mario L.
Juncosa, mathematician, RAND, 5.21.96 and 5.24.96.
22. Kaplan, op. cit., people. 5 1.
23. Bernice Brown, retired statistician, RAND, interview,
5.22.96.
24. Augenstein, interview.
25. Arrow, interview.
26.
Chronicle of the Twentieth Century,
op. cit., people. 667.
27. David Halberstam,
The Fifties,
op. cit.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid., people. 46.
30. Kaplan, op. cit.
31. Martha Dresher, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1001
32. Best, interview.
33. Halberstam,
The Fifties,
op. cit., people. 45;
Chronicle of the Twentieth Century,
op. cit., people. 677.
34. Halberstam, op. cit., people. 49.
35.
Chronicle of the Twentieth Century,
op. cit., people. 750.
36. Best, interview.
37. Ibid.
38. Letter from Col. Walter Hardie, U.S. Air Force, to RAND,
10.25.50.
39. As told to Harold Kuhn, interview, 8.97.
40. Letter from John Nash to John and Virginia Nash, 11.10.5 1.
41. Best, interview.                                        A1001
42. The Eisenhower guidelines refer to DOD directive 52206, 1953
and Executive Order 10450, 1953.
43. Danskin, interview.
44. Robert Specht, interview, 10.96. 45. John Williams,
-------------------------------------------------------------1002
The Compleat Strategyst,
op. cit.
46. The account of mathematicians` work habits is based on
interviews with Brown, Mood, juncosa, Danskin, and Shapiro.
47. Interviews with Mood and Juncosa. 48'Juncosa, interview. d-
49. Mood, interview. Mood, and juncosa; Poun
50. The description of Williams is based on interviews with Best,
Brown,
stone op. cit.; and Kaplan, op. cit. I. Mood, interview.
52. As quoted in Poundstone, op. cit., people. 95.
53. Mood, interview.
54. Danskin, interview.
55. Arrow, interview.
56. Mood, interview.
57. Best, interview.
58. Harold Shapiro, interview.
59. Mood, interview.
60. Danskin, interview.
61. Ibid.
62. Best, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1003
13: Game Theory at RAND
1. Kenneth Arrow interview, 6.26-95.
R
..
arch in the Mathematical Theory Of Games
2. M. Dresher aQ L. S. Shapley Summary OfRAND
(RM-293)
(Santa Monica, Calif.: jU, 7.13.49).
3. Arrow, interview.
fArmageddon,
op. cit.
4. Fred Kaplan
The Wizards 0 teaeaV, of Conflict (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1960).
5. Thomas C. chelling,
The Stra
6. Ibid. Lucas, "The
7. Arrow, interview.
exa le Martin Shubik "Game Theory and Princeton,` op. cit.;
William
8. See, for m
Behavior,
-------------------------------------------------------------1004
v01. 8. (199 (, pp. 264-68; Carl Kaysen, Fiftieth Anniversary
oFTUBI"
Games and Economic
interview, 2.15.96.
9. John McDonald, "The War of Witsea"op- cit. probability   A1004
theory see John Williams,
10ddFora humorous account of Prussian military's romance with
The Compleat Strategyst, op.
cit.
11. McDonald, op. cit.
12. Bernice Brown, interview, 5.22.96. 13. Rosters RAND
Department of Mathematics. iption of game theoretic analyses of
duels, see Dixit
14. Dreshe'r and Shapley, op. cit. For a lucid descr
and Skeath, op. cit. bruary 1957),
15, Dresher and Shapley, op. cit. r "Passing of a Great Mind,
Life (Fe
16. For von Neumann's views` see Clay Blair,
-------------------------------------------------------------1005
J
., . , people. 143. pp. 88-90, as quoted in William Poundstone,
Prisoner's Dilemma,
OP' cit'
17. Arrow interview.
18. See undstone, op. cit.; Joseph Baratta, interview, 8.12.97.
19. Arrow interview.
I Economics
(Princeton: Princeton
20. John knowledge. Kagel and Alvin E_ Roth, The Handbook
OfExPerm`comta
University Press, 1995), pp. 8-9.
2 1, Albert W. Tucker, interview 12.94.
ilebuff, Thinking Strategicallally,
OP- cit-
22. See, for example, Avinash 6ixit and Barry M ` Murray Milgate,
and
23. See, for example, Anatole Rappaport, "Prisoners Dilemmaea"in
John Eatwell,
Peter Newman
The New Palgrave,
-------------------------------------------------------------1006
op. cit., pp, 199-204.
24, Dixit nd Nalebuff, op. cit.
25. Harold Kuhn, interview, 7.96.
26. Poundstone, op. cit.; also Kagel and Roth, op. cit.
27. John F. Nash, Jr., as quoted in Kagel and Roth, op. cit.
Personal Reminiscenceea"in
Toward a
28. Mar "Garne Theory at Princet n 1949-1955: A
tin Sbubik, 1o Durham, NddC-: Duke University Press 1992).
History of Game Theory,
edited teaity E. Roy Weintrau Ole of threats in bargaining was
publiled as a RAND
29. The first version Of Naffh's analysis of the 31.50). A final
n comPerson Cooperative Games, 1-1720(Santa Monica Calit.: RAND,
8
mcmOrand Two (January 1953), pp. i28-40. Also "Rational
Non-Linear version appuerired under the same title in
Econometric8                                                A1006
Utilityea"RAND Memorandum, D-0793,
-------------------------------------------------------------1007
8.8.50.
30. Kaplan, op. cit.
31. Ibid.
32. ibid.
33. Ibid ., pp. 91-92.
34. Ibid.
35. Bruno Augenstein, interview- (ted in Poundstone, op. cit., P.
168.
36" R, Duncan Luce and Howard Raiffa as quo 1960).
37. Thomas Schelling, The
Strategy of Conflict
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
14: The Draft
1. Department of Mathematics, Princeton University.
2. Recommendations of 5.11.50 by Solomon Lcfschetz, chairman,
mathematics department, to president, Princeton University, that
John Forbes Nash, Jr., be appointed research assistant,
three-quarters time, on A. W Tucker's ONR Contract A-727.
3. See, for example, David Halberstam, The Fifties,
-------------------------------------------------------------1008
op. cit.
4. Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians,
August 30-September 6, 1950, vol. 1, people. 516.
5. Letter from John Nash to Albert W. Tucker, 9.10.50. Letter
from John Nash to Solomon Lefichetz, undated (probably written
between April 10 and April 26, 1948), gives the clearest
statement of why Nash wanted to avoid the draft: "Should there
come a war involving the U.S. I think I should be more useful,
and better off, working on some research project than foing,
sayeaeainffthe infantry."
6. Letter from Fred D. Rigby, Office of Nava Research Washington,
D.C., to Albert W. Tucker, 9.15.50.
7. Letter from J. Nash to A. W Tucker, 9.10.50.
8. Letters from A. W. Tucker to Local Board No. 12, 9.13.50;
Raymond 1. Woodrow to Local Board No.
12, 9.15.50 and 9.18.50; Raymond J. Woodrow, Committee on Project
Research and Inventions, Princeton University, to Local Board No.
12, Bluefield, WddVa., re
-------------------------------------------------------------1009
occupational deferment for John F. Nash, Jr. (with reference to
RAND consultancy). 9. Letter from F. D. Rigby to A. W. Tucker,
9.10.50.
10. Ibid.
11. Halberstam, op. cit.
12. Hans Weinberger, interview, 10.28.95. 13. Harold Kuhn,
interview, 9.6.96. 14. Gottesman,
Schizophrenia Genesis,
op. cit., pp. 152-55; also Bruce Dohrenwind, professor of social
psychology, Columbia University, interview, 1.16.98. 15. H.
Steinberg and J. Durrel, "A Stressful Situation as a Precipitant
of Schizophrenic Symptoms,"
British journal ofPsychiatry, vol.                          A1009
I I I (1968), pp. 1097-1106, as quoted in Gottesman,
Schizophrenia Genesis,
op. cit.
16. Notes of telephone call from Alice Henry, secretary,
department of mathematics, Princeton University, re I-A
classification of John Nash and request that Dean
-------------------------------------------------------------1010
Douglas Brown write a letter to ONR to be forwarded to the
Bluefield draft board, 9.15.50.
17. "Information Needed in National Emergencyea"form filled out
9.50 by John F. Nash, Jr., refers to I-A status, pending
application for II-A, ONR and RAND research roles.
18. Letter from Raymond J. Woodrow, Committee on Project Research
and Inventions, Princeton University, to commanding officer,
Office of Naval Research, New York Branch, re deferment for John
F. Nash, Jr., 9.18.50. 19. Letter from W. S. Keller, Office of
Naval Research, New York Branch, to Selective Service Board No.
12, Bluefield, WV-A., re deferment for John F. Nash, Jr.,
9.28.50.
20. Richard Best, interview, 5.96.
2 1. Melvin Peisakoff, interview, 5.96. 22. Best, interview.
23. Letter from Raymond J. Woodrow to John Nash, 10.6,50.
24. Ibid.; letter from L. L. Vivian, ONR, New York Branch, to
commanding officer, ONR, New York Branch Office, re
-------------------------------------------------------------1011
notification of Nash by draft board that active service postponed
until June 30, 1951, and continued I-A status, 11.22,50. 15: A
Beautiful Theorem
1. Richard J. Duffin, interview, 10.26.95.
2. "He can hold his own in pure mathematics, but his real
strength seems to lie on the frontier between mathematics and the
biological and social sciencesea"letter from Albert W. Tucker to
Marshall Stone, 12.14.5 1.
3. John Nash, "Algebraic Approximations of Manifolds,"
Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, vol.
1 (1950), people. 516, and "Real Algebraic Manifolds,"
Annals ofMathemades,
vol. 56, no. 3 (November 1952; received October 8, 195 1). For
expositions of Nash's result, see John Milnor, "A Nobel Prize for
John Nashea"op. cit., pp. 14-15, and Harold W Kuhn, introduction,
"A Celebration of John F. Nash, Jr.,"
-------------------------------------------------------------1012
Duke Mathematicalfournal
vol. 81, no. 1 (1995), people. iii.
4. Harold Kuhn, interview, 11.30.97. 5. See, for example, June
Barrow-Green, Roincar6and the Three-BodyRroblem (Providence,
R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1977); also Kuhn, interview.
6. George Hinman, interview, 10.30.97. 7. John F. Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nohel 1994,
op. cit. "Wiener's Lifeea"in
8. See, for example, E, T. Bell,
Men ofMathernatics,
op. cit., and Norman Levinson
"Norbert Wiener 1894-1964,"                                 A1012
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society,
vol. 72, no. I 1part 11, people. 8.
9. Martin Davis, interview, 2.6.96.
10. Norman Steenrod, letter of recommendation, 2.51, as quoted by
Kuhn, introduction, "A Celebration of John F. Nash, Jr.ea"op.
cit.
11. John Nash, "Algebraic Approximations of Manifoldsea"op. cit.,
people.
-------------------------------------------------------------1013
516.
12. Solomon Lefschetz, President's Report, Princeton University
Archives, 7.18.80.
13. Solomon Lefschetz, memorandum, 3.9.49, on Spencer's
appointment as visiting professor at Princeton in academic year
1948-49; Donald Spencer, interviews, 11.28.95 and 11.29.95.
14. Lefschetz, memorandum, 3.9.49.
15. Donald Clayton Spencer, Biography, 10.61, Princeton
University Archives.
16. See, for example, "Analysis, Complex,"
Encyclopacandi Britannica (1962).
17. Kodaira won the Fields in 1954; David C. Spencer, "Ki-inihiko
Kodaira (1915-1997),"
American Mathematica]MonthIy,
2.98.
18. Spencer won the 136cher in 1947, Biography, op. cit.
19. Lefschetz, memorandum, 3.9.49.
20. Joseph Kohn, professor of
-------------------------------------------------------------1014
mathematics, Princeton University, interview, 7.19.95.
21. Ibid. Also Phillip Griffiths, director, Institute for
Advanced Study, interview, 5.26.95.
22. In his recommendat` for Srerce `s appointment as visiting
professor in 1949, Lefschetz remarks 'on
on his "warm and sympathetic persona ity. rpencer had an unusual
willingness to reach out to colleagues in trouble. He became
deeply involved in helping Max Shiffinan, a bright young
mathematician at Stanford who was diagnosed with schizophrenia;
John Moore, a mathematician who suffered a severe depression; and
John Nash after Nash returned to Princeton in the early 1960's.
See Spencer, op. cit.
23. Spencer, op. cit.
24. As slightly restated by Milnor, "A Nobel Prize for John
Nashea"op. cit., people. 14.
25. Intersectional Nomination: Class Five; 1996 Election, John F.
Nash, Jr.
26. Michael Artin, professor of mathematics, MIT, interview,
12.2.97.
-------------------------------------------------------------1015
27. See, for example, Michael Artin and Barry Mazur, "On Periodic
Points,"
Annals ofMathematics, no.
81 (1965), pp. 82-99. Milnor calls this an
"important"application.
28. Barry Mazur, professor of mathematics, Harvard          A1015
University, interview, 12.3.97.
29. Nash cites, for example, H. Seifert, "Algebraische
Approximation von Mannigfaltigkeiten,"
Math. Zeit.,
vol. 41 (1936), pp. 1-17.
30. Ibid.
3 1. Steenrod, letter, 2.5 1, as quoted by Kuhn, introduction, "A
Celebration of John F. Nash, Jr.ea"op. cit.
32. Spencer, op. cit.
33. Nash, as told to Harold Kuhn, private communication, 12.2.97.
The subsequent Nash-Moser theorem has even more profound
implications for celestial mechanics. See Chapter 30.
34. Albert W. Tucker, interview, 11.94.
-------------------------------------------------------------1016
Nash still dabbled in game theory, perhaps partly to maintain his
RAND connection. For example, he wrote "N-Person Games: An
Example and a Proof," RAND Memorandum, RM-615, June 4, 1951, as
well as, with graduate students Martin Shubik and John Mayberry,
'A Comparison of Treatments of a Duopoly Situationea"RAND
Memorandum P-222, July 10, 195 1.
35. Kuhn, interview.
36. Letter from Albert W. Tucker to Hassler Whitney, 4.5.5 5.
37. Arlin supervised the honors calculus pro I hi h, according to
John Tate (interview, 6.29.97), he took very seriously. Later
documents refer to Nas 's having been a poor teacher; the
comments undoubtedly stem from his experiences in 1950-5 1.
38. "There is no doubt that the department should look towards
keeping Milner permanently as a member of our faculty:` Solomon
Lefschetz, President's Report, Princeton University Archives, 9.5
1.
39. Letter from A. W. Tucker to H. Whitney, op. cit.
-------------------------------------------------------------1017
40. William Ted Martin, professor of mathematics, MIT, interview,
9.7.95.
4 1. Letter from Albert W. Tucker to Marshall Stone, 2.26.5 1.
42. Nash told Kuhn that his desire to live in Boston played a
role in his accepting the MIT position, Kuhn, personal
communication, 7.97. 16: MIT
I
disLindsay Russell, interview, 1. 14.96. 2. Patrick Corcoran,
retired captain, Cambridge City Police, interview, 8.12.97.
3. Felix Browder, interview, 11. 14.95. 4. Gian-Carlo Rota,
professor of mathematics, MIT, interview, 10.29.94. 5. Paul A.
Samuelson, professor of economics, MIT, interview, 11.94.
6. Harvey Burstein, former FBI agent who set up the campus police
at MIT, interview, 7.3.97.
7. Samuelson, interview.
8. William Ted Martin, professor of mathematics, MIT, interview,
9.7.95.
-------------------------------------------------------------1018
9. Samuelson, interview.
10. Department of Physics, MIT, communication, 1.98.
11. Course catalog, MIT, various years. 12. Samuelson, interview.
13. Ibid.                                                   A1018
14. Arthur Mattuck, professor of mathematics, MIT, e-mail,
6.23.97. 15. Joseph Kohn, professor of mathematics, Princeton
University, interview, 7.25.95.
16. Samuelson, interview. See also Report to the President, MIT,
various years. 17. Jerome Lettvin, professor of electrical
engineering and bioengineering, MIT, interview, 7.25.97; Emma
Duchane, interview, 6.26.97.
18.
Samuelson, interview.
19. Gian-Carlo Rota, interview.
20. Hearing before Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC),
House of Representatives, Eightythird Congress, First Session,
Washington, D.C., April 22 and 23, 1953.
-------------------------------------------------------------1019
21. Samuelson, interview.
22. Martin, interview.
23. Ibid.
24. See, for example, Wiener's obituary, New York Times,
3.19.64; Paul Samuelson, "Some Memories of Norbert Wienerea01964,
Xerox provided by Samuelson; and Norbert Wiener, Ex-Prodip,
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953) and IA-RN a Mathematician
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956). 25. Samuelson, "Some
Memories of Norbert Wienerea"op. cit.
26. Ibid.
27. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 9.11.95.
28. Samuelson, "Some Memories of Norbert Weinerea"op. cit.
29. Z. Levinson, interview.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. Note from John Nash to N. Wiener, 11. 17.5 2.
-------------------------------------------------------------1020
34. Letter from John Nash to Albert W. Tucker, 10. 58.
35. Jerome Neuwirth, professor of mathematics, University of
Connecticut at Storrs, interview, 5.21.97.
36. The sketch of Levinson is based on recollections of his
widow, Zipporah Levinson; Arthur Mattuck; F. Browder, 11.2.95;
Gian-Carlo Rota, 11.94; and many others. Also Kenneth Hoffman,
Memorandum to President J. B. Wiesner, 3.14.74; William Tcd
Martin et al., obituary of Norman Levinson, 12.17.75.
37. HUAC, op. cit. See also Chapter 19.
38. Arthur Mattuck, "Norman Levinson and the Distribution of
Primesea"address to MIT shareholders,
10.6.78.
17: Bad Boys
1. Donald J. Newman, professor of mathematics, Temple University,
interview, 12.28.95; Leopold Flatto, Bell Laboratories,
interview, 4.25.96,
2. Sigurdur Helgason, professor of
-------------------------------------------------------------1021
mathematics, MIT, interview, 2.13.96.
3. Course catalog, MIT, various years. 4. Arthur Mattuck,
interview, 11.7.95. 5. Robert Aumann, professor of mathematics,
Hebrew University, interview, 6.25.95.                      A1021
6. Joseph Kohn, interview, 7.19.95. 7. Ibid.
8. Auniann, interview.
9. Seymour Haber, professor of mathematics, Temple University,
interviews, 3.14.95 and 3.19.95.
10. George Whitehead, professor of mathematics, MIT, interview,
12.12.95. 11. Eva Browder, interview, 9.6.97.
12. Barry Mazur, interview, 12.3.97. 13. Harold Kuhn quotes Nash
taking credit for introducing the tea hour at MIT in his
introduction to the special volume in honor of Nash, "A
Celebration of John F. Nash, Jr.ea"op. cit.
14. Isadore M. Singer, professor of mathematics, MIT, interview,
12.13.95. 15. Kohn, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1022
16. Singer, interview.
17. Jerome Neuwirth, interview, 5.21.97. 18. Mattuck, interview,
2.13.96.
19. Descriptions of this legendary crowd are based on interviews
with Kohn; Felix Browder, 11.2.95,
11.10.95, 9.6.97; Aumann; Neuwirth; Newman; H. F. Mattson,
10.29.97 and 11.18.97; Larry Wallen,
5.16.97 and 5.20.97; Mattuck; Paul Cohen, 1.5.96; Jacob Bricker,
5.22.97; and others.
20. F. Browder, interview, 9.6.97.
21. Haber, interview.
22. Ibid.
23. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96.
24. Neuwirth, interview.
25. Ibid.
26. Mattuck, interview, 2.13.96.
27. Interviews with Neuwirth and F. Browder, 11.2.95.
28. Jurgen Moser, professor of mathematics, Eidgenbssische
Techische Hochschule, Zurich, interview,
-------------------------------------------------------------1023
3.23.96.
29. Marvin Minsky, professor of science, MIT, interview, 2.13.96.
30. Herta Newman, interview, 3.2.96. 31. Andrew Browder,
professor of mathematics, Brown University, interview, 6.18.97.
32. Haber, interview.
34. D. Newman, interview, 2.4.96.
35. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 9.11.95.
36. Neuwirth, interview.
37. D. Newman, interview.
38. Ibid.
39. Lawrence Wallen, professor of mathematics, University of
Hawaii, interviews, 5.20.97 and 6.4.97.
40. Kohn, interview.
41. H. F. Mattson, professor of computer science, Syracuse
University, interview, 5.16.97; also Wallen, interview.
42. 1. C. Lagarias, `The Leo Collection: Anecdote and
Storiesea"ATANDT Bell Laboratories, 4.29.95 (Xerox). 43. Mattuck,
interview, 5.21.95, and


Neuwirth, interview.                                         1024
44. Neuwirth, interview.
45. The sketch of Donald J. Newman is based on an interview with
him and on interviews with Flatto, Kohn, Mattuck, Singer, and
Harold S. Shapiro, professor of mathematics, Royal Institute of
Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, e-mail, 5.21.97.
46. Singer, interview, 12.13.95.
47. Mattuck, interview, 11.7.95.
48. D. Newman, interview, 3.2.96.
49. Helgason, interview, 12.3.94; also interviews with Mattuck
and Singer.
50. Flatto, interview.
51. Ibid.
52. Ibid.
53. Singer, interview.
54. Haber, interview.
55. Ibid.
56. Flatto, interview.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. Neuwirth, interview.
60. Ibid.
61. D. Newman, interview, 3.2.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1025
62. Ibid.
63. H. Newman, interview.
64. Fred Brauer, professor of mathematics, University of
Wisconsin, interview, 5.22.97.
18: Experiments
1. Harold N. Shapiro, professor of mathematics, Courant
Institute, interview, 2.20.96.
2. John Milnor, interview, 9.26.95. 3. The account of the
cross-country trip is based largely on recollections of Martha
Nash Legg, interviews,
8.29.95 and 3.29.96, and Ruth Hincks Morgenson, interview,
6.22.97.
4. John Nash to Harold Kuhn, personal communication, 6.24.97;
also Morgenson, interview.
5. M. Legg, interview.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.; Milnor, interview.
9. John M. Danskin, interview, 10.29.95.
10. M. Legg, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1026
11. Ibid .
12. John Milnor, "Games Against Natureea"in
Decision Processes,
edited by R. M. Thrall, C. H. Coombs, and R. L. Davis (New York:
John Wiley and Sons, 1954).
13. "Some Games and Machines for Playing Themea"RAND Memorandum,
D-I 164, 2.2.52.
14. John Nash and R. M. Thrall, "Some War Gamesea"RAND
Memorandum, D-1379,9.10.52.
15. G. Kalisch, J. Milnor, J. Nash, and E. Nering, "Some    A1026
Experimental N-Person Gamesea"RAND Memorandum, RM-948, 8.2 5.5 2.
16. M. Legg, interview.
17. The description of the experiment is based on, apart from the
original paper, Evar Nering, professor of mathematics, University
of Minnesota, interview, 6.18.96; R. Duncan Luce and Howard
Raiffa,
Games and Decisions
(New York: John Wiley and Sons,
-------------------------------------------------------------1027
1957), pp. 259-69; John H. Kagel and Alvin E. Roth, The
flandhook ofExpenmental Economics,
op. cit., pp. 10-11.
18. Kal e1 and Roth, op. cit.
19. MiTnor, interview, 10.28.94.
20. John Milnor, "A Nobel Prize for John Nashea"op. cit.
2L See, for example, Kagel and Roth, op. cit.
22. Milnor, interview, 1.27.98.
23. Letter from John Nash to John Milnor, 12.27.64.
19: Reds
1. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 9.11-95
2. Hearing before Committee on Un-American Activities, House of
Representatives, Washington, D.C.,
4.22.5 3 and 4.23.5 3. Unless otherwise noted, all references to
the hearing are based on this transcript.
3. David Halberstam,
The Fifties,
op. cit.
-------------------------------------------------------------1028
4. Letter from Harold W. Dodds, president, Princeton University,
to Colonel S. R. Gerard, Screening Division, Western Industrial
Personnel Security Board, 10. 14.54, Princeton University
Archives.
5. See, for example, F. David Peat, Infinite Potential. The Life
and Times of David Bohm
(Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley, 1997). 6. Z. Levinson,
interview.
7. Ibid. See also Felix Browder, interview, 11.10.95.
8. Z. Levinson, interview.
9. Ibid.
10.
The Tech,
spring 19 5 3, various issues.
11. Z. Levinson, interview.
12. Ibid.
13, William Ted Martin, interview.
14. Z. Levinson, interview.
15. Fred Brauer, e-mail, 6.23.97; Arthur H. Copeland, professor
of mathematics, University of New Hampshire, e-mail, 6.24.97;
Arthur Mattuck,
-------------------------------------------------------------1029
e-mail, 6.25.97.
16. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry,
Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
20: Geometry                                                A1029
1. Letter from Warren Ambrose to Paul Halmos, undated (written
spring 1953).
2. The portrait of Ambrose is based on the recollections of
Isadore Singer, 2.13.95; Lawrence Wallen,
6.4.97; Felix Browder, 11.2.95; Zipporah Levinson, 9.11.95;
William Ted Martin, 9.7.95; H. F. Mattson, 10. 29.97, 11 18.97,
11.28.97; Gian-Carlo Rota, 10.94; George Mackey, 12.14.9 5.
3. See, for example, 1. M. Singer and H. Wn, "A Tribute to Warren
Ambrose," Notices of the AMS
(April
1996).
4. Robert Aumann, interview, 6.28.95. 5. Gabriel Stolzenberg,
professor of mathematics, Northeastern University, interview,
4.2,96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1030
6. Leopold Flatto, interview, 4.15.96. See also "The Leo
Collection: Anecdotes and Storiesea"ATANDT Bell Laboratories,
4.29.94.
7. Ibid.
8. George Mackey, interview, 12.14.95. 9. Felix Browder,
interview, 11.2.95. 10. Flatto, interview.
11. Despite its apocryphal ring, the story appears to be true and
has been confirmed by Nash. Harold Kuhn, personal communication,
8,97. 12. Armand Borel, professor of mathematics, Institute for
Advanced Study, interview, 3.1.96.
13. F. Browder, interview.
14. Ibid.
15. Joseph Kohn, interview, 7.19.95. Phrasing the question
precisely, Ambrose would have used the adverb "isometrically`-
mea distion t preserve distances"- after "embedding."
16. Shlomo Sternberg, pro essor of mathematics, Harvard
University, interview, 3.5.96.
17. Mikhail Gromov, interview, 12.16.97.
-------------------------------------------------------------1031
18. John Forbes Nash, Jr., Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
19. Gromov, interview.
20. John Conway, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 10.94. 21. JiIrgen Moser, e-mail, 12.24.97. 22,
Richard Palais, professor of mathematics, Brandeis University,
interview, 11.6.95.
23. Moser, interview.
24, Donald J, Newman, interview, 3.2.96.
25. JtIrgen Moser, "A R idly Convergent Iteration Method and
Non-linear Partial Differential Eq"ations,
1, IVA-NNALIDELLA Scullf, Normale Superiore andPisa,
vol. 20 (1966), pp. 265-315,499-535. 26. See, for example, Kyosi
[to, ed,, Encyclopcandc Dictionary ofMathernatics (Mathematical
Society of Japan; Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987), people. 1076, Lars
Hbrmander, "The Boundary Problems of Physical Geodesy,"
-------------------------------------------------------------1032
Archive for Rational Mechanics andAnaIysis,
vol. 62, no. 1 (1976), pp. 1-52; and S. Klainerman,
Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics, vol. 33     A1032
(1980), pp. 43-101 -
27. John Nash, "C' Isometric Imbeddings,"
Annals of Mathematics,
vol. 60, no. 3 (November 1954), pp. 383-96.
28, Kohn, interview.
29. John Forbes Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
30. Rota, interview, 11.14.95.
31. Flatto, interview.
32. Jacob Schwartz, professor of computer science, Courant
Institute, interview, 1.29.96.
33. Isadore Singer, interview, 12.14.95. 34. Paul J. Cohen,
professor of mathematics, Stanford University, interview, 1.6.96.
35. Moser, interview, 3.23.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1033
36. The Nash-Federer correspondence wasn't saved, and Federer
declined to be interviewed (personal communication, 6.25.96). The
account is based on the recollections of several individuals,
including Wendell Fleming (interview, 6.97), a longtime
collaborater and friend of Federer.
37. Fleming, interview.
3 8. John Nash, "The Imbedding Problem for Riemannian Manifolds,"
Annals of Mathematics,
vol. 63, no. I (January 1956, received October 29, 1954, revised
August 20, 1955).
39. Borel, interview.
40 Letter from John Forbes Nash, Jr., to Virginia and John Nash,
Sr., 4.54. 41. Rota, interview.
42. Stolzenberg, interview, 4.2.96.
43. Ibid.
44. Schwartz, interview.
45. Moser, interview.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48. Rota, interview, 10.94.
-------------------------------------------------------------1034
49. George Whitehead, professor of mathematics, MIT, interview,
12.12.95. 50. Flatto, interview.
51. Lawrence Wallen, interview, 6.4.97. Part T%vo: SEPARATE LWES
21: Singularity
1. Postcard from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 1968. B stood for
Jacob Bricker, T for Ervin D. Thorson, F for Herbert Amasa
Forrester, and R for Donald V. Reynolds.
22: A Special Friendship
I . Letter from John Forbes Nash, Jr., to Martha Nash Legg,
11.4.65.
2. Ibid.
3. Herta Newman, interview, 3.2.96.
4. D. Newman, interview.
5. Joseph Kohn, interview, 2.15.96. 6. H. Newman, interview.
7. D. Newman, interview.
8. In his 11.4.65 letter, Nash describes Thorson as one of three
"special friendshipsdd"Thorson was working in Santa         A1034
Monica, California, at Douglas Aircraft.
9. The references to Tin Nash's letters continued
-------------------------------------------------------------1035
until at least 1968, usually in conjunction with references to B
(for Bricker) and F 10. M. Legg, interview, 3.30.96.
11. Douglas Aircraft could supply no biographical or professional
information on Thorson (Donald Hanson, personal communication,
6.17.97). Nash did not recall Thorson when asked about him by
Harold Kuhn (6.97). What details are known of Thorson are based
solely on an obituary in the
Hernet News
and a brief conversation with his surviving sister, Nelda
Troutman, 5.28.97.
12. Hanson, interview.
13. Ibid.
14. Troutman, interview, 5.28.97.
15. Ibid,
16. Ibid.
17. Under the Eisenhower guidelines, homosexuals were not
permitted to have security clearances.
23ccEleanor
1. The description of Nash's stay at Mrs. Grant's house is based
on interviews with Lindsay Russell,
-------------------------------------------------------------1036
1.14.96, 4.23.96, and 7.97.
2. Postcard from John Nash, Jr., to Virginia and John Nash, Sr.,
9.52.
3. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 9.3.95. 4. Eleanor Stier,
interview, 2.14.96.
5. Ibid., 3.15.96.
6. Ibid., 2.14.96 and 3.18.96.
7. Arthur Mattock, interview, 11.7.95. 8. Eleanor's history was
taken from interviews with her, 3.15.95, and John David Stier,
9.20.97.
9. E. Stier, interview, 2.14.96.
10. ibid., 3.15.96.
11. That Nash was interested in, and experimented with, various
drugs was recalled by Donald Newman, interview, 3.2.96. Eleanor
Stier confirmed this, interview, 3.18.96, although neither
witnessed Nash's expetiments, if indeed they ever took place.
Their possible significance is twofold. First, it suggests Nash's
concern with enhancing his mental powers but also his concerns
about his own "manliness,"
12. E. Stier, interview, 3.13.96.
13. Ibid.
14. M. Legg, interview.
15. E. Stier, interview, 3.15.96,
-------------------------------------------------------------1037
Confirmed by Jacob Bricker, interview, 5.22.97, and Arthur
Mattuck, interview.
16. Bricker, interview.
17. E. Stier, interview, 7.95.
18. Ibid.
19. Bricker, interview.                                     A1037
20. E. Stier, interview, 3.15.96.
21. John David Stier, interview, 6.29.96.
22. E Stier, interview, 3.15.96.
23. J. D. Stier, interview, 9.20.97. 24. E. Stier, interview,
3.15.96.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid, 3.18.96.
27. Ibid., 3.18.96, and J. D. Stier, interview, 9.20.97.
28. 1. D. Stier, interview, 9.20.97. 29. A. Mattuck, interview.
30. E. Stier, interview, 3.18.96.
31. Bricker, interview; Mattuck, interview.
32. E. Stier, interview, 3.18.96.
33. Mattuck, interview.
34. E. Stier, interview, 3.18.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1038
35. Ibid., 3.15.96.
36. Mattuck, interview,
3T Best, interview, 5.22.96.
38, Mattuck, interview, 5.21.97.
39. Bricker, interview.
40. E. Stier, interview.
41. Ibid., 3.18.96.
42. Ibid.
43. 1. D. Stier, interview, 9.20.97. 44. Ibid.
24: Jack
1. Donald J. Newman, interview, 3.12.96.
2. Arthur Mattuck, interview, 5.21.97. 3 The portrait of Bricker
is based on interviews with Mattuck; Newman; Herb Kamowitz;
Jerome Neuwirth, 5 .23,97 and 6.5.97; Leopold Flatto, 4.25.96;
Lawrence Wallen, 5.20.97.
4. Jacob Bricker, interview, 5.22.97. 5. Jack Kotick, interview,
1.21.98. 6. D. Newman, interview, 3.12.96.
7. Ibid., 1.25.98.
8. Eleanor Stier, interview.
9. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg,
-------------------------------------------------------------1039
11.4.65.
10. Herta Newman, interview, 3.2.96. 11. Sheldon M. Novick,
Henryjames: The Young Master
(New York: Random House, 1996).
12. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg.
13. Alfred C. Kinsey et at.,
Sexual Behavior of the Human Male (Philadelphia: Saunders, 1948).
14. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg.
15. Bricker, interview, 5.22.97.
16. Neuwirth, interviews.
17. Mattuck, interviews, 5.20,97 and 5.28.97.
18. Bricker, interview, 5.22.97.
19. Postcard from John Nash to Jacob Bricker, 8.3.67.
20. Letter from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 7.10.68,
"Mattuckine"seems to be a reference to the Mattachine Society,
the first American advocacy group for homosexuals, founded in
1951 (source: Neil Miller, Out
of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the       A1039
Present
[New York: Vintage Books, 1995],
-------------------------------------------------------------1040
pp. 334-38).
21. Bricker, interview.
22. Bricker, interview, 1.26.98.
25: The Arrest
IininNash mostly pursued his growing interest in computers and
wrote a paper in which he proposed the idea of parallel control.
"Higher Dimensional Core Arrays for Machine Memoriesea"RAND
Memorandum, D-2495, 7.22.54; "Parallel Control," RAND Memorandum,
RM-1 361, 827.54. He wrote two other papers as well, including
"Continuous Iteration Method for Solution of Differential
Gamesea"RAND Memorandum, RM-1326, 8.18.54.
2.
The Evening Outlook
(Santa Monica, California), summer 1954, various dates.
3. Ibid.
4. Melvin P. Peisakoff, interview, 6.3.97.
5. Richard Best, interview, 5.22.96. All direct quotations
attributed to Best throughout chapter 25 come from the 5.22.96
interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1041
6. Letter from John Nash toArthur Mattuck, 1.15.73. In a
reference to his 1954 arrest, Nash named the arresting officer.
7. Best, interview.
8. Ibid.
9. DOD Directive 52206, 1953; Executive Order 10450, 1953;
Greene very. McElroy,
360 US 474, 1959.
10. Best, interview.
11. "The C Law: An Empirical Study of Enforcement and
Administration in Los I vol. 13 (1966), pp. 643, 691.
"Solicitation"and "police deco S"- Thomas E. Lodge, "there May Be
Harm in Asking: Homosexual Solicitations and the Fighting Wo'l
"Doctrineea"in
Homosexuality, Crimmoloby and the Law,
edited by Wayne R. Dynes and Steven Donaldson (New York: Garland
Publishing, 1992), pp. 461-93. "In 1961 every state in the United
States had sodomy lawsea"f Lesbians, Gay Men and the Law,
edited by William B. Rubenstein (New York: The New Press, 1993),
people. xvi.
-------------------------------------------------------------1042
12. See, for example, jerel McCrary and Lewis Gutierrez, "The
Homosexual Person in the Military and in National Security
Employment,"
journal of Homosexuality,
vol. 5, nos. I and 2 (Fall 1979-Winter 1980); Ellen Schrecker,
The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents
(New York: St. Martin's Press,
1994).
13. McCrary and Gutierrez, op. cit.
14. Nancy Nimitz, retired economist, RAND Corporation, interview,
5.21.96.                                                    A1042
15. Best, interview.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. McCrary and Gutierrez, op. cit.
19. Best, interview.
20. Ibid.; "The Consenting Adult Homosexual and the Lawea"op.
cit.
21. Best, interview.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
-------------------------------------------------------------1043
25. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia and John Nash, Sr., 9.54.
26. Alexander M. Mood, interview, 5.22.96.
27. RAND mathematics department roster, 1954, RAND Archives.
28. Letter from 1. Nash to A. Mattuck, 1. 15.73.
29. John W. Milnor, interview, 1.27.98.
30. Lloyd Shapley retold the story of Nash's arrest at a
Thanksgiving dinner in 1994. Norman Shapiro, former RAND
employee, interview, 2.29.96.
31. Felix Browder, interview, 9.6.97. Browder's recollection was
that "Norman Levinson had to take care of itea"and that Levinson
later regarded the affes asdatsignrof "approaching
schizophrenia."
32. As quoted by N. Shapiro, interview. "L 0ity 0 d e it was
John."
33. Irving I. Gottesman, professor of psych (logy, University of
Virginia, interview, 1. 16.98.
34. Nikki Erlenmeyer-Kimling, professor of
-------------------------------------------------------------1044
genetics and development, Columbia University, interview,
1.17.98.
35. "J. C. C. McKinsey0ggobituary), Proceedings and Addresses of
the American Philosophical Association,
vol. 27 (1954).
36. Andrew
HodgeseaAJ-AN Turing. The Enigma,
op. cit.
26: Alicia
1. Alicia Nash, interviews, 10.94 and 4.18.97.
2. Peter Munstead, chief librarian, music library, MIT,
interview, 9.19.97; also Lawrence Wallen, interview, 6.4.97.
3. The portrait of Alicia at age twenty-one is based largely on
interviews with two women who knew her as an undergraduate at
MIT: Joyce Davis, 5.17.97 and 6.30.97, and e-mails, various
dates; and Emma Duchane, 4.30.96 and 6.26.97. It also draws on
interviews with Wallen, 6.5.97; Arthur Mattuck, 11.7.97; Herta
Newman, 3.2.96; Jacob Bricker, 5.22.97.
-------------------------------------------------------------1045
5. Ibid.
6. J. Davis, interview.
7. Ibid.
8. The Larde family history is based on interviews with Alicia
Nash, Odette Larde, Enrique L. Larde, and the senior        A1045
Enrique Larde's self-published history,
The Crown Prince Rudolf- His Mysterious Life After Mayerling
(Pittsburgh: Dorrance Publishing, 1994). 9. E. Larde,
The Crown Prince Rudolf
op. cit.
10. A. Nash, interview, 5.14.97.
11. 0. Larde, interview, 1.7.97.
12. See, for example, Patricia Parkman, Nonviolent Insurrection
in El Salvador (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1988).
13. 0. Larde, interview.
14. Tinker Cassell, Veterans Administration, Biloxi, Mississippi,
interview, 8.97.
15. The sketch of Marymount is based on interviews with A. Nash,
4,18.97; Elizabeth
-------------------------------------------------------------1046
Keegen,
4.18.97; Sister Kathleen Fagan, Marymount High School, 5.22.97;
Sister Raymond, Marymount High School,
5.22.97.
16. Sister Raymond, interview.
17. Fagan, interview.
18. A. Nash, interview.
19. Duchane, interview.
20. A. Nash, interview.
21. 0. Larde, interview.
22. J. Davis, interview.
23. Sister Raymond, interview.
24. A. Nash, interview.
25. Sister Raymond, interview.
26.
The Tech,
9.5 1.
27. A. Nash, interview, 8.22.95.
28. J. Davis, interview.
29. Ibid.
30. Duchane, interview.
31. J. Davis, interview.
32. Letters from Joyce Davis to her parents, 1951-53.
-------------------------------------------------------------1047
33. J. Davis, interview.
34. Letter from Alicia Nash to Joyce Davis, June or July 1952.
35. J. Davis, interview.
36. Ibid.
37. H. Newman, interview, 3.2.96.
38. Duchane, interview.
39. A. Nash, interview, 11.94.
40. J. Davis, interview.
41. Letter from J. Davis to her parents, 4.24.54.
42. Letter from A. Nash to J. Davis, June or July 1954.
43. A. Nash, interview, 7.18.96.
44. John Moore, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 10.6.95.
27: The Courtship
1. Arthur Mattuck, interview, 11.7.95. 2. Letter from       A1047
Alicia Nash to Joyce Davis, 7.55.
3. Ibid.
4. Emma Duchane, interview, 4.30.96. 5. Jacob Bricker, interview,
5.22.97. 6. Duchane, interview, 6.26.97.
-------------------------------------------------------------1048
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid., 4.30.96.
9. Ibid., 6.26.97.
10. Mattuck, interview.
11. Eleanor Stier, interview, 2.14.96. 12. Duchane, interview,
4.30.96.
13. "Grant in Aid, Support for Dr. John F. Nash, Jr., as Alfred
F. Sloan Research Fellow in Mathematics," 5.15.56; also, Report
for 195 5-56, Alfred F. Sloan Foundation, New York, New York.
14. "The application is quasi-tentative ... the draft blem a
complicationdd"Letter from John Nash to Albert W. Tucker, undated
(probably written in early faW01955).
15. Letter from John Nash to Hassler Whitney, 10.55; John Forbes
Nash, Jr., membership application, Institute for Advanced Study,
5.23.55. Nash's application was formally approved in January
(source: letter from Robert Oppenheimer to John Nash, 1. 17.56).
16. Letter from A. Nash to J. Davis, 2.56. 17. Nesmith Ankeny,
who joined the MIT faculty in the fall of 1955, witnessed the
-------------------------------------------------------------1049
incident and related
the anecdote to Harold and Estelle Kuhn not long after it
occurred (source: Harold Kuhn, e-mail, 5.21.97, and interview,
5.22.97). 18. J. Davis, interview, 5.19.97.
28: Seattle
1. The Institute on Differential Geometry took place from
mid-June to the end of July 1956 at the University of Washington
in Seattle. Dates and participants given in a memorandum from
Carl B, Allendoerfer, chairman, department of mathematics,
University of Washington, Seattle, 5.23.56.
2. John Milner, e-mail, 8.97,
3. Eugenio Calabi, interview, 3.2.96; John Isbell, professor of
mathematics, State University of New York at Buffalo, interview,
6.14.97; Raoul Bott, professor of mathematics, Harvard
University, interview, 11.5.95.
4. E-mail from John Nash to Harold Kuhn, 4.16.96.
5. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 11.4.65.
6. The description of Forrester is based on:
-------------------------------------------------------------1050
Arthur Mattuck, interview, 5.21.97, e-mail, 6.13.97; Isbell,
interview, 6.14.97; Calabi, interview, 3.2.96; Albert Nijenhuis,
interview, 6.17.97, e-mails, 6.13.97; Victor Klee, e-mails,
6.13.97, 6.14.97, 6.16.97; Kuhn, e-mails, 4.16.96, 4.17.96,
4.18.96; Joseph Kohn, interview, 4.17.96; John Walter, interview,
6.13.97; Robert L. Vaught, interview, 6.13.97; Ramesh Gangolli,
interview, 6.16.97. Mary Sheetz provided the dates of Forrester's
employment at the University of Washington, e-mail, 6.16.97.
7. Nijenhuis, interview.
8. Mattuck, interview.
9. Isbell, interview.                                       A1050
10. Vaught, interview.
11. Nijenhuis, interview.
12. Vaught, interview.
13. Ibid.
14. Walter, interview.
15. Nash was in Seattle in February of 1967, apparently for a
month. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 2.67.
-------------------------------------------------------------1051
16. Klee, interview.
17. This scene is reconstructed on the basis of recollections
from Martha Nash Legg, interview, 9.2.95.
18. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia and John Nash, Sr.,
7.12.56.
19, Jerome Neuwirth, interview, 5.21.97. 20. Jacob Bricker,
interview, 5.22.97. 29: Death and Marriage
1. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia and John Nash, Sr., 8.1
1.56
2. Ibid., 9.18.56.
3. Elizabeth Hardwick, "Boston: A Lost Ideal,"
Harper's,
December 1959, quoted in Paul Mariani, Lost Puritan; A Life
ofRobert Lowell (New York: Norton, 1994), people. 27 1. 4.
Postcards from John Nash to Virginia and John Nash, Sr., 8.5 3,
9.5 3, 12.2.5 3, 1.2.5 5.
5. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96. 6. Harold Kuhn,
interview, 8.97.
7. M. Legg, interview.
8. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg,
-------------------------------------------------------------1052
from Paris, 9.28.59.
9. M. Legg, interview.
10. Letter from J. Nash to H. Kuhn, 8.97. 11. Death certificate
of John Nash, Sr., 9.12.56.
12. M. Legg, interview.
13. Eleanor Stier, interview, 3.15.96. 14. Natasha Brunswick,
interview, 9.25.95.
15. Leo Goodman, as told to Harold Kuhn, 1.95.
16. Alicia Nash, interview, 5.14.97. 17. Letter from Alicia Nash
to Joyce Davis, 10.26.56.
18. Ibid.
19. Sylvia Plath,
The Belljar
(New York: Harper and Row, 197 1).
20. M. Legg, interview.
21. John Nash, dinner party at Gaby and Armand Borel's, 3.22.96,
22. M. Legg, interview.
23. A. Nash, interview, 10. 11.97; also M. Legg, interview.
24. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash,
-------------------------------------------------------------1053
2.57.
25. Enrique Larde, interview, 12.21.95. Part Three: A SLOW FIRE
BURNING
30: Olden Lane and Washington Square
1. Institute for Advanced Study, Directory, 1956-57,        A1053
Institute for Advanced Study Archive, Princeton, New Jersey. 2.
Regis,
Who Got Einstein Office?,
op. cit., people. S.
3. John Danskin, interview, 10.19.95. 4. Paul S. Cohen, professor
of mathematics, Stanford University, interview, 1.6.96.
5. Peter Lax, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute,
interview, 2.29.96.
6. Cathleen Morawetz, professor of mathematics, Courant
Institute, interview, 2.29.96.
7. George Boehn, "The New Uses of the Abstract,"
Fortune,
July 1958.
8. Constance Reid,
Courant in Gottingen and New York: The Story
-------------------------------------------------------------1054
of an Improbable Mathematician (New York: Springer Verlag, 1976).
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Lax, interview.
12. Boehm, "The New Uses of the Abstractea"op. cit.
13. Nash told Harold Kuhn that he kept a car in New York City
that year and that parking it caused him innumerable headaches,
personal communication, 7.97.
14. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia and John Nash, Sr.,
8.11.56.
15. Natasha Brunswick, interview, 9.25.95.
16. Tilla Weinstein, professor of mathematics, Rutgers
University, interview, 8.25.97.
17. Morawetz, interview.
18. Lars Hbrmander, professor of mathematics, University of Lund,
interview, 2.13.97.
19. Lax, interview.
20. Hbrmander, interview.
21. John Isbell, e-mail, 3.28.95.
-------------------------------------------------------------1055
22. Boehm, "The New Uses of the Abstractea"op. cit.
the American Mathematical Societ
23. Stanislaw Ulam, "John von Neumann, 1903-57,"
Bulletin of
vol. 64, no. 3, part ii (May 1958). 24. John Nash, "Continuity of
Solutions of Parabolic and Elliptic Equations,"
American Journal of Mathematics,
vol. 80 (1958), pp. 931-54.
25. See Chapters 2 and 16.
26. John Nash, "Continuity of Solutions of Parabolic and Elliptic
Equations," op. cit. 27. Louis Nirenberg, professor of
mathematics, Courant Institute, interview, 10.94. See also Lax,
interview.
28. Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30. Lax, interview.
31. Ibid.
32. Nirenberg, interview.                                   A1055
33. H6rmander, interview.
34. Ibid.
35. Lax, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1056
36. Nirenberg, interview.
37. Armand Borel, professor of mathematics, Institute for
Advanced Study, interview, 3.1.96.
38. Lax, interview.
39. Morawetz, interview; Gian-CaTlo Rota, interview, 10.94.
40. Paul R. Garabedian, professor of mathematics, Courant
Institute, interview, 2.20.96.
41. "Ennio De Giorgi, 1928-1996"and "Interview with Ennio De
Giorgi,"
Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 10.97.
42. John Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
43. Rota, interview.
44. Lax, interview.
45. Letter from John Nash to Robert Oppenheimer, 7.10.57.
46. Ibid.
47. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry,
Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
-------------------------------------------------------------1057
48. Institute for Advanced Study, directories, various years.
49. Letter from J. Nash to R. Oppenheimer. 50. John Nash, plenary
lecture, op. cit, 31: The Bomb Factory
1. Richard Emery, attorney, interview, 4.4.96.
2. Ibid.
3. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 9.57.
4. Emma Duchane, interview, 6,26.96. 5. Alicia Nash, interview,
7.1.97.
6, Duchane, interview.
7. Hartley Rogers, interview, 2.16.96. 8. Zipporah Levinson,
interview, 9.11.95.
9. A. Nash, interview, 10.94.
10. Nash's chief result was initially published in a note
comsubmitted by Marston Morse of the Institute for Advanced
Studies on 6.10.57 comin the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, no. 43 (19 57),
pp. 754-58. The full paper was submitted to the
American Journal of Mathematics
-------------------------------------------------------------1058
nearly a year later, on
5.26.58, and published in vol. 80 (1958), pp. 931-58.
11. Elias Stein, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 12.2.95. 12. Lennart Carleson, professor of
mathematics, University of Stockholm, interview, 10.3.95.
13. Ibid.
14, Stein, interview.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Paul R. Garabedian, interview, 2.20.96.
18. George Boehm, "The New Mathematics,` two-part series,   A1058
Fortune
(June and July 1958).
19. Martha recalled Nash's telling her that he was considering
accepting a post at Caltech in order to raise the likelihood of
an offer from Harvard, possibly because Harvard and MIT had an
informal nonraiding policy. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.30.96.
20. Letter from John Nash to Albert W.
-------------------------------------------------------------1059
Tucker, 10.58.
21. At that time, tenure was normally not awarded until the
candidate's seventh year. At MIT, unlike some other institutions,
tenure was paired with promotion to full, not associate,
professor. 22. Gian-Carlo Rota, interview, 10.94. 23. John Forbes
Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
24.
Awards, Honors and Prizes,
8th edition, vol. 11 (Detroit: Gale Research, 1989), people. 129.
25. Lars H6rmander, interview, 2.13.97. 26. Confidential source.
27.
Proceedings, International Congress of Mathematicians, 1958
(Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1960).
28. Jtirgen Moser, interview, 3.71.96. 29.
Proceedings, International Congress of Mathematicians, op.
Cit.
-------------------------------------------------------------1060
30. Confidential source.
31. Confidential source.
32. Moser, e-mail, 12.24.97.
33. Peter Lax, interview, 2.6.96.
34. Moser, interview, 3.21.96.
35. Ibid.
36. For the history of the B6cher Prize, see the Web site for the
American Mathematical Society.
37. Letter from Lars H6tionnander to author, 1.3.96; H6rmander,
interview, 2.13.97. 38. H6rmander, e-mail, 12.16.97.
39. Ibid.
32: Secrets
1. John Forbes Nash, Jr., plenary lecture, World Congress of
Psychiatry, Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
2. G . H. Hardy,
The Mathcmatician Apo]offl7 (Cambridge, UX.: Cambridge University
Press, 1967), with a foreword by C. P. Snow. 3, Paul S. Cohen,
interview, 1.5.96. 4. Stanislaw Ulam, "John von Neumann,
1903-1957ea"op. cit., people. 5. 5. Hardy, op. cit.
-------------------------------------------------------------1061
6. Felix Browder, interview, 11. 10.9 5.
7. Harold Kuhn, interview, 7.95.
8. Ibid.
9. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit. 10. Elias Stein,
interview, 12.28.95. 11. Cohen, interview.
12. E. T. Bell,
Men ofMathematics,                                          A1061
op. cit.
13. Enrico Bombieri, interview, 12.6.95. 14. Bell, op. cit.
15. Andrew Wiles, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
personal communication, 6.97.
16, Lars H6rmander, interview, 2.13.97. 17. F. Browder,
interview.
18. John Forbes Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
19. Bell, op. cit.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Jacob Schwartz, professor of computer science, Courant
Institute, interview,
-------------------------------------------------------------1062
1.29.96.
23. Jerome Neuwirth, interview, 5.27.97. 24. Stein, interview.
25. Ibid.
26. Richard Palais, professor of mathematics, Brandeis
University, interview, 11.6.95.
27. Bell, op. cit.
28. Atle Selberg, interview.
29. Eugenio Calabi, interview, 3.2.96. 30. Letter from John Nash
to Martha Nash Legg, 11.4.65.
31. Stein, interview.
32. Hbrmander, interview.
33. Harold Kuhn, e-mail, 7.97.
34. Paul A. Samuelson, interview.
35. William Ted Martin, interview, 9.7.95.
36. Robert Solow, professor of economics, MIT, interview, 1.95.
37. Martin, interview.
38. Cathleen Morawetz, interview, 2.29.96.
39. Alicia Nash, interview, 1.3.97. 40. Ibid.
-------------------------------------------------------------1063
41. John Nash, personal communication, 3.22.96.
42. Eva Browder, interview, 9.6.97.
43. Ibid.
44. A. Nash, interview
45. F. Browder, interview.
46. John Moore, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 10.5.95.
33: Schemes
1. Alicia Nash, interview, 7.1.97.
2. Ibid.
3. Letter from John Nash to Albert W. Tucker, early October 1958.
4. George Mackey, interview, 1.21.96. 5. Letter from C. Ralph
Buncher, professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, University
of Cincinnati Medical Center, to author, 5.20.96.
6. A. Nash, interview.
7. John Nash, letter to A. Tucker, 10. 5 8.
8. Ibid.
9. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96. 10. Paul A. Samuelson,
interview,
3.13.96.                                                     1064
11. Saunders McLane, former chairman, department of mathematics,
University of Chicago, interview,
3.4.96.
12. Shlomo Sternberg, interview, 3.5.96. 13. Ibid. Also
membership application, Institute for Advanced Studies, fall
1958. 14. Letter from Albert W. Tucker to John Nash, 10.8.58.
15. Letter from Albert W. Tucker to Sloan Foundation, 10.8.58.
16. Letter from Albert W. Tucker to Guggenheim Foundation,
11.26.58.
17. Gian-Carlo Rota, interview, 11.14.95.
18. Robert Solow, emeritus professor of economics, MIT,
interview, 1.95.
19. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 10. 15.5 8.
20.
New York Times, 11.
14.6 3.
21. Paul S. Cohen won the Fields in 1966 and the 136cher in 1964.
The sketch of
-------------------------------------------------------------1065
Paul Cohen is based on interviews with Raoul Bott, 11.95 and
11.5.96; Lennart Carleson, 10.18.95; Elias Stein, 12.28.95; Felix
Browder, 11.2.95; Adriano Garsia, professor of mathematics,
University of California at San Diego, 12.31.95; Lars H6rmander,
2.13.97; Jargen Moser, 3.21.96; Jerome Neuwirth, 5.27.97.
22. Cohen, interview, 1.5.96.
23. Stein, interview, 12.28.95.
24. Ibid.
25. Garsia, interview, 12.31.95.
26. Cohen, interview.
27. Garsia, interview; Neuwirth, interview, 5.27.97.
28. F. Browder, interview, 11.10.95. 29. Ibid., 11.2.95.
34: The Emperor of Antarctica
1. Richard Emery, interview, 4.4.96. The party scene described by
Emery is also based on the recollections of Jurgen and Gertrude
Moser, John and Karen Tate, Adriano Garsia, Gian-Carlo Rota, and
Alicia Nash.
2. Alicia Nash, interview, 2.7.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1066
3. Paul S. Cohen, interview, 1.5.96.
4. Al Vasquez, professor of mathematics, City University of New
York, interview, 6.17.97.
5. Raoul Bott, interview, 11.5.95.
6. Emma Duchane, interview, 6.26.97. 7. Letter from C. Ralph
Buncher to author, 5.20.96; also letter from Henry Y. Wan,
professor of economics, Cornell University, to author, 6.5.96.
Tony Phillips, professor of mathematics, State University of New
York at Stony Brook, interview, 8.26.97, recalled Nash's question
to the class.
8. Ramesh Gangolli, professor of mathematics, University of
Washington, interview, 6.12.95. Also, Alberto R. Galmarino,
professor of mathematics, Northeastern University, interview,
6.95. 9. Atle Selberg, interviews, 8.16.95 and 1.23.96.
10. Gian-Carlo Rota, interview, 10.29.94; Gangolli, interview;
Galmarino, interview. Martha Nash Le put this episode       A1066
-------------------------------------------------------------1067
later, but Gangolli and Galmarino recall that Nash didn't meet
his classes for the last coupt of weeks of the term which ended
1.21.59 and Rota recalled that Nash stopped by his apartment
before "driving south."
II. Jerome Neuwirth, interview, 6.4.97; also Carsia, interview,
12.31.95.
12, Hartley Rogers, interview, 2.16.96. 13. Ducharie, interview,
4.30.96.
14. Confidential source.
15. Vasquez, interview.
16. Kate Tate, interview, 8.11.97. 17. John Nash, plenary
lecture, op. cit. 18. A. Nash, interview.
19. Cohen, interview.
20. Vasquez, interview.
21. Harold Kuhn, interview, 8.94.
22. Cohen, interview.
23. Neuwirth, interview.
24. Moser, interview, 3.23.96.
25. William Ted Martin, interview, 9.7.95.
26. Felix Browder, interview, 11.2.95; Paul A. Samuelson,
interview, 10.94. 27. John Danskin, interview, 10.19.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1068
28. The account of this incident is based on interviews with the
following sources: Sigurdur Helgason,
2.13.96; F. Browder; Samuelson, 10.94 and 3.15.96; Harold Kuhn,
interview, 1.95. Browder, who later became chairman of the
Chicago department, recalled seeing the letter in the files.
Efforts by the current chair-man to locate it proved fruitless.
29. Vasquez, interview.
30. E nio Calabi, interview, 3.2.96. Iu
31. 1 . y
32. Selberg, interview.
33. Program, 5 54th Meeting, Columbia University, New York,
February 28, 1959,
Bulletin of the American Matbematical Society,
vol. 65 (1959), people. 149.
34. Harold N. Shapiro, interview, 2.29.96.
3 5. Peter Lax, interview, 2.6.96. 36. Donald J. Newman,
interview, 3.2.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1069
37. Cathleen Morawetz, interview, 2.29.96.
38. F. Browder, interview.
35: In the Eye of the Storm
I . Alicia Nash, interview, 7.1.97.
2. Emma Duchane, interview, 6.26.97. 3. A. Nash, interview.
4. Donald V. Reynolds, interview, 6.29.97.
5. A. Nash, interview.
6. Duchane, interview.
7. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96. 8. Duchane, interview.
9. A. Nash, interview.
10. Duchane, interview.
11. A. Nash, interview.
12. Duchane, interview.                                     A1069
13. Ibid.
14. William Ted Martin, interview, 9.7.95.
15. Cian-CaTlo Rota, interview, 10.29.94.
16. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 3.12.59.
17. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg,
-------------------------------------------------------------1070
3.12.59.
18. A. Nash, interview, 7.1.97.
19. A] Vasquez, interview, 6.17.97. 20. Duchane, interview,
21. Ibiand
22. Paul S. Cohen, interview, 1.5.96, 23. Gertrude Moser,
interview, 8.25.95. 24. Kay Whitehead, professor of mathematics,
Tufts University interview, 12.12.95.
36: Day Breaks in Bowditch Hall
1. Paul S. Cohen, interview, 1.5.96. 2. Adriano Garsia,
interview, 12.31.95, 3. Cohen, interview.
4. My description of how MIT's psychiatric service likely handled
Nash's commitment is based on interviews with Benson Rowell
Snyder, who was hired by P
7.24.97; Wade Rockwood, interview, 7.26.97; Mert)
Burstein, former FBI agent who was brought in by Stratton to
expand MIT's campus olice, interview, 7.3.97.
5. The description of how Nash was taken to McLean against his
will is baselon a
-------------------------------------------------------------1071
contemporaneous account by a former dean of Tufts Medical School,
A. Warren Stearns, who in rvievved Nash s ortly after his te shc
commitment (letter fron Stearns to Bernard Bradley, 4.14.59), and
a further elaboration by Nash (E-mail,
5.15.98).
6. Snyder, interview.
7. For a portrait of McLean as it was in the 1950's, I relied on
an official history by S. B. Sutton, A
History ofMcLean Hospital
(Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 1986); annual
reports; firsthand accounts by Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and
Ray Charles, as well as Suzanna Kayseri's more r nt reationt,
Girl
'ece`
Interrupted-
and interviews with individuals associated with McLean in that
era, including Pau Howard, former associate psychiatrist in chief
and director of the clinical service, 2.15.95; Kahne; Joseph
Brenner,
-------------------------------------------------------------1072
7.23.97; Arthur Cain, psychiatrist, 8.20.97; Alfred Pope, senior
neuropathologist, McLean Hospital, and professor of
neuropatbology, Harvard Medical School, 12.13.95 and 2,16.96. 8.
Robert Garber, former president, American Psychiatric
Association, interview, 5.6.96. 9. Sylvia Plath,
7he Belljar,
op. cit.; Ray Charles,
Brother Ray
(New York: Da Capo, 1978, 1992). 10. Letter from A. W.      A1072
Steams to B. Bradley, 5.1 plus 5 3.
11. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 9.11.95.
12. Emma Duchane, interview, 6.26.97. 13. Robert Lowell was
hospitalized at McLean at the end of April 1959. Lowell was
confined to Bowditch, as he had been two years earlier when he
wrote "Day Breaks at Bowditch Hallea"one of the poems in
To the Union Dead
Several of Nash's visitors, including Gian-Carlo Rota, Isadore
Singer, and
-------------------------------------------------------------1073
Arthur Mattuck, recall encounters with Lowell, and therefore it
seems that Nash, too, was confined to Bowditch. Since we have no
firsthand reports from Nash, I have made use of Lowell's
irripressi"ns from 1957 and 1959, augmented by the impressions of
some of Lowell's visitors, including his wife, writer Elizabeth
Hardwick, letter, 8.8.97; poet Stanley Kunitz, interview, 8.2.97;
and Lowell's executor, Frank Bidart, interview, 7.27.97. See also
Ian
Hamilton,
Robert Lowcll: A Biography
(New York: Random House, 1982); Paul Mariam,
The Lost
Puritan,
op. cit., and interview, 7.28.97; Peter Davison,
The Fading Smile: Poets in Boston, 1955-1960, from Robert Frost
to Robert Lowell to Sylvi Plath
(New York: Knopf, 1994), and interview, 8.11,97.
-------------------------------------------------------------1074
14. "I've been conditioning here for about a monthea"letter from
Robert Lowell to Edmund Wilson,
5.19.59, from Bowditch House; "in the hospital I spent a mad
month or more rewriting everything in my three booksea"letter
from Robert Lowell to Elizabeth Bishop, 7.24.59.
15. Elizabeth Hardwick, personal communication, 9.8.97.
16. Arthur Mattuck, e-mail, 8,8.97. 17. "The house I was in was
divided between ex-paranoid boys and senile old menea"letter from
Robert Lowell to Peter Taylor, 3.15.58, 18. Letter from R. Lowell
to E. Bishop, 3.15.58.
19. Ibid.; also "Waking in the Blueea"Robert Lowell,
Life Studies and For the Union Dead
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992). Quotes in this and
the following paragraphs are taken from "Waking"unless otherwise
noted.
20. From "Waking in the Blue"; also Duchane, interview.
21. Letter from R. Lowell to E. Bishop; also "Waking in the
Blue."
-------------------------------------------------------------1075
22. Seymour Krim, "The Insanity Bitea"in
View of a Nearsighted Cannoneer
(New York: E. P. Dutton,
1968).
23. Al Vasquez, interview, 6,17.97. 24. Z. Levinson, interview,
25. Vasquez, interview.
26. Carsia, interview.                                      A1075
27. Jiirgen Moser, interview, 3.23.96. 28. Duchane, interview.
29. George Mackey, interview, 12.14.95.
30. Herta Newman, interview, 3.2,96. 31. Felix Browder,
interview, 1.2.95. 32. Gian-Carlo Rota, interview, 10.29.94.
34. This is Jerome Lettvin's term, Jerome Lettvin, professor of
electrical engineering, MIT, interview,
7.25.97.
35, John McCarthy, interview, 2.4.96. 36. Arthur Mattuck,
interview, 11.7.95. 37. 1 am assuming that Nash's treatment was
similar to that of other patients and have based my account
-------------------------------------------------------------1076
on the recollections of Paul Howard, clinical director of McLean
at the time, as well as other McLean staffers, including Joseph
Brenner, psychiatrist, interview, 7.25.97; Cain, interview;
Kahne, interview.
38. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.
39. Kahne, interview.
40. Brenner, interview, 7.23.97.
41. Z. Levinson, interview.
42. Cohen, interview; F. Browder, interview.
43. Francine M. Benes, psychiatrist, McLean Hospital, interview,
2.13.96. 44. See, for example, MaTiani, op. cit., and Hamilton,
op. cit.
45. Kahne, interview; also Howard, interview. 46. Kahne,
interview.
47. Howard, interview.
48. Brenner, interview.
49. Z. Levinson, interview.
50. Isadore Singer, interview, 12.13.95. 51. Letter from A. W.
Steams to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.
52. Duchane, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1077
53. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.
54. Taffy Griffiths, physician, Princeton, 5.20.59, and
interview, 7.95. 55, Notes of a telephone conversation between A.
Warren Steams and Bernard E. Bradley, attorney,
5.13.59. In an interview (8.19.97), Bradley said that he handled
many similar cases, but did not recall Nash.
56. The sketch of A. Warren Stearns is based on a biographical
essay provided by the Tufts University
archives; an interview with his son Charles Stearns, 3.14.96; and
an interview with Paul Samuelson, who knew Stearns, 3.15.96. 57.
A. W. Steams and B. Bradley phone conversation, 5.14.59.
58. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.
59. Ibid.
60. Letter from Robert A. Crimes, attorney, Hardy, Hall and
Grimes, to A. Warren Steams, 6.18.59.
61. Letter from A. W. Steams to B. Bradley,
-------------------------------------------------------------1078
5.20.59.
62. Ibid.
37: Mad Hatter's Tea
1. Emma Duchane, interview, 6.26.97. The sketch of Alicia Nash
and the final months of her pregnancy are based on this.    A1078
2. Confidential source.
3. Confidential source.
4. Michael Artin, interview, 12.12.95. 5. Confidential source.
6. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 9.11.95.
7. A] V s uez, interview, 6.17.97. a 7r,
8. Letter orn John Nash to Lars 1-16rmander, undated (arrived
around 6.1.59).
9. Gab Borel, interview, 9.94.
1 jo
0. n Nash, flenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid,
8.26.96, op. cit. Il. Paul Samueson, interview, 3.16,97.
12. Z. Levinson, interview.
13. William Ted Martin, interview, 9.7.95.
-------------------------------------------------------------1079
14. A. Warren Stearns, note for file, 6.15.59.
15. Samuelson, interview.
16. Letter from Henry Y. Wan, Jr., to author, 6.5.96.
17. Enrique Larde, interview, 12.21.95. 18. John Danskin,
interview, 10.19.95. 19. Alicia Nash, interview, 7.1.97.
Part Four: THE LOST YEARS
38: Citoyen du Monde
1. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 7.18.59.
2. Ibid., 7.20.59.
3. Janet Flanner,
Paris Journal 1944-1965
(New York: Atheneum, 1965).
4. John Moore, interview, 10.6.97.
5. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.97.
6. Odette Larde, interview, 12.8.95. 7. International Herald
Tribune,
7.10.59, 7.11.59, 7.12.59, 8.7.59. 8. Interviews with Joseph
Baratta, historian, 8.12.97; Francis Bourne, 8.12.97; David
Gallup, attorney, 8.12.97.
-------------------------------------------------------------1080
9. New York Times,
5.27.48; Garry Davis, World Citizen Foundation, interview,
8.13.97. See also Art Buchwald,
I'll Always Have Paris
(New York: C. P. Putnam and Sons, 1996), and Garry Davis,
My County Is the World: The Adventures of a World Citizen
(New York: C. P. Putnam and Sons, 1961).
10.
New York Times,
9.18.48.
11.
International Herald Tribune,
6.16.49.
12. Buchwald, op. cit.
13.
International Herald Tribune, 6.16.49. 14. Louis Sass,
Madness andModernism,
op. cit., pp. 324-25.
15. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.29.59.
16. Section 1481 of the 1941 Immigration and                 1081
Naturalization Act.
17. Edward A. Betancourt, Overseas Citizens Services, Immigration
and Naturalization Service, interview, 8.26.97. 18. 1941
Immigration and Naturalization Act.
19. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry,
Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
20. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96.
21. Armand Borel, interview, 3.1.96.
22. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.31.59.
23. Ibid.
24. Denis Brian,
Einstein: A Life,
op. cit.
25.
International Herald Tribune,
various issues, August 1959.
26. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit. 27. See, for example,
Paul Hofmann, Switzerland
-------------------------------------------------------------1082
(New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1994).
28. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein or the Modern
Prometheus
(New York: Penguin,
1985).
29. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 8.12.59.
30. As quoted by Sass, op. cit.
31. Letter from John Nash to Lars Hbrmander, 2.10.60.
32. Zurbuchen, Le Directeur, Contrble de I'HABITANT, Geneva,
9.29.59, provided by Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv.
3 3. Franz Kafka,
The Castle
(New York: Scholastic Books, 1992), with an introduction by
Irving Howe.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 9.28.59.
37. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of July 28, 195
1, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva.
-------------------------------------------------------------1083
38. Zurbuchen, op. cit.
39. Ibid.
40. Direktion der Eidg. Militarverwaltung, Berne to Contr6fule de
I'HABITANT, Geneva, 11.21.59.
41. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit. 42. Ibid.
43. Harold Kuhn, interview, 1.95.
44. John Haslam, as quoted by Sass, op. cit.
45. Sass, op. cit.
46. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 9.28.59.
47. Letter from M. Legg to John Nash, 9.59. 48. A. Nash,
interview.
49. Telegram from Amory Houghton, U.S. ambassador to France, to
Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, 12.15.59.
50. Letter from J. Nash to L. H6rmander, from Paris, 1. 18.60.
5 1. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 10. 11. 59.          A1083
52. After returning to the U.S., Nash claimed to be a resident of
Liechtenstein, which levied no income tax, and refused to sign
U.S. tax forms
-------------------------------------------------------------1084
(source: H. Kuhn, interview, 8.92).
53. 0. Larde, interview, 12.8.96.
54. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 11. 10. 59.
55. The anecdote concerns Paul Erdos and was told by Donald
Spencer, interview, 11.28.95.
56. 0. Larde, interview, 12.8.95.
57. M. Legg, interview, 3.29.96.
58. Sass, op. cit.
59. Letter from John Nash to Norbert Wiener, 12.9.95.
60. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 12.13.59.
61. Franz Kafka,
The Metamorphosis
(New York: Schocken Books, 1995). 62. Irving Howe introduction,
Kafka,
The Castle, op.
Cit.
63. James M. Glass,
Delusion
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
-------------------------------------------------------------1085
64. Telegram from A. Houghton to C. A. Herter.
65. Telegram from Henry S. Villard, U.S. consul to Switzerland,
to Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, 12.16.59. 66. Ibiand
67. Theodore Friend, obituary of Edward Hill Cox, 8.4.75,
Swarthmore College Archive.
68. A. Nash, interview.
69. Telegram from A. Houghton to C. A. Herter.
70. Telegram from H. S. Villard to C. A. Herter.
71. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 12.26.59; 0. Larde,
interview, 12.8.95. 72. 0. Larde, interview, 12.8.95,
73. Shiing-shen Chem, professor of mathematics, University of
California at Berkeley, interview, 6.17.97.
74. A. Nash, interview.
75. "Alexandre Grothendieckea"History of Mathematics Arcbive,
School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of
St. Andrews, Scotland; see also interviews with Nick
-------------------------------------------------------------1086
Katz, professor of mathematics, Princeton University, 8.26.97;
Arthur Mattock, 9.19.97; Paulo Ribcnboim, professor of
mathematics, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada,
9.28.97; Tony Phillips, 8.26.97.
76. 0. Larde, interview, 12.8.85.
77. A. Nash, interview.
78. Felix Browder, interview, 9.6.97. See also Larkin Farinholt's
obituary,
New York Times,
7.17.90, for details of his career.
79. Letter from J. Nash to L. Hbrmander, 2.10.60.
80. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit. 81. Letter from Lars
H6rmander to John Nash, 2.12.60,                            A1086
82. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 3.2.60.
83. John Nash, conversation with author, 6.25.95.
84. F. Browder, interview.
85. Ibid.
86. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 3.60. 87. Michael Artin,
interview, 12.12.95.
-------------------------------------------------------------1087
88. Al Vasquez, interview, 6.17,97.
89. Cathleen Morawetz, interview, 2.29.96.
90. John Danskin, interview, 10,19.95. 91. M. Legg, interview.
92. Eleanor Stier, interview, 3.18.96. 93. Letter from J. Nash to
V. Nash, 4.9.60. 94. Ibid.
95. Telegram from AJ-LYN C. Donaldson, Department of State, to
Virginia Nash, 4.21.60.
96. Emma Duchane, interview, 4.30.95. 97. Vasquez, interview.
98. A. Nash, interview.
99. G. Davis, interview.
39: Absolute Zero
1. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.97.
2. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 8.1.95. 3. Interviews with John
Danskin, 10.19.95, and Joyce Davis, 5.30.97. 4. Handwritten note
from Alicia Nash to Joyce Davis, summer 1960.
5. Odette Larde, interview, 12.7.95. 6. A. Nash, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1088
7. Jean-Pierre Cauvin, professor of French, University of Texas
at Austin, interview, 8.25.97; also Agnes Sherman, interview,
8,26.96.
8. 0. Larde, interview.
9. Cauvin, interview.
10. Danskin, interview.
11. Ibid.
12. Elvira Leader, interview, 6.9.95. 13. Solomon Leader,
interview, 6.9.95. 14. Danskin, interview.
15. Samuel C. Howell, memorandum to file, 11.10.60.
16. Notes of conversations between Oskar Morgenstern and Douglas
Brown, Princeton University Archives, 11.2.50.
17. Letter from Raymond J. Woodrow to John F. Nash, Jr.,
10.21.60.
18. Letter from Donald Spencer to Jean Leray, 10.31,60.
19. Ibid.
20. Burton Randol, professor of mathematics, City University of
New York, interview, 8.26.97.
21. Ibid.
-------------------------------------------------------------1089
23. Ibid.
24. Confidential source.
25. Confidential source.
26. Randol, interview.
27. Danskin, interview.
28. Martin Shubik, interview, 10.94.
29. Paul Zweifel, interview, 9.6.95. 30. Edmond Nelson, professor
of mathematics, Princeton University, interview, 8.17.95.
31. Armand Borel, interview, 3.1.96.
32. Danskin, interview. Robert Coheen, president of         A1089
Princeton University, was unable to confirm these events, which
would have been handled by someone on the campus security detail
in any case, interview, 9.10.97.
33. A. Nash, interview.
34. 0. Larde, interview.
35. Confidential source.
40: Tower of Silence
1. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 8.2.95. 2. Ibid.
I University Press, 1994), and "Abuse in
AmerIntemationaljoumalofIawandPsychistry,
vol. 3 (1980), pp. 295-3 10. Also
-------------------------------------------------------------1090
interview with Grob, professor of history, Rutgers University,
8.4.97.
4. See biographies of Dorothea Dix, including Rachel Basker,
Angel of Mercy.- The Story of Dorothea Dix (New York: Messner,
195 5); also Penny Colman,
Breaking the Chains: The Crusade of Dorothea Lynde
Dix (White Hall, Va.: Shoetree Press, 1992).
5. Descriptions of Trenton State are based on interviews with
psychiatrists who were affiliated with the hospital, including
Robert Garber, former president, American Psychiatric
Association, 5.6.96; Peter Baurnecker, 5.1.96, 5.2.96, 5.9.96;
Arthur A. Sugarman, 8.2 5.97.
6. Baurnecker, interview.
7. Ibid.
8. Ariel Rubinstein, e-mail, 2.3.97. 9. Baurnecker, interview.
Bprobably refers to Jacob Bricker (see Chapter 44). 10. John
Danskin, interview, 10. 19.96. For an account of the hijacking,
see
-------------------------------------------------------------1091
Time
magazine, 2.3.61.
11. M. Legg, interview.
12. Danskin, interview.
13. Robert Winters, interview, 8.9.95. 14. Letter from Robert
Winters to Joseph Tobin, 2.2.61.
15. Letter from Robert Winters to Harold Magee, 2.2.59. Also
interview with Tobin, 6.10.97. 16. Seymour Krim, "The Insanity
Bitea"op. cit.
17. Baurnecker, interview.
18. Phillip Ehrlich, psychiatrist, Princeton Hospital, interview,
8.24.97. 19. Baumecker, interview.
20. M. Legg, interview.
21. Interviews with Garber and Baumecker.
22. Baumecker, interview.
23. Danskin, interview.
24. Garber, interview.
25. Baumecker, interview.
26. Ibid.
27. Burton Randol, interview, 8.25.97. 28. Lenore McCall,
BetWeen Us and the Dark

(Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1947).                      1092
29. Baumecker, intervieggv.
30. Garber, interview.
31. Jerome Lettvin, interview, 7.25.97. 32. Grob,
The Mad Among Us,
op. cit., people. 18 5.
33. Garber, interview.
34. Letter from John Nash to Alexander Mood, 12.17.94, one of
many references Nash has made to his insulin treatments and
memory loss.
35. Richard Nash, interview, 1.6.96.
36. Interviews with Grob and Lettvin.
37. Baumecker, interview.
38. Ibid.
39. Ibid.
40. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 7.14.61. Nash says
he's due to be released the following day.
41. Baurnecker, interview.
42. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.14.61.
41: An Interlude of Enforced Rationality
1. John Forbes Nash, Jr.,
-------------------------------------------------------------1093
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
2. Louis Sass,
Madness and Modernism,
op. cit.
3. A decline in measured intelligence within a short time of the
onset of schizophrenia has been documented in a series of
studies. Jed Wyatt, personal communication, 6.97.
4. Letter from John Nash to Donald Spencer, undated, spring 1961.
5. Interviews with Armand Borel, 3.1.96, and Atle Selberg,
1.23.96.
6. Letter from Atle Selberg to John Nash, 9.25.61; letter from
Robert Oppenheimer to John Nash,
10.3.61.
7. John Nash, membership application, 7.17.61, Institute for
Advanced Study Archive.
8. Letter from J. Nash to D. Spencer.
9. Shlomo Sternberg, interview, 3.5.96. Also postcards from John
Nash to Virginia Nash, 8.1.61 and
8.3.61.
-------------------------------------------------------------1094
10. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.96.
11. Interviews with John Danskin, 10.19.95, and Odette Larde,
12.7.95. 12. 0. Larde, interview.
13. "Recent Advances in Came Theoryea"Princeton, October 4-6, 196
1. 14. Reinhard Selten, professor of economics, University of
Bonn, interview, 6.27.95.
15. John Harsanyi, interview, 6.27.95. 16. Harold Kuhn, personal
communication, 8.97.
17. John Nash, "Lc Problindme de Cauchy Pour Les Equations
Differentielles; d'une Fluide GE-N6RALE,"
Bulletin de ]a Socjand6 Math6matique de France,
vol. 90 (1962), pp. 487-97. Submitted 1.19.62.              A1094
18. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
disment
19. According to the
Encyclopedia oAL-THEMATICS,
-------------------------------------------------------------1095
"Mathematical study of [the Cauchy problem for the general
Navier-Stokes equation) has become active since J. Nash and N.
Itaya proved the existence of unique regular solutions local in
time."
20. Selberg, interview.
21. Gillian Richardson, interview, 12.14.97.
22. Karl Uitti, professor of French, Princeton University,
interview, 8.22.97, 23. Confidential source.
24. Uitti, interview.
25. Jean-Pierre Cauvin, interview, 8,25.97.
26. Hubert Goldschmidt, Columbia University, interview, 3.20.97.
27. Letter from Robert Oppenheimer to Leon Motchane, Institut des
Hautes etudes, 4.26.62.
28. Memorandum from Robert Oppenheimer to Atle Selberg, 4.26.62.
29. Stefan A. Burr, professor of computer science, City College
of New York, interview, 5.95.
30. A. Borel, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1096
31. Ibid.
32. Gaby Borel, interview, 10.94.
33. A] Vasquez, interview, 6.17.97. 34. Lloyd S. Shapley,
interview, 10.94.
35. Ibid.
36. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.62.
37. Ed Nelson, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 8.17.95. 38.-Lars Mirmander, interview, 2.13.97. 39.
John Nash, personal communication with Harold Kuhn, 8.97.
40. H6rmander, interview.
41. Ibid.
42. Death certificate of Carlos Larde, State Department of
Health, New Jersey, 7.2.62.
43. Postcard from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 7.24.63.
44. John Danskin, interview, 10.19.95. 45. Confidential source.
46. Proceedings, International Congress of Mathematicians,
Stockholm, 1962.
47. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg,
-------------------------------------------------------------1097
9.20.62.
48. Unsigned postcard to mathematics department, Princeton
University, 9.1.62.
49. Uitti, interview.
50. Letter from John Nash to M. Legg, 11.19.62.
51. Ibid., 1.26.63.
52. M. Legg, interview, 3.30.96.
53.
Alicia L Nash vs. fohn Forbes Nash, Complaint, Superior Court of
New Jersey, Mercer County,
12.27.62; Frank L. Scott, attorney, interview, 8.12.97.     A1097
54. M. Legg, interview, 8.2.95.
5 5. A.
Nash vs. J. Nash,
op. cit.
56. judgment Nisi,
Alicia Nash vs. John Forbes Nash, Superior Court of New Jersey,
Mercer County,
5.1.63.
57. Final Judgment (Divorce), Alicia L. Nash and John Forbes
Nash, 8.2.63.
-------------------------------------------------------------1098
58. Robert Winters, interview, 8.9.95.
59. Letter from James G. Miller to Albert E. Meder, Jr.,
treasurer, American Mathematical Society,
4.2.63.
60. Harold Kuhn, interview, 8.95.
61. Letter from William Ted Martin to Albert W. Tucker, 4.1.63.
62. Ibid.
63. Letter from Albert E. Meder to William Ted Martin, 3.28.63.
64. Confidential source.
65. Donald Spencer, interview, 11.28.95. 66. Winters, interview.
67. Letter from Martha Nash Legg to Donald Spencer, 4.24.63.
42: The "Blowing Up"Problem
1. Robert Garber, interview, 5.6.96.
2. Ken Kesey,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest
(New York: Viking, 1962); Joanne Greenberg,
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
(New York: Signet, 1964); Thomas S.
-------------------------------------------------------------1099
Szasz,
The Myth of Mental Illness (New
York: Hoeber-Harper, 1961).
3. William Otis, psychiatrist, interview, 5.3.96.
4. Garber, interview.
5. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.97.
6. Otis, interview.
7. A. Nash, interview.
8. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.30.96. 9. Garber, interview.
10. Ibid.
11. Frank L. Scott, interview, 11. 12.97.
12. Garber, interview.
13. Letter from John Nash to Norbert Wiener, 5.1.63.
14. Interviews with A. Nash; Donald Spencer, 11.28.95; Gaby
Bore], 3.14.96.
15. Howard Mele declined to be interviewed, 4.9.96.
16. New Jersey Board of Medicine.
17. Interviews with Garber and Otis.
18. Belle Parmet, social worker, interview,
-------------------------------------------------------------1100
8.24.97.
19. Letter from J. Nash to NddWiener.
20. Garber, interview.
21. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 8.10.63.        A1100
22. Ibid., 8.22.63.
23. Ibid., 8.29.63.
24. Richard S. E. Keefe and Phillip D. Harvey,
Understanding Schizophrenia
(New York: Free Press,
1994), people. 48.
25. Louisa Cauvin, interview, 8.25.97. 26. Armand Borel,
interview, 3.1.96.
27. Ibid.
28. Memorandum from Robert Oppenheimer to Atle Selberg, 9.30.63.
29. Letter from David Gale to Deane Montgomery, 1.3.64.
30. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 10.31.63.
31. Ibid., 3.14.64.
32. Ibid., 10.31.64 and 12.13.64.
33 John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry,
Madrid, 8.26.96,
-------------------------------------------------------------1101
op. cit.
34. Heisuke Hironaka, "On Nash Blowing Upea"in
Arithmetic and Geometry If
(Boston: Birkhauser,
1983).
35 William Browder, interview.
36. Memorandum from John Milnor to Dean of Faculty J. Douglas
Brown, 4.8.64. 37. Ibid.
38. Letter from Howard S. Mele to John Milnor, 3.30.64.
39. Garber, interview.
40. Letter from H. S. Mele to J. Milnor. 41. Memorandum from J.
Douglas Brown to Robert F. Goheen, 4.6.64.
42. Letter from Ernest J. Johnson to John Nash, 5,1.64.
43. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 2.18.64. 44. Ibid., 3.14.64.
45. Ibid., 3.64.
46. During the spring, Nash wrote to a colleague in Europe saying
that he hoped to accept a visiting position at the Institut des
Hautes 9mentudes near Paris, arranged by Alexandre
-------------------------------------------------------------1102
Grothendieck.
47. M. Legg, interview, 3.29.96.
48. Ibid.
49. Letter from John Nash to Martha NaEh Legg, 4.64.
50. Karl Uifti, interview, 8.22.97.
5 1. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 2.18.64.
52. Letter from John Nash to a colleague, 5.64 or 6.64.
53. Letter from John Nash to Robert Oppenheimer, 5.24.64.
54. The 1964 Summer Research Institute on Algebraic Geometry,
American Mathematical Society, Notices, October 1963; also John
Tate, professor of mathematics, University of Texas, interview,
6,20.97.
55. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 8.31.64. 56. Ibid.
57. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit. 58. Ibid.
59. Ibid.
60. Letter from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 11.13.71.

61. Harold Kuhn, e-mail, 5.96.                               1103
62. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 8,31.64. 63. Postcard from
John Nash to Virginia Nash, 9.2.64.
64. jean Pierre Serre, e-mail, 2.15.96.
65. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 9.7.64.
66. Memorandum from A. W. Tucker to J. D. Brown, 9.18.64.
67. Postcard from 1. Nash to V. Nash, 9.64.
68. Atle Selberg, interview, 1.23.96. 69. Letter from John Nash
to John Milnor, 12.27.64.
70. Interviews with John Danskin, 10.9.96; also with William
Lucas, professor of mathematics, Claremont Graduate School,
6.27.95, and Herbert Scarf, professor of mathematics, Yale
University,
8.97.
71. Danskin, interview.
72. Kuhn, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1104
73. Richard C. Palais, professor of mathematics, Brandeis
University, interview, 11.6.95.
74. A. Borel, interview.
75 Palais, interview.
76, Letter from 1. Nash to V. Nash, 7.29.65. 43: Solitude
1. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 1.16.66.
2. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96. 3. Letter from J. Nash
to M. Legg, 7.27.65. 4. Ibid., 8.2.65.
5. John David Stier, interviews, 6.29.96 and 9.20.97.
6. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 10.31.65.
7. Ibid., 5.1.66.
8. Ibid.
9. J. D. Stier, interviews, 6.29.96 and 9.20.97. Except where
noted, the facts of John David Stier's childhood are drawn from
these interviews.
10. Eleanor Stier, interview, 3.25.96. 11. 1. D. Stier,
interview, 9.20.97. 12. Letter from 1. Nash to M. Legg, 1.
-------------------------------------------------------------1105
16.66.
13. Ibid., 2.22.66.
14. Ibid., 2.27.66.
15. Ibid., 4.24.66.
16. Ibid., 5.8.66.
17. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 10.31.65.
18. Ibid.
19. Letter from J. Nash to M, Legg, 11.14.65.
20. Letters from 1. Nash to V. Nash, 10.31.65 and 1.16.65.
21. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 11.28.65.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid., 1.9,66.
24. Letters from J. Nash to V. Nash, 1.16.65, and to M. Legg,
2.22.66; also Joan Berkowitz, interview,
8.28.97.
25. Palais, interview.
26. Al Vasquez, interview, 6.17,97. 27. "Analyticity of Solutions
of Implicit Function Problems with Analytic Data," Annals
ofMathematics,
vol. 84 (1966), pp. 345-55. 28, Harold Kuhn, interview,      1106
7.17.97. 29. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 9.19.66.
30. Egbert Brieskorn, professor of mathematics, University of
Bonn, interview, 1.27.98.
31. Letters from J. Nash to M. Legg, 12.5.65 and 5.1.66.
32. Letter from J. Nash to M. Le 2.27,66. 33. Letter from J. Nash
to V. NT, 1.9.66. 34. Kuhn, interview, 5.9and The paper was not
rejected, according to Nash, but the editors asked for revisions
that he never made.
35. Mikhail
GTOMOV,
interview, 12.15.97.
36. This point was raised by Francine M. Benes, psychiatrist,
McLean Hospital, interview, 2,13.96.
37. John Nash visited Cian-Carlo Rota in New York City sometime
during his first year in Boston, Rota recalled that at lunch Nash
traced patterns on his plate and complained that shock treatments
had caused him "to forget all my
-------------------------------------------------------------1107
mathematics," interview, 10.29.94. 38. Richard Wyatt, personal
communication, 6.97.
39. This was Max Shiffman at Stanford University. Donald Spencer,
interview, 11.29.95.
40. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 6.26.96.
41. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 11. 15 96.
42. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 5.22.66.
43. Letter from John Nash to Harold Kuhn, 5.17.66.
44. Palais, interview.
45. Vasquez, interview.
46. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 9.1.66. 47. Martha Legg
quoting her letter of 9.28.66 to Pattison Esmiol.
48. M. Legg, interview.
49. Letter from Pattison Esmiol to Martha Nash Legg, 10.7.66.
50. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 10.8,66.
51. M. Legg, interview.
-------------------------------------------------------------1108
52. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 11.66.
53. Ibid., 11.28.66.
54. Vasquez, interview.
55. Joseph Kohn, interview, 1.16.96. 56. Z. Levinson, interview,
11. 15.96. 57. Richard Nash, interview, San Francisco, 1.6.96.
58. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 2.67, saying that he had been
in Seattle since February,
59. Postcard from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 3.11,67, saying
that he had been in Santa Monica for about ten days and would be
returning to Roanoke by March 22.
60. Jacob Bricker, interview, 5.22.97. 61. Letter from P. Esmiol
to M. Legg, 4.19.67.
62, Gilbert Strand, professor of mathematics, MIT, e-mail,
6.5.97.
63. Letter from Armand BOT-EL to Norman Levinson, 5.17.67.
64. Greeting card from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 1. 15,73.
65. Palais, interview.

66. Letter from John Nash to Itirgen Moser, 5.23.67,         1109
67. Z. Levinson, interview, 11. 15.96. 6and Letter from J. Nash
to M. Legg, 6.26.67. 69. Z. Levinson, interview.
70. Anna Rosa Kohn, interview, 1. 16,96.
71. Letter from Norman Levinson to Martha Nash Legg, 630.67.
44: A Man All Alone in a Strange World 1. Letter from John Nash
to Arthur Mattuck, 8.5.68.
2. Ibid.
3. Letter from John Nash to a colleague, 1967. 4. Martha Nash
Legg, interview, 3.2.96. 5. James Glass,
Delusion
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
6, M. Legg, interview, 10.94.
7. Ibid., 8.31.95.
8. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 8.8.67.
9. See, for example,
Diagnosticand Statistical Manual ofMental
-------------------------------------------------------------1110
Disordm
(Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 1987). Ming T.
Tsuang, Stephen V. Faraone, and Max Day, "Schizophrenic
Disordersea"op. cit.
10. E. Fuller Torrey,
Surviving Schizophrenia
(New York: Harper and Row, 1988).
11. `. . . symptoms of clouded consciousness and disorientation
in schizophrenia are relatively rateea"Richard S. E. Keefe and
Phillip D. Harvey,
Undmtanandng Schizophrenia,
op. cit.
12. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 3.18.68.
13. See, for example, Torrey, op. cit. Also Glass, op, cit., and
James Glass, professor of government and politics, University of
Maryland, research affiliate of the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt
Hospital, interview, 10.94.
14. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 7.24.67.
15. Ibid., 8ddand67.
-------------------------------------------------------------1111
16. Ibid., 9.9.67.
17. Ibid., 10.7.67.
18. Ibid., 9.9.67.
20. References to the story of Jacob and Esau appear in numerous
letters and postcards written by Nash between 1967 and 1969,
including 8.8.67, 9.25.67, 10.7.67, 11.8.67, 12.24.67, and
6.16.69.
21. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 1.20.68.
22. Ibid., 2.22.68.
23. Ibid., 3.10.68.
24. Ibid., 6.16.69.
25. Letter from John Nash to Eleanor Stier, 8.20.68.
26. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 8.11.67.
27. Ibid., 11.8.67.
28. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 3.18.68.
29. Ibid., 2.27.68.
30. Ibid., 4.24.69.                                         A1111
31. See, for example, Keefe and Harvey, op. cit., people. 110.
32. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 11.
-------------------------------------------------------------1112
11.69.
33. See, for example, Keefe and Harvey, op. cit., pp. 6-7.
34. Peter Newman, interview, 12.12.95. 35. Letter from J. Nash to
V. Nash, 8.8.68. 36. The example given combines phrases from two
letters to Arthur Mattuck, 9.9.67 and 3.18.68. Nash ended
virtually every letter in this period with a variation on this
paragraph.
37. M, Legg, interview, 3.2.96. The account of the remainder of
Nash's interlude in Roanoke comes from this interview.
45: Phantom of Fine Hall
1. Joseph Kohn, interview, 7.25.95. 2. David Raoul Derbes,
University of Chicago, e-mail, 3.27.95; Daniel Rohrlich,
University of Tel Aviv, e-mail, 9.3.97.
3. Derbes, e-mail.
4. Sylvain Cappell, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute,
2.29.96. 5. Lee Mosher, protessor of mathematics, Rutgers
University at Newark, interview, 9.20.97.
6. Derbes, e-mail.
-------------------------------------------------------------1113
7. Mark Reboul, interview, 8.30.97.
8. Steven Ebstein, e-mail, 3.28.95.
9. Sara Beek, University of Tel Aviv, e-mail, 5.31.95.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid,
12. Ibiand
13, Frank Wilczek, zrofessor of physics, Institute for Advanced
Study, interview, 9.11.97.
14. Letter from May B. Schneider, professor of physics, Grinnell
College, to author, 9.20.95.
15. Letter from David A. Cox, professor of mathematics, Amherst
College, to author, 3.27.95.
16. Letter from M. Schneider to author, 9.28.95.
17. Marc D. Rayman, chief mission engineer, New Millennium
Program, NASA, e-mail, 11.24.95.
18. Letter from M. Schneider to author.
19. Wilezek, interview.
20. Ibid.
-------------------------------------------------------------1114
21. Harold Kuhn, interview, 8.30.97.
22. Margaret Wertheim, "When I Plus I Makes Neither 2 Nor I
Iea"New York Times,
1997.
23. Hale Trotter, fessor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 11.29.95. 0`
24. Peter CziffTa, Yirbrarian, Fine Hall, interview, 8.26.97.
25. William Browder, interview, 12.6.95. 26. James Class,
interview, 10.94. 27. Ibid.
28. Roger Lewin, professor of psychiatry, University of Maryland,
interview, 10.94. 29. Steven Bottone, e-mail, 9.2.97. 30. Daniel
Feenberg, research associate, National Bureau of Economic
Research, interview, 10.94.                                 A1114
31. Trotter, interview, 9.11.97.
32. Reboul, interview.
33. Feenberg, interview.
34. Trotter, interview, 9.30.96,
35. Marc Fisher, reporter,
-------------------------------------------------------------1115
Washington Post,
e-mail, 3.29.95.
36. Charles Gillespie, professor of history, Princeton
University, interview, 7.26.95.
37. Amir H. Assadi, professor of mathematics, University of
Wisconsin, interview, 12.13.95.
38. Kohn, interview.
39. Claudia Goldin, professor of economics, Harvard University,
interview, 8.30.95.
40. Feenberg, interview.
41. Alicia Nash, interview, 12.6.97. 42. Interviews with Alan
Hoffinan, 10.94; Lloyd Shapley, 10.94; George Nernhauser,
8.29.97; Albert W Tucker, 10.94.
43. Shapley, interview.
44. [bid,
45. Nernhauser, interview.
46. Hoffman, interview.
47. [bid.
46: A Quiet Life
1. Letter from Alicia Nash to Martha Nash Legg
-------------------------------------------------------------1116
and Virginia Nash, 11.8.68.
2. [bid.
3. Gillian Richardson, interview, 12.14.95.
4. John Coleman Moore, professor of mathematics, Princeton
University, interview, 10.6.95.
5. George Whitehead, interview, 12.12.95,
6. Interviews with Moore, also with Gaby Borel, 10.94 and
3.14,96.
7. Herb Cork, RCA, interview, 4.23.96.
8. Alicia Nash, private communication, 12.6.97.
9. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.30.96; confirmed by Alicia Nash
in private communication. 10. Interview with Moore, and with G.
Borel, 10.6.95.
11. A. Nash, private communication, and interview, 12.28.95,
12. A. Nash, interview, 12.28.95.
13. Ibid., 1.10.95.
14. Ibid.
15. Odette Larde, interview, 12.8.95.
-------------------------------------------------------------1117
16. Moore, interview, 10.94. 17. Richard Keefe, interview, 5.95.
18. Richard S. E. Keefe and Phillip D. Harvey,
Understanding Schizophrenia,
op. cit., people. 9.
19. A. Nash, interview, 1.10.95.
20. A. Nash, private communication, 12.6.97.
21. Joyce Davis, interview, 5.30.96. 22. Anna Bailey, interview,
5.29.97. 23. A. Nash, interview, 1.10.95. In addition,      A1117
interviews with John Charles Martin Nash, Harold Kuhn, Gaby
Borel, and others.
24. David Salowitz, "It's Not a Matter of Degrees: John Nash, Shy
High School or College Degree, Seeks Ph.D.,"
The Princeton Packet, 7.1.81.
25. A. Nash, interview, 1.10.95.
26, Amir Assadi, interview, 2.4.96. 27. Solomon Leader,
interview.
28. A. Nash, interview, 5.16.95.
29. Salowitz, op. cit.
30. Ibid.
-------------------------------------------------------------1118
31. A. Nash, interview, 5.16.95. Also letter from John Nash to
Richard Keefe, 1.14.95.
32. Salowitz, op. cit.
33. Bailey, interview.
34. A. Nash, interview, 5.16.95.
35. Armand Borel, interview, 3.1.96.
36. Moore, interview, 10.5.94.
37. G. Borel, interview, 10.94.
38. John David Stier, interview, 9.20.97.
39. Letter from Alicia Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 1117.71.
40. 1, D. Stier, interview,
41. Norton Starr, professor of mathematics, Amherst College,
interviews, 7.95 and 1.20.98.
42. Eleanor Stier, interview, 3.18.96. 43. John Stier, interview,
1.21.98.
44, Letter from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 1. 15.73.
45. E. Stier, interview, 3.18.96.
46. Irving 1. Gottesman, professor of psychology, University of
Virginia, interview, 1.16.98.
-------------------------------------------------------------1119
47. Kenneth L. Fields, professor of mathematics, Rider University
(formerly Rider College), interview, 1,30.98.
48. Melvyn B. Nathanson, professor of mathematics, Graduate
Center of the City University of New York, interview, 1.31.98.
49. John C. M. Nash (with Melvyn B. Nathanson), "Cofinite Subsets
of Asymptotic Bases for the Positive Integers,"
journal of Number Theory,
vol. 20, no. 3 (1985), pp. 363-72; John C. M. Nash, "Results in
Bases in Additive Number Theoryea"Ph.D. thesis, Rutgers
University, 1985.
50. John C. M. Nash, `Some Applications of a Theorem of M.
Kneser," journal ofNumber Theory, vol.
44, no. 1 (1993), pp. 1-8.
51. John C .M. Nash, "On
Bbled
Sequences,"
Canadian Mathematical Bulletin,
-------------------------------------------------------------1120
vol. 32, no. 4 (1989), pp. 446-49.
52. Alicia Nash, interview, 9.97.
Part Five: THE MOST WORTHY
47: Remission                                               A1120
I
disPeter Sarnak, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 8.25.95. 2. E-mail from John Nash to Harold Kuhn,
6.20.96.
3. Hale Trotter, interviews, 11.29.95 and 9.10.97.
4. Mark Dudey, professor of economics, Rice University,
interviews, 10.94 and 6.24.95.
5. Daniel Feenberg, interview, 10.94. 6. Letter from Edward G.
Nilges to author, 8.19.95.
7. Lloyd S. Shapley, interview, 10.94. 8. George Winokur and Ming
T. Tsuang, The Natural History ofManis, Depression and
Schizophrenia
(Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 1996), people. 28.
9. Letter from John Nash to Richard Keefe,
-------------------------------------------------------------1121
1.14.95. Nash gives Johnny's diagnosis as "paranoid
schizophrenia"and "schizo-affective disorder."
10. See, for example, Irving 1. Gottesman,
Schizophrenia Genesis,
op. cit., people. 18; Michael R. Trimble, Biographical Psychiatry
(New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1996), pp. 184-8 5.
11. John Forbes Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
12. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry,
Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
13. Harold Kuhn, interview, 9.95.
14. Letter from John Nash to Richard Keefe, 1.14.95. Nash has
made the same point to many people.
15. Winokur and Tsuang, op. cit., people. 30; also Manfred
Bleuler,
The Schizophrenic Disorders: Long-Term Patient and Farridy
Studies
(New Haven: Yale University Press,
-------------------------------------------------------------1122
1978).
16. Gerd Huber, Gisela Gross, Reinhold Scbuttler, and Maria Linz,
"Longitudinal Studies of Schizophrenic Patients,"
Schizophrenia Bulletin,
vol. 6, no. 4 (1980)
17. C. M. Harding, G. W. Brooks, T. Ashikaga, J. S. Strauss, and
A. Brier, "The Vermont Longitudinal Study of Persons with Severe
Mental Illness, I and II," American journal of Psychiatry,
vol. 144 (1987), pp. 718-26, 727-35. E. Johnstone, D. Owens, A.
Gold et al., "Schizophrenic Patients Discharged from Hospital: A
Follow-Up Study,"
British journal ofPsychiatry,
no. 145 (1984), pp. 586-90, found that I percent of the 120 in
the study had no significant symptoms and were functioning
satisfactorily; 50 percent were still psychotic; and the
remainder were somewhere in between. Only two subjects, both of
whom bad been hospitalized only once, were considered truly well.
18. Richar Wyatt, head of neuropsychiatry,
National Institute of Mental Health, personal                1123
communication, 12.97. See also Winokur and Tsuang, op. cit. pp.
199-217.
19. Winokur and Tsuang, op. cit., pp. 267-6.
20. Huber et al., op. cit.
21. Richard Wyatt, interview, 5.5.96. 22. E. Fuller Torrey,
Surviving Schizophrenia,
op. cit.
23. E-mail from J. Nash to H. Kuhn, 6.1.95.
24. John Forbes Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
25. Letter from J. Nash to R. Keefe.
26. John Forbes Nash, Jr.,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
27. Social Science Citation Index, various dates.
28. John Conway, professor of mathematics, Princeton University,
interview, 10.94. 29. Nash's work on Riemannian embeddings and
-------------------------------------------------------------1124
partial differential equations would likely have made him a
strong candidate for a Fields in the 1960's and his contributions
to game theory might easily have been honored with a Nobel as
early as 1983, when Gerard Debreu won for his work on general
'Iininbrium theory. He would certainly have garnered lesser
honors such as membership in the National equals y of Sciences
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
30. Amartya Sen, professor of economics, Harvard University,
interview, 12.92.
3 1. Fellows of the Econometric Society as of January 1988,
Econometrica,
vol. 56, not. 3 (May 1988).
32. Ariel Rubinstein, professor of economics, University of Tel
Aviv and Princeton University, interviews,
1.96 and 2.96.
33. Mervyn King, professor of economics, London School of
Economics, and vice-chairman, Bank of England, interview,
2.28.96.
34. Letter from Julie Gordon, executive director, The Econometric
Society,
-------------------------------------------------------------1125
to author, 2.2.96.
35. King, interview.
36. Interviews with Gary Chamberlain, professor of economics,
Harvard University, 2.28.96; Beth E. Allen, professor of
economics, University of Minnesota, 2.26.96.
37. Letter from Truman Bewley, professor of economics, Yale
University, to Ariel Rubinstein, undated (spring 1989).
38. Ibid., 6.4.89.
39. Truman Bewley, interview, 2.20.96. 40. John Dawson,
Logical Dilemmas.- The Life and Work of Kurt Gddel,
op. cit.
41. Ibid.
42. Ken Binmore, Roger Myerson, Ariel Rubinstein, "Nornination of
Candidates as a Fellowea01990.                              A1125
43. Letter from J. Gordon to author, 1.31.96. 48: The Prize
1. 16rgen W. Weibull, Stockholm School of Economics and member
economics prize committee, interview, 11.14.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1126
2. Ibid.
3. Carl-Olof Jacobson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences, interview, 2.12.97.
4. Kenneth Bimum, game theorist at the London School of
Economics, for example, recently wrote to Harold Kuhn (e-mail,
1.7.98) that he had nominated Nash for the Nobel once in the
1980's. "I didn't persist in nominating him because nobody seemed
to take the idea seriously."
5. Statutes of the Nobel Foundation, 4.27.95 -
6. Michael Sohlman, executive director, Nobel Foundation,
interview, 2.11 97.
7. Ibid.
8. Karl-Gbran Wer, executive director, Beijer Institute of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, interview, 2.12.97. 9. Assar
Lindbeck, "The Prize in Economic Science in Memory of Alfred
Nobel,"
journal ofEconomic Literature,
vol. 23 (March 1985), pp. 37-56.
-------------------------------------------------------------1127
10. Harriet Zuckerman, Scienti5c Elite: Nobel Laureates in the
United States
(London: Free Press,
1977).
11. Lindbeck, op. cit.
12. See, for example, John E. Morrill, "A Nobel Prize in
Mathematics,"
The American Mathematical Monthly,
vol. 102, no. 10 (December 1995). 13. Lars Gfirding and Lars
Hdrmander, "Why Is There No Nobel Prize in Mathematics?" The
Mathematical Inteffigencer
(July 1985), pp. 73-74.
14. Jacobson, interview.
15. The sketch of Lindbeck is based on the author's interview
with him in Stockholm on 2.12.97, two autobiographical essays,
and the impressions of members of the prize committee and the
Academy of Sciences, including Carl-Olof Jacobson, 2,12.97,-
Karl-Gustaf Wgren, professor of economics, University of Umea,
2.12.97; Karl-G6ran Mler, 2.12.97; J6rgen Weibull and Torsten
-------------------------------------------------------------1128
Persson, visiting professor, Harvard University, 10.4.94 and
3.7.97. 16. Persson, interview, 3.7.97.
17. Ldf ren, interview.
18. M5 er, interview.
19. Lindbeck, "The Prize in Economic Scienceea"op. cit.
20. Lo-fgren, interview.
21. Kerstin Fredga, as told to Harold Kuhn at the 12.94 Nobel
ceremony in Stockholm, 1.95.
22. By the late 1980's, Harold Kuhn and other game theorists were
nominating Nash. Others, however, saw no point in d in so. "I did
not nominate himea"Shubik later recalled. "He was better    A1128
than several of the o`
people I nominatedeat it seemed that they'd throw him out
because he's nuts. The other reason was that I thought the
bargaining work was better than the stuff on noncooperative
equilibriumea"interview, 12.13.96.
23. Lindbeck, interview, 2.12.97.
24. Ariel Rubinstein, interview, 6.26.95. 25. Ariel Rubinstein,
"Perfect Equilibrium in a Bargaining Model,"
-------------------------------------------------------------1129
Econometrica,
no. 50 (1982), pp. 97-109.
26. Rubinstein, interview, 6.95.
27. Weibull, interview, 1.14.96.
28. Ibid.
M Ibid.
30. E-mail from Eric Fisher, assistant professor of economics,
Ohio State University, to author, 7.25.95.
31. Weibull, interview, 11.6.96.
32. Gene Grossman, professor of economics, Princeton University,
interview, 9.93. Grossman was the first to point out to the
author, a reporter at
The New York Times,
that Nash might share a Nobel.
33. Nobel Symposium on Game Theory: Rationality and Equilibrium
in Strategic Interaction, Bjorkbom, Sweden, June 18-20, 1993.
34. Confidential source who attended the conference, 35. Persson,
interview.
36. Confidential source who attended the conference. 37. Fax from
16wen Weibull to Harold Kuhn, 7.14.93.
-------------------------------------------------------------1130
38. Letter from obert J. Leonard to Harold Kuhn, 7.27.93.
39. Jacobson, interview.
40. Lindbeck, interview.
41. Ibid.
42. Confidential source.
43. Jacobson, interview.
44. Wgren, interview.
45. Lindbeck, interview.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48, Shapley's most important work is in cooperative game theory
while Schelling's work is in applications of game theory.
49. Lindbeck, interview.
50. Ibid.
5 1. The sketch of Stahl is based on interviews with his brother
Ingolf Stahl, 2.12.97; Wer; Lindbeck; Wgren; Weibull; David
Warsh, columnist,
Boston Globe,
2.5.97; and others.
52. Ingernar Stahl, professor of law, Lund University, interview,
2.4.97.
53. Letter from Lars Hbrmander to Ingemar Stahl,

9.10.93, with Nash bibliography. 54. Ibid.                   1131
55. Ingemar Stahl, interview.
5and Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Confidential source present at the discussion.
59. Ibid.
60. Ingemar Stahl, interview.
61. Confidential source.
62. Ibid.
63. Interviews with Lindbeck and Jacobson. 64. Weibull,
interview.
65. Confidential source.
66. David Warsh, "Game Theory Plays Strategic Role in Economics'
Most Interesting Problemsea"Chicago
Tribune,
7,24,94.
67. Christer Kiselman, professor of mathematics, University of
Uppsala, interview, 3.5.97.
68. Ibid.
69. Confidential source.
70. Weibull, interview, 11.6.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1132
71. Lindbeck, interview.
72. Ibid.
73. Ibid.
74. Jacobson, interview.
75. Confidential source.
76. Lindbeck, interview.
77. Ibid.; also confidential source.
78. As quoted by Harold Kuhn, interview, 1.95.
79. E-mail from Harold Kuhn to Harold Shapiro, president,
Princeton University, 9.1.94.
80. Confidential source.
81. Erik Dahmen, professor of economics, Stockholm Institute of
Economics, and member, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences,
interview, 2.12.97.
82. Confidential source.
83. Anders Karlquist, interview, 3.17.97. 84. Lars CA-RDING,
professor of mathematics, Lund University, personal
communication, 2.10.97.
85. Bengt Nagel, personal communication, 2.10.97.
86. Confidential source.
-------------------------------------------------------------1133
87. Kiell Olof Feldt, 1 Nationalekonomns Atervandsgrand,"
Moderna Tider
(March 1994).
88. Karlquist, interview.
89. Confidential source.
90. Lindbeck, interview.
91. Confidential source.
92. Ibid.
93. Statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
94. Confidential source.
95. Ibid.
96. Jacobson, interview.                                    A1133
97. Confidential source.
98. Jacobson, interview.
99. Ingemar Stahl, interview.
100. SohIman, interview.
101. Johann Schuck, reporter, article in Dagens Nyheter,
12.10.94. Schuck broke the story of the behind-the-scenes fight
between Stahl and Lindbeek that delayed the announcement of the
prize. A translation was provided by Hans Carlsson, professor of
economics, Lund University, 12.4.95. 102. Confidential source.
-------------------------------------------------------------1134
103. Ibid.
104. Harold Kuhn informed Alicia Nash on Friday, October 7, and
Nash himself on October 10, the day before the official
announcement.
105. Kiselman, interview.
106. Confidential source with access to the report.
107. Confidential source.
108. Ibid.
109. Confidential source with access to the report.
110. Confidential source.
112. Miler, interview.
113. Jacobson, interview.
114, [bid.
49: The Greatest Auction Ever
1. Harold Kuhn, interview, 1.95.
2. William Safire, "The Greatest Auction Ever,"
New York Times, 3.16.95,
as quoted by Paul Milgrom,
Auction Theory for Privatization
(New York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).
-------------------------------------------------------------1135
3. Edmund Andrews, "Wireless Bidders Jostle for Positionea"New
York Times,
12.5.94.
4. Milgrom,
Auction Theory for Privatiation,
op. cit.
5. Michael Rothschild, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School, remarks
at conference, "Market Design: Spectrum Auctions and Beyond:`
Princeton University, 11.9.95.
6. Peter C. Crarnton, "Dealing with Rivals? Allocating Scarce
Resources? You Need Game Theory0ggXerox, 1994). Nash provided the
fundamental theory used to analyze and predict behavior in simple
games in which rational players have complete knowledge of each
other's preferences and abilities. Harsanyi, in papers published
in 1967 and 1968, analyzed games in which some parties had
private information. Selten, in
1976, extended the theory to dynamic games, games that take place
over time. Cramton gives the offers and counteroffers during a
merger negotiation as an example of a dynamic game. 7. Peter
PasselT, "Came Theory


Captures a                                                   1136
Nobelea"New York Times, 10.
12.94.
8. Paul Samuelson as quoted by Vincent P. Crawford, "Theory and
Experiment in the Anal ` f tr. rlyeais o Strategic Interaction,"
Symposium on Experimental Economics, Econome 1ence Nociety,
Seventh Wo Congress, August 1995 (draft: September 1994).
9. See, for example, Robert Gibbons, "An Introduction to
Applicable Game Theory," Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol.
11, no. I (Winter 1997), pp. 127-49. 10. Avinash Dixit,
interview, 7.97.
11. Avinash Dixit, as quoted by Passell, op. cit.
12. Ibid.
13. John McMillan,
Games, Strategies and Managers
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).
14. R. H. Cease, "The Federal Communications Commission,`
Journal ofLaw and Economics
-------------------------------------------------------------1137
(October
1959), pp. 1-40, quoted by John McMillan, "Selling Spectrum
Rights," Journal of Economic Perspectives,
vol. 8, no. 3 (Summer 1994).
15. Peter C. Cramton, "The PCS Spectrum Auction: An Early
Assessmentea"The
Economist
(August 25,
1995).
16. Milgrom,
Auction Theory for Privatization,
op. cit.
17. Ibid. See also McMillan, "Selling Spectrum Rightsea"op. cit.,
pp. 153-55. 18. Ibid.
19. See, for example, McMillan, "Selling Spectrum Rights,` op.
cit.; Paul Milgrom, "Game Theory and Its Use in the PCS Spectrum
Auctionea"Games '95, conference, Jerusalem, 9.29.95,
20. Milgrom,
Auction Theory for Privatization,
op. cit.
-------------------------------------------------------------1138
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. McMillan, "Selling Spectrum Rightsea"op. cit.
50: Reawakening
1. Sylvain Cappell, interview, 2.29.96. 2. 16rgen Weibull,
interview, 11.14.96.
3. Harold and Estelle Kuhn, interviews, 1.95.
4. Weibull, interview.
5. Lena Koster, "For the First Time in 30 Years: Economy Prize
Winner Lectured in Uppsalaea"Uppsala
Nya Tidning,
12.94.
6. Christer Kiselman, interview, 3.4.97. 7. Weibull, interview.
8. John Forbes Nash, Jr.,                                   A1138
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.
9. As quoted by Harold Kuhn, interview, 7.24.96.
10. E-mail from John Nash to Harold
-------------------------------------------------------------1139
Kuhn, 3.26.96.
11. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry,
Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
12. E-mail from J. Nash to H. Kuhn, 11,94.
13. Ibid., 8.6.95 and 8.26.95.
14. Harold Kuhn, interview, 1.95.
15. Armand Borel, interview, 3.1.96.
16, This conversation took place in a taxi on the way to Newark
Airport on 12.5.94 and was recounted by Harold Kuhn, interview,
1.95. 17. As quoted by H. Kuhn, interview, 1.95.
18. E-mail from John Nash to Herbert Meltzer, 7.8.97.
19. E-mail from 1. Nash to H. Kuhn, 7.16.95.
20. Confidential source.
21. E-mail from 1. Nash to H. Kuhn, 5.12.95.
22. Alicia Nash, interview, 5.16.95. 23. H. Kuhn, interview,
7.26.95.
24. Avinash Dixit, personal communication, 1.31.96.
-------------------------------------------------------------1140
25. E-mail from
J.
Nash to H. Kuhn, 8.6.95.
26. Ibid.
27. Alicia Nash, personal communication, 11.29.97.
28. E-mail from J. Nash to H. Kuhn, 6.6.96.
29. Ibid., 9.94.
30. John Nash, personal communication, 3.22.96.
31. H. Kuhn, interview, 8.95.
32. Interviews with John David Stier, 9.20.97; Eleanor Stier,
7.95; Arthur Mattuck, 11.7.95.
33. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.1.96. 34. J. D. Stier,
interview.
35. Ibid.
36. E. Stier, interview.
37. J. D. Stier, interview.
38. E-mail from J. Nash to H. Kuhn, 9.26.95.
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MANY PEOPLE
contributed to this book, two above all: my friend of twenty-five
years, Ellen Tremper, who cheered me on and rendered invaluable
assistance every step of the way, and Harold W. Kuhn, whose
enthusiasm for the
-------------------------------------------------------------1155
enterprise and intimate knowledge of John Nash and the
mathematics community was a constant source of guidance and
inspiration. No one could have done more. I am deeply indebted to
Alicia Larde Nash and Martha Nash Legg, without whose support I
could not have embarked on this biography, much less completed
it. I am also grateful to John David Stier, Eleanor Stier, and
John Charles Martin Nash for their cooperation, and appreciate
John Nash's benign "attitude of Swiss neutrality"toward the
undertaking.
No author was ever in better hands than those of Alice Mayhew, my
editor, and Kathy Robbins, my agent -- not to mention those of
Simon and Schuster's terrific publishing team, especially Robert
Labrie, Victoria Meyer, Elizabeth Hayes, and Nira Weisel.   A1155
I am thankful to Amartya Sen and Phillip Griffiths for enabling
me to spend a vital year as a Director's Visitor at the Institute
for Advanced Study in Princeton; Gian-Carlo Rota for a shorter
but equally critical interlude at the MIT mathematics department;
and Vivien Arterberry for a productive week at the RAND
Corporation.
-------------------------------------------------------------1156
Joseph Lelyveld, Soma Golden Behr, and Glenn Kramon of
The New York Times
granted me a generous leave of absence and enthusiastic support.
My colleagues Doug Frantz at
The New York Times
and Rob Norton at
Fortune
gave much-appreciated advice and encouragement at every stage.
Avinash Dixit, Harold Kuhn, Roger Myerson, Ariel Rubinstein, and
Robert Wilson patiently shared their insights about game theory
and served as valuable sounding boards.
Donald Spencer, Harold Kuhn, Lars H6rmander, Michael Artin,
Joseph Kohn, John Milnor, Louis Nirenberg, and Jargen Moser
worked hard to help me convey the originality of Nash's
contributions to pure mathematics clearly and accurately.
Superb histories by John McDonald, William Poundstone, Fred
Kaplan, and David Halberstam provided much of the context for
Nash's tenure at RAND. Ed Regis's lively history
-------------------------------------------------------------1157
of the Institute for Advanced Study and Rebecca Goldstein's
delightful novel
The Mind-Body Prohlem
were also invaluable.
Richard Jed Wyatt guided me through the vast and fascinating
literature on schizophrenia. The extraordinary work of Louis
Sass, Anthony Storr, John Gunderson, Kenneth Kendler, Irving
Gottesman, Richard Keefe, James Glass, Kay Redfield Jamison, and
E, Fuller Torrey provided inspiration as well as important
information. Special thanks to Connie and Steve Lieber, the
founders of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia
and Depression, for their interest in this project.
Psychiatrists Paul Howard, Joseph Brenner, Robert Garber, and
Peter Baurnecker provided firsthand descriptions of the
institutions where Nash was treated and glimpses into the
mysteries of clinical psychiatry.
Jbrgen Weibull and other members of the economics prize committee
and the Swedish Academy of Sciences were wonderfully hospitable
during my visit to Stockholm and helped me decipher the seemingly
inscrutable process by which the
-------------------------------------------------------------1158
ne plus
ultra
of honors is bestowed. Sociologist Harriet Zuckerman's landmark
study of Nobel Laureates served as an excellent road map. Lloyd
Shapley's loving and lovely phrase "a beautiful mind"bbcame, at
Kathy Robbins's suggestion, the title of the book.
I am infinitely grateful to the hundreds of individuals     A1158
-- mathematicians, economists, psychiatrists, and others who knew
John Nash comwho supplied the memories from which I've woven
together his remarkable story. Every fragment, however tiny,
added to the vividness of the whole, and each was gratefully
received and treasured. In addition to those already cited, I am
particularly indebted to Paul Samuelson, Arthur Mattuck, Paul
Cohen, Odette Larde, Dorothy Thomas, Peter Lax, Cathleen
Morawetz, Donald Newman, Also Vasquez, Richard Best, John Moore,
Armand and Gaby Borel, Zipporah Levinson, Jerome Neuwirth, Felix
and Eva Browder, Leopold Flatto, John Danskin, Emma Duchane, and
Joyce Davis.
-------------------------------------------------------------1159
Archivists and librarians at Carnegie Mellon University,
Princeton University, MIT, Harvard University, the Institute for
Advanced Study, the Rockefeller Archive Center, McLean Hospital,
the Swiss National Archives, and the National Archive provided
important material and expert guidance. Special thanks to Arlen
Hastings, Momota Ganguli, and Elise Hansen at the Institute for
Advanced Study for making my year at the institute so productive,
and to Richard Wolfe for sharing his knowledge of the Cambridge
intellectual community.
Ellen Tremper, Geoffrey O'Brien, Harold Kuhn, Avinash Dixit, Lars
Hbrmander, Jtirgen Moser, Michael Artin, Donald Spencer, Richard
Wyatt, and Rob Norton read and commented on various drafts. Their
painstaking efforts eliminated mistakes, improved expositions,
and added important new insights. All errors that remain are, of
course, mine.
My husband, Darryl McLeod, and children, Clara, Lily, and Jack,
not only lived with this book and its harried author for three
years, but pitched in comon the computer, in the library, around
the house comwhen
-------------------------------------------------------------1160
deadlines were looming and the sky seemed about to fall. For
their love and patience I am most indebted.
Abbat, John, 282 ABC conjecture, 21 Aberdeen Proving Ground, 56
Acta Mathematica, 226
Adler, Alfred, 94
AEC (Atomic Energy Commission), 74, 80, 107,110,122,134,216
Aeschylus, 94 Afriat, Napthali, 284
Air Force, U.S., 105, 107, 110, 121, 134,
135,187
Albert, Adrian, 236, 244 Alchian, Armen, 119 John Alden Society,
33 algebra, 56, 65, 74
Gauss's proof of the fundamental theorem of, 67 von Neumann and,
81 algebraic geometry, 96
algebraic manifolds, 123-24, 128-32 algebraic topology, 59, 68
algebraic varieties, 131, 309 Allen, Beth, 354, 355 Amadur, Izzy,
153 Amadur, Ted, 153
Ambrose, Warren, 143, 155-56, 159,
-------------------------------------------------------------1161
162,
163,203,282
American journal of Mathematics, 226-27 American Mathematical
Society (AMS), 38,226,245-46,303                            A1161
Amherst College, 344, 387 analysis: complex, 130 at Princeton, 64
"Analyticity of Solutions of Implicit Function Problems with
Analytic Data0ggNash), 317-18
Ankeny; Barbara, 202
Ankeny, Nesmith, 202
Annals ofMathematics,
58, 72, 131, 161,
318
antipsychotics, 329, 353 anti-Semitism, 58, 135, 136, M, 146,
216
Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Evaluation Group (ASWOEG), 116
Appalachian Power Company, 27, 33 Arafat, Yasir, 357 Archimedes,
94 Aristophanes, 94 Aristotle, 94, 275 Army, U.S., 134
Arnold, Henry "Hapea0106 Arrow, Kenneth:
-------------------------------------------------------------1162
Nobel awarded to, 107, 358, 360
at RAND, 107-8, 109, 113, 115, 117, 118
artificial intelligence, 102
Artin, Emil, 19, 64, 73, 159, 210, 229, 239,
281
Nash opposed by, 73-74, 132 Artin, Karin (Tate), 73, 239, 242
Artin, Michael, 129, 131, 281 Artin, Natasha, 210
Art of the Fugue, The
(Bach), 113 Asimov, Isaac, 105 Assadi, Amir, 337-38, 343 ASWOEG
(Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Evaluation Group), 116
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), 74, 80, 107,110,122,134,216
auctions, 374-78 Augenstein, Bruno, 107 Aumann, Robert, 140, 156,
354
in Nobel deliberations, 362, 363 Australia, 377
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 113 Bailey, Anna, 343
Balzac, Honor6 de, 325 Barnberger
-------------------------------------------------------------1163
family, 54 Bank of Sweden, 358, 368
Baptist Standard, 26
bargaining, 88-91, 129, 149-51 "Bargaining Problem, The0ggNash),
88,
120,360
BASIC, 71
Baumecker, Peter, 289-90, 292, 294 Baumol, William, 102
Baylor College, 26 Beckenback, Alice, 299
Bell, E. T., 34, 35, 229, 230-31, 232
Bellfar, The
(Plath), 211
Bellman, Richard, 110, 185 Berge, Claude, 243
Bers, Lipman, 246
Best, Richard, 184, 185-86, 189 Bewley, Truman, 3 54, 3 5 5
Binmore, Kenneth, 355
bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness), 18,258,318-19
Birkhoff, G. D., 53, 55, 103, 136 Blackwell, David, 117
-------------------------------------------------------------1164
Blake, William, 13 Bletchley Park, 56, 107 Bleuler, Eugen, 17
Bleuler, Manfred, 352
Bluefield, West Va., description of, 28 Bluefield College, 35, 39
Blueea6enceld Daily Telegraph,                              A1164
3 3, 3 8 Bluefield Supply, 33 B6cher Prize, 138, 226-27, 237, 243
Bochner, Salomon, 64, 71, 128, 132 Boeing, 342-43
Bohnenblust, H. Frederic, 103, 117 Bohr, Harald, 49, 50
Bohr, Niels, 50, 56, 70
Bombieri, Enrico, 20-21, 229, 230, 388 Borel, Armand, 264, 272,
301, 313
as Annals of Mathematics
editor, 318 Carrier Clinic visits of, 307 IAS appointments
arranged by, 296,
308
Nashes' socializing with, 299, 3 80, 3 86 Nash recommended by,
321
on Nash's embedding theorem, 161-62 Nash's nonsensical calls to,
286
Borel, Emile, 81
-------------------------------------------------------------1165
Borel, Gaby, 264, 299, 344, 380, 386 Borsuk, Karol, 72
Borsuk conjecture, 72
Bott, Raoul, 40, 41, 203, 240 Boy Scouts, 33
Bradley, Bernard E., 261 Brandeis University, 314-22 Brauer,
Fred, 146 Brenner, Joseph, 239, 258 Brezhnev, Leonid, 332
Bricker, Jacob Leon, 144, 223, 321 Alicia Larde and, 200-201
Eleanor Stier and, 177, 178, 181, 182, 206-7
Nash's delusions about, 326
Nash's relationship with, 180-83, 204,
206-7
bridge, 142 Brieskorn, Egbert, 318 Brod, Max, 278 Brode, Wallace,
279 Bronx High School, 142
Brouwer's fixed point theorem, 45, 128, 362 Browder, Earl, 153
Browder, Eva, 233-34, 380
Browder, Felix, 73, 142, 154, 157, 229, 244,
246-47
-------------------------------------------------------------1166
Nashes' British trip and, 233-34 Nashes' socializing with, 3 80,
386 on Nash's defection effort, 281
Nash's McLean commitment and, 257 Browder, William, 309, 335
Brown, Douglas, 126, 310, 312 Brownian motion, 55 Buchanan,
James, 364 Buchwald, Art, 271
Bulletin de Ja Sociand6 Math6matique de France,
298
Bunker Hill Community College, 344 Burr, Stefan, 299
Bush, Vannevar, 137
Calabi, Eugenio, 64, 68, 72, 232, 244-45 Calabi, Giuliana, 245
calculus, tensor, 380
California Institute of Technology, 375 Camus, Albert, 271
Cappell, Sylvain, 99
Carl XVI Gustav, king of Sweden, 379-80 Carleson, Lennart,
223-24, 226, 227 Carnegie Institute of Technology, 35, 39-
45, 129, 362
-------------------------------------------------------------1167
description of, 40
Carrier Clinic, 304, 305-8,312-13,343, 344
Cartan, Elie-Joseph, 157 Cartwright, Mary, 57 Casals, Pablo, 193
Castle, The                                                 A1167
(Kafka), 273, 278 Cauchy problem, 297-98 Cauvin, Jean-Pierre,
284, 298, 308 Cauvin, Louisa, 308
Central Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Science in Memory of
Alfred Nobel,
see
Nobel Prize in economics
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 134 Centre de la Recherches
Nationale Scientifiques, 298
Chamberlain, Gary, 354 Charles, Ray, 255 Chern, Shiing-shen, 72,
236, 279 Chiang Kai-shek, 153
Chicago, University of, 45, 132, 236, 237,
244
China, 153
Choate, Hall and Steward, 153 Chung, Kai Lai, 66
-------------------------------------------------------------1168
Church, Alonzo, 63, 64, 93 CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), 134
City College, 142, 144, 180
John Bates Clark medal for economics, 369
Clark University, 59
C. L. E. Moore instructorships, 132, 135,
139,142,157,160,162 Clozapine, 329 Clozaril, 384
Coase, Ronald, 364, 375-76 Cocteau, Jean, 310-11
Cohen, Paul J., 155, 160, 215-16, 230,
236-38,240,241,259,349 Nash's McLean commitment and, 2 5 3,
257
and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 242-
243,250,251
College de France, 236, 265, 285 1962 conference at, 300-301
Communist Party (Great Britain), I 10 Communist Party (U.S.),
135, 152-54 competitive equilibrium, 108
Compleat Strategpt, The
-------------------------------------------------------------1169
(Williams), 83 complex analysis, 130
complex variables, theory of, 67 Compton, Karl, 153
Compton Pictured Encyclopedia, 3
2 computer theory, 56, 65, 82
Con Edison, 343, 344 continuity theorem, 219-20, 225 continuous
geometry, 81 Conway, John, 158
Courant, Richard, 210, 216, 219 Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, 216-17, 223, 224
Cournot, Antoine-Augustin, 14 Cox, Edward, 278
creativity, schizophrenia and, 15-16 cryptography, 55-56
cybernetics, 55, 135 Cyert, Richard, 40 Cziffra, Peter, 334
Dagens Nyheter,
3 71 Dahmen, Erik, 368 Dalkey, N., 117
Danskin, John, 280, 282, 284, 296, 301,
303
Eleanor Stier's complaints to, 296 at
-------------------------------------------------------------1170
game-theory conference, 313 Nash's behavior described by, 286-87
Nash's job search and, 283, 284
Nash's Trenton State hospitalization and, 290-91,292
Danskin, Odette Larde, 212, 284, 287, 296,
303,342                                                     A1170
Danskin's marriage to, 283
Nashes' European stay and, 270, 273, 276,277,279,280 Dasgupta,
Partha, 362 Davies, John D., 51, 56 Davis, Garry, 271, 282
Davis, Joyce, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200,
202,211,283,343 Davis, Martin, 67-68 Davis, Meyer, 271
De Giorgi, Ennio, 219-20, 224, 225 Dejarnette State Sanitorium,
331 Delusion
(Class), 335
de Rham, Georges, 101 Descartes, Ren6, 15, 35, 51 Dewey, Thomas
E., 49, 62 Dickason, H. L., 124 Dickinson, Emily, 323
-------------------------------------------------------------1171
Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Gillespie, ed.), 337
DiMaggio, Joe, 192
Diophantine equations, 45, 334 Dirichlet, Peter Gustave Lejeune,
141 Dix, Dorothea, 289
Dixit, Avinash, 97, 375, 385 Doherty, Robert, 40-41 Dostoevsky,
Fyodor, 18 Douglas Aircraft, 106, 111, 113 Dresher, Melvin, 115,
119, 150
Dr. Strangelove,
80, 105
Duchane, Emma, 190, 196, 200-201, 202,
223
Alicia Nash's apartment with, 262 Nash's interest in, 317
Nash's McLean commitment and, 255,
256,257
and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 240, 242,250,251
Dudey, Marc, 350 duels, theory of, 121 Duffin, Richard, 41,
44-45, 46
Duke journal ofMathematics, 318 Dynamics of Creation, The
-------------------------------------------------------------1172
(Storr), 15 Dyson, Freeman, 20, 21, 221
Econometrica,
91, 120 Econometric Society, 20 Nash's fellowship in, 354-55
economics: bargaining and, 88-91, 120, 129,149-
151,360
see also
game theory; Nobel Prize in economics Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro,
88, 89 Ehrlich, Phillip, 287
Eilenberg, Samuel, 68
Einstein, Albert, 12, 13, 15, 19, 41, 46, 50,
63,79,84,87,118,216,271,308,380 adolescence of, 35
Davis supported by, 271
and general theory of relativity, 52, 70, 86,231, 380
on God, 66
go played by, 75
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle critiqued by, 221
on intellectual isolation, 59 on Kaluza's
-------------------------------------------------------------1173
theory, 94 liberal views of, 14 Nash's meeting with, 70-71, 94,
382 nuclear warning of, 56
on Princeton, 49, 50-51 recruited to IAS, 54- 5 5 relativity
papers of, 52, 70, 86
and special theory of relativity, 51-52, 70,86
Swiss citizenship of, 272 Eisenhart, Luthor, 53, 388        A1173
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 110, 111, 140,
185,217 elections of 1948, 49, 62 elections of 1952, 140
electroshock, 293 Eliot, T. S., 98 El Salvador, 191 embedding, of
Riemannian manifolds, 155-63,203,204,218,219,345 Emery, Richard,
222, 239-40
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics,
297
entropy, 224
Epstein, Samuel, 254-55 Erd6's, Paul, 346
ergodic theorem, 81 Erlenmeyer-Kimling, Nikki, 188 Esau, 327
Esmiol, Pattison, 314-15, 319, 321
-------------------------------------------------------------1174
Estermann, Immanuel, 41 Euclid, 35, 230 Euler, Leonhard, 230
Euripides, 94
exotic spheres, 203
Farinholt, Larkin, 280 Faulkner, James, 265
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 153, 154,249,281
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 374, 376-78
Federer, Herbert, 161 Feenberg, Daniel, 336, 350 Feldt, Kiell
Olof, 368 Feller, William, 129, 285 Fellows, Benjamin Pierce, 135
Fermat, Pierre de, 35, 51 Fermat's Last Theorem, 203, 386
Fermat's Theorem, 35
fiber bundles, 64
Fields, Kenneth, 345, 346, 351 Fields Medal, 20, 224, 236, 333,
369 description of, 225-26
1958,234
1962,232,365
1966,279 selection process for, 225
Fine, Henry Burchard, 52-53 first strike, 121
-------------------------------------------------------------1175
Fisher, Eric, 361 Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 49
Flatto, Leopold "Poldyea0144, 159, 163 Flexner, Abraham, 54
Flood, Merrill, 119, 121-22, 150, 303 Floyd Ward dancing school,
33
fluid dynamics, 294, 297 Fogel, Robert, 363
Forrester, Amasa, 203-6, 321
Fortune,
104, 106, 108, 115, 116, 216, 217,
224
Found7mentions of Economic Theory (Samuelson), 86
Fox, Ralph, 64, 72, 75
Fr-Inkenstem or The Modern Prometheus (Shelley), 273
Fredga, Kerstin, 360, 370, 372 Freud, Sigmund, 59, 94
Freudian theory, 188, 250, 259-60, 351 Friedrichs, Kurt, 225, 226
Fuchs, Klaus, I 10 Fuchsian functions, 93 Fuck Your Buddy, 102
Fukuda, Hiroshi, 75 Fulbright program, 236
-------------------------------------------------------------1176
Galbraith, John Kenneth, 116 Cale, David, 62, 64, 77, 78, 83,
100, 308-9 Nash equilibrium and, 95 Gallagher, Chicky, 193
GaImarino, Alberto, 240-41
games: non-zero-sum, 87
two-person zero-sum, 14, 87, 95, 96, 115,
116, 119
"Games Against Nature0ggMilnor), 149 Gamesand Decisions     A1176
(Luce and Raiffa), 122 game theory, 56, 84-91, 101, 286
application of, 374-78 Econometric Society and, 354 MIT seminar
on, 319 Nash's course in, 240-41, 265
and Nash's graduate studies, 65, 68, 77, 86-87, 90-91, 96, 100,
132
Nash's introduction to, 45 in
New Palgrave, 20
1961 conference on, 296-97
1964 conference on, 313
in Nobel deliberations, 357, 360-73 origins of, 13-14
RAND and, 104-5, 108, 111, 115-22,
-------------------------------------------------------------1177
149-51
Tucker and, 64-65, 77, 83, 90, 91, 100,
118,119,362
von Neumann's role in, 13-14, 81, 83-
87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93-94, 95, 96-97,
98, 100, 111, 115, 116, 117-18, 119,
128,149,150,362,363
see also
bargaining; min-max theorem; Nash equilibrium Gangolli, Ramesh,
240-41 Garabedian, Paul, 219-20
Garber, Robert, 292, 293, 294, 305, 307,
310
Girding, Lars, 219, 368 Garsia, Adriano, 237, 257, 258 Garson,
Greer, 36
Gauss, Carl Friedrich, 35, 69, 128, 141, 23,0 Gauss's proof of
the fundamental theorem of algebra, 67
Gauthier, Jacqueline, 260, 261 General
-------------------------------------------------------------1178
Electric, 27
general theory of relativity, 52, 70, 86, 2 3 1,
380
geniuses: clusters of, 94 schizophrenia and, 19 geometry:
algebraic, 96 continuous, 81 differential, 203
geometry:
continued
and Nash's graduate studies, 68 non-Euclidean, 231
see also
Riemannian manifolds Germany, East, 281 Germany, Nazi, 84,115
Gibbon, Edward, 58 Gibbs, Willard, 51 Gide, Andr6, 3 10-11
Gillespie, Charles, 337 Girschick, Abraham, 117 Glass, James,
278, 335 Gleason, Andrew, 146 Gleason, Jackie, 193
gea75,76,100,142,326,343 G6del, Kurt, 50, 54, 59, 70, 84, 216,
236,
355
Goodwin, Ruth, 243-44 Goheen, Robert,
-------------------------------------------------------------1179
287, 3 10 Goldin, Claudia, 338 Goldman, Oscar, 252 Goldschmidt,
Hubert, 298 Goldstine, Hermann, 82 Gonshor, Harry, 144, 343
Goodman, Leo, 210 Gordon, Julie, 3 5 5 Gore, Also, 374, 375
Gottesman, Irving 1., 17, 188 Grant, Mrs. Austin, 172 Gromov,
Mikhail, 12, 158, 318 Grothendieck, Alexandre, 279, 298, 311,
312,334                                                     A1179
Guggenheim Foundation, 236 Gunderson, John G., 16
Haber, Seymour, 146 Hahn, Otto, 56 Halmos, Paul, 12, 80, 155, 159
Hardwick, Elizabeth, 256, 259 Hardy, G. H., 61, 79, 130, 137,
228, 230
Harish-Chandra, 286
Harsanyi, John C., 98, 354, 362, 374 at 1961 conference, 297
Nobel deliberations on, 363, 364, 371, 373
Harvard University, 45, 46, 51, 55, 60, 134-
135,136,137,144,146,235 Haslam, John,
-------------------------------------------------------------1180
275
Hausner, Melvin, 63, 69, 73 Hayek, Friedrich von, 367 Heifetz,
Jascha, 246
Heilbroner, Robert, 89 Hein, Piet, 76, 78 Heisenberg, Werner, 70,
221 Heisenberg's uncertainty principle,
221
Henkin, Leon, 62, 64 Henry, Agnes, 126, 285 Herter, Christian A.,
278, 279
Hexea76,78,299
see also
"Nash"Hicks, John, 89, 108
Hilbert, David, 52, 53, 81, 157 Hilbert's Fifth Problem, 81, 146
Hilbert spaces, 44
Hincks, Ruth, 147-48, 174 Hinman, George, 42, 44 Hironaka,
Heisuke, 309, 333 Hiroshima bombing (1945), 195 Hitch, Charles,
122
Hitler, Adolf, 84 Hoffman, Abbie, 271 Hoffman, Alan, 339 Holder
estimates, 219, 225 homology theory, 68, 69 homotopy chains, 69
Hopf, Heinz, 162,
-------------------------------------------------------------1181
22 5
Hbrmander, Lars, 216, 217, 219, 226-27,
232,264,280,300,301 Nobel deliberations and, 365, 366
Hoselitz, Bert, 90-91 Houghton, Amory, 279
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), 152, 187
Howard, Paul, 222 Hurwicz, Leo, 85 hydrogen bomb, 81, 93, 109,
110 hyperbolic equations, see nonlinear partial differential
equations
IA-MORE a Genius
(Wiener), 136
IA-MORE a Mathematician
(Wiener), 136 IAS,
see
Institute for Advanced Study IBM, 82 ICBM's (intercontinental
ballistic missiles),
106,110
If
449
IHES (Institut des Hautes 9mentudes
-------------------------------------------------------------1182
Scientifiques), 279, 280, 298, 311
lle de France,
2 3 3
Immigration Act (1941), 271-72 implicit-function            A1182
theorems, 160, 222, 243 impossibility theorem, 108
Ingham, Albert E., 229, 232, 238 "Insanity Bit, The0ggKrim), 291
Institut des Hautes 9mentudes Scientifiques (IHES), 279, 280,
298, 311 Institute for Advanced Study jAS): activities at, 63
creation of, 54-55 description of, 50, 215-16 Godel's
professorship at, 355 Lefschetz on, 59
Nash at, 202, 208, 215-16, 220-21, 236 Nash at, after illness,
296-97, 303, 308-
309, 311
insulin coma therapy, 291-94, 299, 306, 329, 353
intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM's),
106, 110
-------------------------------------------------------------1183
International Congress of Mathematicians:
1950, 129
1958, 233
1962, 300, 301
International Mathematical Union, 162
see also
Fields Medal
Isbell, John, 205
Jacob, 327
Jacobson, Carl-Olof, 356-57, 370, 371-72,
373
"Jeep"problem, 145-46 Jeffries, Steve, 186
`John"gg"Nash"), 75, 76-78 John XXIII, Pope, 276 John Alden
Society, 33
John Bates Clark medal for economics, 369
Johnniac, 109
John von Neumann Theory Prize, 338-39,
354
Jung, Carl, 94
-------------------------------------------------------------1184
Kafka, Franz, 269, 273, 278, 327 Kahn, Herman, 10 5, 109, 111
Kahne, Merton J., 2 54, 2 58, 2 59 Kaiser Friedrich Institute, 56
Kakutani, Shizuo, 362
Kaluza, Theodor F. E., 94 Kant, Immanuel, 15 Kaplan, Fred, 105,
121 Karlin, Sam, 117 Karlquist, Anders, 368, 369 Kaysen, Carl,
116
Keefe, Richard, 342 Kemeny, John, 71, 270-71 Kennedy, John F.,
280 Keynes, John Maynard, 14 Keynesian economics, 85 Khrushchev,
Nikita, 278, 280, 332 King, Mervyn, 354, 355
Kinsey, Alfred, 181 Kirchner, Herman, 37 Kiselman, Christer, 366,
372
Nash's lecture arranged by, 380 Kiselman, Ola, 366
Klein bottles, 157-58
K6chel, Ludwig Alois Ferdinand von, 281 Kodaira, Kunihiko, 101,
130 Kohn, Anna Rosa, 322
Kohn, Joseph, 134, 140, 157, 313, 314, 319,
-------------------------------------------------------------1185
320, 322
Nash as concern of, 338 Korean War, 123-27, 132, 229 Kraepelin,
Emil, 18 Kreisel, Georg, 284 Kreps, David, 362
Kriegspiel, 75-76, 100, 101, 112, 285 Krim, Seymour, 291    A1185
Kubrick, Stanley, 80
Kuhn, Estelle, 275, 379, 380, 384 Kuhn, Harold, 64, 243, 339,
351, 381, 385,
386, 388
Carrier Clinic visit of, 313 description of, 21
in Econometric Society, 354 game theory and, 77, 8 3, 100
honeymoon of, 62
on invention of Hex, 78 in Korean War, 125 Nash's letters to,
312, 387
on Nash's need for recognition, 44 on Nash's thesis, 95-96
Nash told of Nobel by, 21-22
at Nobel ceremonies, 275, 379, 380 Index
Kuhn, Harold,
continued
-------------------------------------------------------------1186
Nobel committee's request to, 363 Nobel deliberations and, 365,
367 sherry sessions of, 62, 72
on von Neumann, 79 Kunzig, Robert L., 152 Kuranishi, Masatake,
162 Ladyshenskaya, Olga, 234 Lang, Serge, 64, 73 Larde, Eloi
Martin, 191 Larde, Enrique, 191, 192, 212 Larde, Florentin, 191
Larde, Jorge, 191 Larde, Muyu, 282 Larde (Danskin), Odette,
see
Danskin, Odette Larde
Larde, Rolando, 191
Larde Arthes, Carlos (father-in-law), 191 -
192, 193, 194, 201
illness and death of, 192, 296, 301 Larde Harrison, Alicia
(mother-in-law), see Lopez-Harrison de Larde, Alicia Lasker, 180
Lax, Anneli, 216
Lax, Peter, 216, 217, 218, 226, 246 Leader, Elvira, 284
Leader, Sol, 284, 343 League of Nations, 191, 270
-------------------------------------------------------------1187
Lefscbetz, Solomon, 46, 47, 51, 58, 63, 64,
69,71,93,95,96,130,329 anti-Semitism and, 58
background of, 58-59 at IAS parties, 215 McCarthyism and, 153
Nash defended by, 73, 74 Nash's job search and, 129, 132 new
students welcomed by, 58-59
Legendre, Adrien Marie, 230
Legg, Charlie (brother-in-law), 209, 212,
302,323,331
Legg, Martha Nash (sister), 39, 170, 209,
283,387
Alicia Nash's letter to, 340 Esmiol contacted by, 321 on John
Nash, Sr., 26 Levinson's letter to, 322 Mele contacted by, 3 10
Nash committed to Delarnette by, 331
Nash's 1962 European trip and, 301 on Nash's childhood, 32-33
and Nash's commitment to Carrier, 304,
306, 307-8
on Nash's desire to leave MIT, 235
-------------------------------------------------------------1188
Nash's divorce and, 302
Nash's letters to, 169, 181, 279, 282, 301,
310, 314, 316-17, 318, 319-20 Nash's 1959-60 European stay and,
272, 279,282                                                A1188
Nash's present relationship with, 383 Nash's Roanoke years and,
323, 330 Nash's Trenton State hospitalization and,
287,288,290,291 at Nash's wedding, 212
and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 249,
251
sanctuary search revealed to, 302 on trip to California, 147-48
World War 11 and, 35-36 Lemke, Carl, 339
Leonard, Robert, 52, 84, 86, 94, 363 Leray, Jean, 236, 285, 298,
300 Lettvin, Jerome, 134, 250
Levinson, Norman, 135, 143, 153, 155,
200,320
background of, 137-38 McCarthyism and, 153-54, 187
Nash's Brandeis post supported by, 313, 314
-------------------------------------------------------------1189
Nash's McLean commitment and, 254, 257
on Nash's parsimony, 233
Nash's professorship and, 162-63 Nash's resignation and, 265
and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 243,
244
Riemann Hypothesis and, 230 Riemannian manifolds and, 158, 160,
161,163
Levinson, Zipporah "Fagiea0136, 137, 144,
172,264,265,322 on Alicia Nash, 223 Alicia Nash aided by, 262
John Charles Nash's birth and, 263-64 Nash monitored by, 320
Nash's belongings moved by, 322 Nash's McLean commitment and,
255,
259,260
Lewin, Roger, 335 Lewis, John L., 28 Lewy, Hans, 221 Lide, David,
41
Life,
32, 244
Life, game of, 158 Lincoln Laboratory,
-------------------------------------------------------------1190
133 Lindbeck, Assar, 356, 359-73 Littlewood, J. E., 130 Locke,
John, 94
Lbfgren, Karl-Gustaf, 359-60, 364 logic, 65
Lopez-Harrison de Larde, Alicia (mother-in-law), 191, 192, 194,
20 1, 342
European trip of, 276-77, 279, 280 John Charles Nash in care of,
277, 283, 287,296,309,341
John Charles Nash's mental problems andea343,344
United States left by, 346 Louthan, John, 38-39
Lowell, Robert, 253, 255, 256-57, 259,
260
Lucas, Robert, 371
Luce, R. Duncan, 107, 122
McAfee, Preston, 377 McCarthy, John, 102, 146,258 McCarthy,
Joseph, 100, 110, 13 5, 184 McCarthyism, 100, 110, 135, 137,
152-54,
185,187
-------------------------------------------------------------1191
McCormick, Mrs., 195 McDonald, John, 116 Mackey, George, 11, 155,
257
McKinsey, J. C. C., 117, 185, 188, 189 McLean Hospital,     A1191
253-61 description of, 255 optimism at, 259 treatment philosophy
of, 259 McMillan, John, 377, 378 Mad Hatter's Tea, 264
Magee, Harold, 291
Maler, Karl-Gbran, 358, 362, 364, 367, 369,
370-71,372
Malgrange, Bernard, 300 Manganaro, Jim, 380
Manhattan Project, 56, 81, 107, 110, 15 3,
193
MANIAC, 82
manic depressive illness (bipolar disorder), 18,258,318-19
manifolds, algebraic, 123-24, 128-32 manifolds, Riemannian,
embedding of, 155-63,203,204,218,219,345 Mao Tse-Tung, 332
-------------------------------------------------------------1192
Marshall, Alfred, 89 Marshall University, 346, 384 Martha
Washington College, 27 Martin, Emma (grandmother), 27, 29 Martin,
James Everett (grandfather), 27 Martin, Lucy, 243
Martin, Margaret Virginia (mother),
see
Nash, Margaret Virginia Martin Martin, William Ted, 132, 135,
137, 153, 154,233
Michigan position arranged by, 303 Nash's McLean commitment and,
254
and Nash's professorship, 155 Nash's resignation and, 265
Nash's tenure and, 224, 244, 249, 250 and onset of Nash's
schizophrenia, 243, 244,250
senior seminar arranged by, 319 Martinez, Maximiliano Hernandez,
191 Marx, Karl, 88
Marymount School, 192-94
Mary Nash College for Women, 26 Maskin, Eric, 362
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-------------------------------------------------------------1193
(MIT), 55, 132-46, 152-63 Alicia Larde accepted to, 194
description of, 133
game theory seminar at, 319 McCarthyism at, 153 Nash's
resignation from, 265
Nash's tenure hopes at, 224, 244, 249, 250
Nash's unhappiness at, 235 Nash's visiting position at, 309
Matewan, 28
Ma this ema fical In teffigen cer, This e,
7 7, 7 8
Mathematician Apolqv, The
(Hardy),
228
mathematics: competition in, 228-29 Hilbert program in, 52
Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik (von Neumann),
45,81
Mattson, John Otto, 184
Mattuck, Arthur, 167-68, 177, 178, 180,
182,199,201,223,263,316,317,387 on Forrester, 204
-------------------------------------------------------------1194
John Stier and, 344 Nash's illness and, 262
Nash's McLean commitment and, 256,
258
Mazur, Barry, 131, 141 Meder, Albert E., Jr., 303           A1194
Meitner, Lise, 56 Mele, Howard S., 307-8, 310, 312-13 Men
ofMathematics
(Bell), 34-35, 230-31 disddMetamorphosis, The"ggKafka), 278
meteorology, 81
Michigan, University of, 45, 149, 303-4 Milgrom, Paul, 362,
376-77
Miller, James, 303, 304
Milnor, John, 101, 132, 170, 234, 296,
308-9,312,313 Alicia Nash's driving lessons from, 284 at
International Mathematical Congress,
301
knotted curves paper of, 72 on Nash's 1960's work, 309 Nash's
board game and, 77, 78
on Nash's speculative questions, 68-69 one-year Princeton post
arranged by,
-------------------------------------------------------------1195
309-10,311
on Princeton student life, 64 at RAND, 117, 149-51
on trip to California, 147-48 min-max theorem, 83, 86, 95, 96
Minsky, Gloria, 316
Minsky, Marvin L., 95, 143, 145, 200, 208,
223,316,387
MIT, see Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M6bius strip, 66
Montgomery, Deane, 296, 308-9 Mood, Alexander, 112, 113-14, 187
Moore, John Coleman, 198, 269, 341-42, 344
C. L. E. Moore instructorships, 132, 135,
139,142,157,160,162 Morawetz, Cathleen Synge, 216, 217, 246,
281-82
Morgenstern, Oskar, 81, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90,
91,94,97,102,105,149,284,308-9,
363
-------------------------------------------------------------1196
background of, 84
game-theory conference organized by,
296-97
Nash's potential job with, 284-85, 286 Morse, Marston, 55, 56,
296
Moser, Gertrude, 222, 239, 251, 257, 262 Moser, Jorgen, 216, 223,
224, 243, 257,
321-22
on Fields deliberations, 226 funds raised by, 303
Nash paper refereed by, 318 Nash's respect for, 222
New Year's Eve party of, 239-40 Riemannian manifolds and, 158,
159, 161,162
Moskovitz, David, 44 Motchane, Leon, 298
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 281 Mueller, Egbert, 260, 261 Muse,
Leonard, 331
Myerson, Roger, 91, 355 Myrdal, Gunnar, 3 58, 3 59, 368
Nagel, Bengt, 368 Nalebuff, Barry, 97 "Nashea075, 76-78
-------------------------------------------------------------1197
Nash, Alexander Quincy (grandfather), 26 Nash, Alicia Larde
(wife), 190-202, 298,
299,301,314,322,388                                         A1197
accepted at MIT, 194
assessments of Nash's relationship with, 223 attracted to Nash,
196-98
background and childhood of, 191-94 breakdown of marriage of, 296
Carrier commitment and, 304, 306 Cohen and, 237
death of father of, 192, 301 early married life of, 222-23
Eleanor Stier's meeting with, 201-2
electroshock eschewed by, 306 employment problems of, 341-43
European trip of, 233-34 informed of Nash's Nobel, 371 Italy trip
of, 276
John Charles Nash's graduate studies encouraged by, 346
John Charles Nash's mental problems andea343,344
Moore's relationship with, 341
Nash committed to McLean by, 253-61 Nash divorced by, 302-3, 306
-------------------------------------------------------------1198
Nash offered housing by, 340
Nash's 1962 European trip and, 298,
301
in Nash's class, 196-97
Nash's contemplation of marriage with,
210-12
Nash's courtship with, 199-202 Nash's divorce threat against, 262
Nash's Geneva stay and, 273, 278, 279 on Nash's remission, 349
Nash's Trenton State hospitalization and, 287,288,290,291,294
Nash's wedding to, 212
at New Jersey Transit, 346 at New Year's party, 240
1959-60 European stay of, 265-82 at Nobel ceremonies, 379, 380
Nobel Prize and, 383
and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 242, 245,248-52
potential reconciliation with, 308, 309, 310,313,316,319
pregnancy of, 235, 248, 251, 263-64 renewal of marriage of,
385-86
on return from Europe, 283, 284, 287
-------------------------------------------------------------1199
sex discrimination suit filed by, 342-43 son of,
see
Nash, John Charles Martin Virginia Nash introduced to, 211
von Neumann prize and, 339 wedding of, 212 Nash, Jesse (uncle),
26
Nash, John Charles Martin (son), 255, 261,
263-64,266,283,301,322,326,342 Alicia Lopez-Harrison's care of,
277, 283, 287,296,309,341
birth of, 255, 262-64 Boston visited by, 345
brought to Europe, 276-77, 279, 280 computer seen as therapeutic
for, 384,
385
custody of, 303 fundamentalism of, 343 John Stier's first meeting
with, 344 math studies of, 345-46 medication refused by, 344, 384
mental problems of, 343-44, 351, 383-
385
Nash's relationship with, 380, 383-85,
388
Nash's separations from, 308, 314, 316
Nobel Prize and, 383                                         1200
at Trenton State Hospital, 383 von Neumann prize and, 339 Nash,
John F., Jr.
alien races and, 13, 241-42, 243, 275 assessment of schizophrenia
diagnosis for, 351-53
assessment of work of, 11-12 authority disdained by, 12
autobiographical essay of, 32, 34, 44, 46,
91, 129, 157, 159, 224-25, 295, 354 birth of, 30
blackboard messages left by, 332-34 bombmaking by, 37
at Brandeis, 314-22
at Carnegie Tech, 39-45, 129
at Carrier Clinic, 304, 305-8, 312-13 chemistry studied by, 41
childhood of, 15, 29-39
citizenship renunciation attempted by,
271-72
classes avoided by, 68 computers admired by, 12
computer work of, 336-37, 349, 350, 384 delusions of, 325-28, 353
-------------------------------------------------------------1201
diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, 258-59
dismissed from RAND, 184-89 divorce considered by, 257, 262 draft
avoided by, 123-27 draft feared by, 47, 202, 229 drug treatments
of, 16-17 earliest memories of, 25 early education of, 31, 34,
38-39 early mathematical talent of, 34 East Germany stay of, 281
engineering studied by, 39, 40, 41 faculty position sought by, 12
3 fellow students questioned by, 72 French studies of, 297-98
games invented by, 75, 76-78, 102 generals passed by, 92-93
Geneva stay of, 273, 274-79 graduate studies of, 45-47, 49, 58-98
handedness of, 31
Nash, John F., Jr.,
continued
hospitalization feared by, 325, 330, 340 indecent exposure charge
against, 184-
189,210
initial recovery of, 295
insulin coma therapy of, 291-94, 299, 306,329,353
-------------------------------------------------------------1202
intellectual independence sought by, 68,
71
as introverted child, 30-31 investments of, 233, 236 job sought
for, 284-85, 286 at McLean Hospital, 253-61 marriage of,
see
Nash, Alicia Larde mathematics chosen by, 42
1959-60 European stay of, 265-82
1962 European trip of, 298
1964 European trip of, 311-12
1967 West Coast trip of, 320-22 Nobel prize announced to, 22
onset of schizophrenia in, 11, 16, 19-19,
221,238,240-52
passport destroyed or discarded by, 276 physical description of,
67, 113
pranks played by, 37, 101, 102, 114, 156 professorship gained by,
15 5, 156, 162-
163
psychotherapy of, 259 Putnam award and, 43-44 racial views of,
67-68, 217 reading                                          A1202
-------------------------------------------------------------1203
avoided by, 68
refugee status sought by, 273, 274-80, 302
remission of, 20, 349-55, 381-82 Roanoke years of, 323-31 science
experiments of, 32 science fiction as interest of, 12 security
clearance of, I 10 Shapley's friendship with, 99-103 shock
treatments and, 16-17, 232, 250,
304
single economics course of, 90-91 sociability encouraged in, 33
sons of,
see
Nash, John Charles Martin; Stier, John David
stock market as interest of, 233, 236,
350
summer jobs of, 33
teaching by, 139-41, 163, 235, 240-41 teasing of, 36, 42
thesis of, 95-96, 128
at Trenton State Hospital, 287, 288-94,
302,306,344
-------------------------------------------------------------1204
vegetarianism of, 307 violence of, 73
von Neumann prize awarded to, 338-39, 354
whistling of, 66, 69, 113, 114, 141-42, 163
Nash, John F., Sr. (father), 25-34, 123 background and childhood
of, 26 death of, 209 health problems of, 208-9 Japanese invasion
feared by, 35-36 John Stier and, 206, 208, 2 10
New
York trip of,
208-9 West Point suggested by, 39
Nash, Margaret Virginia Martin (mother), 25-34,123,251,264 Alicia
Larde introduced to, 211
Carrier commitment and, 304, 306, 307-
308
death of, 27, 330-31
John Nash, Sr4's death and, 209-10 John Stier and, 206, 208, 209,
210 Nash's divorce and, 302
Nash's education fostered by, 31, 38 Nash's investments for, 233,
236
-------------------------------------------------------------1205
Nash's letters to, 272, 276, 279, 301, 310,
312,314,319-20
Nash's McLean commitment and, 2 5 5,
260
Nash's 1959-60 European stay and, 272, 276,279
Nash's 1962 European trip and, 301 Nash's 1964 European trip and,
312 Nash's stay with, 323-30
Nash's Trenton State hospitalization and, 287,288,290,291 nervous
breakdown of, 27, 272
New York trip of, 208
and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 249,
251
and potential Michigan position, 303 sociability encouraged by,
33
Nash, Martha (sister), see Legg, Martha Nash                A1205
Nash, Martha Smith (grandmother), 26 Nash, Richard (cousin), 293,
320-21 Mary Nash College for Women, 26
Nash equilibrium, 115, 118, 119, 329, 339,
-------------------------------------------------------------1206
361-62, 375
assessment of, 96-98
dominant vs. dominated strategies in, 97 elaboration of, 93-96
see also
Nobel Prize
in
economics of
1994
Nash-Moser theorem, 159 Nathanson, Melvyn, 346
National Academy of Sciences, 95, 115, 131
National Science Foundation (NSF), 107, 236,296,313,314
Navier-Stokes equations, 297
Navy, U.S., 82, 83, 125, 126, 134,135 negotiation, in game
theory, 120 Nehru, Jawaharlal, 278
Nelson, Ed, 284, 286, 296, 300 Nerval, Gerard de, 228 Neuwirth,
Jerome, 144, 182, 2 31 New Jersey Transit, 346
Newman, Donald "D.J.ea012, 139,143,
144-45,146,169,180,200,237,240 on
-------------------------------------------------------------1207
Bricker and Nash, 180
on Nash, 159
Nash's McLean commitment and, 257-
258
and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 243,
246
Newman, Herta, 143, 181, 196, 200 Newman, Peter, 329
Ne w Palgm ve, 7-h e, 2
0, 9 8
Newton, Isaac, 12, 15, 17, 35, 51, 52, 56,
85,94
New York Times,
70, 86, 100, 2 36, 241-42,
374
New York University,
see
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences New Zealand, 377
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 12, 139, 235 Nijenhuis, Albert, 205, 206
Nilges, Edward G., 350
Nimitz, Nancy, 185
Nirenberg, Louis, 203, 216, 218-19,
-------------------------------------------------------------1208
243,
301
Nobel, Alfred, 358, 362 Nobel Foundation, 357, 358 Nobel Prize in
economics, 55, 107
ad hoc committee on future of, 372-73 criteria for, 358
establishment of, 3 58, 368
1972, 108
1986, 364
1991,364                                                    A1208
1993, 363
proposed abolition of, 368 reform of, 369 selection process for,
358-60 unpopularity of, 368
Nobel Prize in economics of 1994, 150, 224,275,297
ceremonies for, 374, 379-80
delayed press conference about, 356-57 deliberations on, 357,
360-73
dinner in celebration of, 77 Nash informed of, 22, 371, 373
voting for, 370-72
Nobel Prize in literature, 357 Nobel Prize in peace, 357 Nobel
Prize in physics:
-------------------------------------------------------------1209
1943,41
1963,53 nonexpanding universe, 380, 382 nonlinear partial
differential equations,
217-20, 223-24, 226, 231, 234, 243,
247,300,3J8
non-zero-sum games, 87
Norfolk and Western Railroad, 28, 104, 323 North, Douglass, 354,
363
North Carolina, University of, 148
NSF (National Science Foundation), 107, 236,296,313,314 nuclear
weapons, 56-57 game theory and, 119
hydrogen bomb, 81, 93, 109, 110 Manhattan Project and, 56, 81,
107, 110,
153,193
RAND and, 104- 5, 106, 109, 119, 121 number theory, 21, 35, 45,
56, 346
see also
Riemann Hypothesis numerology, 334-35, 350
Office of Naval Research (ONR), 123, 124,
125,126,219,313,314
-------------------------------------------------------------1210
Office of the Chief of Ordnance, 56 Ohlin, Bertil, 359
ONR (Office of Naval Research), 123, 124,
125,126,219,313,314 Operation Match, 319 Index
operations research, 56
Oppenheimer, Robert, 19, 50, 53, 79, 193 hydrogen bomb and, 81,
93, 109
on IAS, 215
McCarthyism and, 110, 153 Nash's argument with, 220-21
Nash's IAS appointments and, 296, 308, 311
on Nash's sanity, 294
Oskar II, king of Sweden and Norway, 129 Ostrowski, Alexander,
303
Otis, William, 305
Pais, Abraham, 221
Palais, Richard, 231-32, 313, 317, 319, 321 Palme, Olof, 3 59,
364 parabolic equations, see nonlinear partial differential
equations
Parker, Charlie, 156 Parker Brothers, 76, 78 Parmet, Belle, 307


partial differential equations, 137-38 nonlinear, 217-20,    1211
223-24, 226, 231, 234,243,247,300,318
Partial Differential Relations
(Gromov),
158
Patri, Angelo, 33 Peisakoff, Melvin, 72, 126
Personalit
1v
of Criminals, The
(Stearns), 261 Persson, Torsten, 362, 364, 367
Pitts, Walter, 134 Plath, Sylvia, 211, 255 Plato, 94
Poincar6, Jules Henri, 12, 45, 93, 129 Polya, George, 230
Portugal, 290 Post, Emil, 180 Poundstone, William, 76, 106, 119
"Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling
Spaceshipea0106 Princeton, N.J.
history of, 49
as mathematics capital, 50-51 Princeton University, 45
description of, 50
-------------------------------------------------------------1212
dinner at, 61-62
graduate housing at, 61-62 history of, 51 student life at, 61-62
Princeton University mathematics department games played at,
75-78 girls absent from, 62 grades as fiction at, 60
Nash offered one-year post at, 309-10,
311, 312
Nash's fellowship to, 46
Nash's graduate work at, 45-47, 49, 58-
98
philosophy of education at, 60-61 rise of, 52-57, 58
students of, 64-65 teatime at, 63, 67 Principia
(Newton), 85
Prisoner's Dilemma, 118-19, 150 Prisoner Dilemma
(Poundstone), 76
Private TerrorlPublic Places (Glass), 335 "Probl6me de Cauchy
Pour les Equations
Differentielles d'une Fluide G6tion6rale, Le0ggNash), 297
Prospect High School, 192
-------------------------------------------------------------1213
William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition, 43-44, 72, 144
Pythagoras, 94 -
Pythagoras'Trousers
(Wertheim), 334
quantum theory, 45, 70, 81, 138, 202, 220-
221, 222-23, 236
Queen MaFy,
265, 269, 282, 311-12
Rademacher, Hans, 246
Radio Corporation of America (RCA), 283,
341
Raiffa, Howard, 122
Ramanujan, Srinivasa, 12,45, 60-61 RAND Corporation, 72, 100,
103, 104-23,
124,147-51,321,363
description of, 105-7, 111-12
game theory and, 104-5, 108, 111, 115-                      A1213
122, 149-51
location of, 108
Nash's dismissal from, 184-89 Nobel deliberations and, 366
practical jokes at, I
-------------------------------------------------------------1214
I I
"RAND Hymn, The0ggReynolds), 104 Randoll Burton, 286
rational conflict and cooperation, theory of,
13
Raymond, Sister, 193-94
RCA (Radio Corporation of America), 283,
341
Reboul, Mark, 332 Red Cross, 191 Reed-Solomon code, 144
Reiderneister group, 69 relativity, 45, 56
general theory of, 52, 70, 86, 380 special theory of, 51-52, 70,
86, 231 Reynolds, Donald V., 36, 37 Reynolds, Malvina, 104
Ricardo, David, 88 Richardson, Gillian, 297 Rider College, 345,
351
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard, 12, 129,157,230
Riemann Hypothesis, 19, 20, 138, 229-32,
236,238,241,243,277 Nash's presentations on, 245-46, 251
-------------------------------------------------------------1215
Riemannian manifolds, embedding of, 155-63,203,204,218,219,345
Rigby, Fred D., 125, 126
Risperadol, 384 Roberts, John, 376, 377 Robinson, Julia, 38
Rockefeller, Nelson, 336 Rockefeller Foundation, 53,84 Rogers,
Adrienne, 223
Rogers, Hartley, 76, 223, 241 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 56 Rose,
Wickliffe, 53 Rosenberg, Ethel, 110, 185 Rosenberg, Julius, 110,
185 Rota, Gian-Carlo, 59, 162, 220, 223, 236 Nash's McLean
commitment and, 257 and onset of Nash's schizophrenia, 241,
251
Rota, Terry, 223 Roth, A], 150, 362 Roth, Maus K, 226 Rothschild,
Michael, 374 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 273
Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and Letters, 357
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 356-
373
secrecy of, 357
seealso
-------------------------------------------------------------1216
Nobel Prize in economics Rubinstein, Ariel, 354-55, 360, 362
Rudolf, Archduke, 191
Russell, Bertrand, 14, 35, 118 Russell, Henry Norris, 51 Russell,
Lindsay, 172
Rutgers University, 346
Sabin, Betty, 195
SAC (Strategic Air Command), 121 Sacco, Nicola, 261
Sackel, Manfred, 293 St. Paul's church, 302
Salazar, Antonio de Oliveira, 290 Samuelson, Paul A., 55, 86,
265, 375 on MIT, 133, 134
on Nash's parsimony, 232-33 Nobel awarded to, 55, 358, 360 at
RAND, 108, 117 Santa Monica Evening Outlook,
108, 184,
187                                                         A1216
Samak, Peter, 349 Sartre, jean-Paul, 15, 271 Sass, Louis A., 18,
295 Sayles, John, 28
Schell, Haskell, 250, 251
Schelling, Thomas C., 111, 115-16, 122
-------------------------------------------------------------1217
in Nobel deliberations, 363, 364 schizophrenia, 15-19, 324
achievement impaired by, 318-19 causes of onset of, 126, 188
creativity and, 15-16
as episodic illness, 345 extreme contrariness"in, 271 genius and,
19
Glass on, 278
Haslam's description of, 275 insensitivity to pain in, 328-29
negative symptoms of, 328, 352 studies on remission in, 351-53
suicide and, 308, 352, 353
see also
Nash, John Charles Martin; Nash, John F., Jr.
Schl5fli, Ludwig, 157 Schneider, Mark, 333
Schwartz, Jacob, 159-60, 162, 231 Scott, Frank L., 302, 306
Scott, T. H., 124 Segal, Irving E., 103
index
Selberg, Atle, 229, 230, 232, 241, 245, 296,
297,312
IAS membership arranged by, 308 visiting
-------------------------------------------------------------1218
positions sought through, 309 Selten, Reinhard, 98, 354, 362, 374
at 1961 confetence, 297
Nobel deliberations on, 363, 364, 371, 373
Serling, Rod, 301 Serre, Jean-Pierre, 312
set theory, axiornatization of, 81 Shapiro, Harold N., 147, 245,
367 Shapley, Harlow, 39, 100, 152
Shapley, Lloyd S., 39, 99-103, 112, 113,
117,119,120,122,152,208,321,
388
in Econometric Society, 354 Nash's arrest and, 187
on Nash's illness, 299-300
in Nobel deliberations, 363, 364 remission noted by, 350
von Neumann prize arranged by, 338-
339,354
Sheldon, Elizabeth, 27-28 Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 27 3
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 269 Sherman, Agnes, 284 Sherman, Michael,
284 Sherman Institute,
-------------------------------------------------------------1219
26
Shubik, Martin, 63, 101, 102, 120, 208, 286 in Econometric
Society, 354, 355
Nobel deliberations and, 366 Siegel, Carl Ludwig, 226 Siegel,
George, 43, 45 Siegel, Robert, 42 Simon, Herbert, 108, 117
Singer, Isadore M., 142, 144-45, 162, 203 Nash's McLean
commitment and, 260 singularities, canonical resolution of, 318
Slater, J. C., 222-23
Sloan Fellowships, 202, 236, 280 Smith, Adam, 15, 88, 119, 151,
374-75 Smith (Nash), Martha (grandmother), 26 Social Democratic
Party (Sweden), 359, 364,366
Sohlman, Michael, 357 Solomon, Gustave, 144, 180 "So        A1219
Long, Sucker;` 102 Solow, Robert, 134, 232, 233 Sophocles, 94
Soviet Union, 109, 110, 118, 119, 121 special theory of
relativity, 51-52, 70, 86 Spencer, Donald, 93, 129-30, 131, 132,
-------------------------------------------------------------1220
141,285,291,295 Carrier Clinic visits of, 307 description of, 130
IAS appointment obtained through, 296 Michigan position arranged
by, 303, 304 Moore visited by, 341
Sputnik,
106, 222
Stahl Ingemar, 362, 364-72 Stahl: Ingolf, 362
Stanton, Alfred H., 259 Starr, Norton, 344
Stearns, A. Warren, 261, 265
Steenrod, Norman, 64, 68, 69, 92, 93, 96,
129,131,137,204,229 Forrester and, 204 Kriegspiel played by, 76
Nash defended by, 73 Nash's job search and, 132
as sounding board for Nash, 71-72 Stein, Eli, 224, 229, 231, 232,
233, 237 Stelazine, 315, 329
Stern, Otto, 41 Sternberg, Shlomo, 216 Stevenson, Adlai, 140
Stier, Eleanor, 172-79, 199, 201, 208, 296,
327-28
-------------------------------------------------------------1221
Alicia Larde's meeting with, 201-2 background of, 173
Bricker and, 177, 178, 181, 182, 206-7 John Charles Nash's stay
with, 345 Nash confronted by, 201
Nash's parents and, 206, 208, 209, 210 Nash's recent meeting
with, 387 Nash's renewed contact with, 315-16 Nash's support of,
207, 282, 330-31 pregnancy of, 175-76 support demanded by, 206-7
Stier, John David (son), 176-79, 201, 206-
210,282,321,326 brief reconciliation with, 344, 345 college plans
of, 344
John Charles Nash's first meeting with,
344
John Charles Nash's stay with, 345 recent reconciliation with,
386-87 renewed contact with, 315-16 Stiglitz, Joseph, 375
Stirling's formula, 350 Stone, Marshall, 55 Storr, Anthony, 15,
18
Strategic Air Command (SAC), 121 Stratton, Julius, 244
Struik, Dirk, 152
Stuyvesant High School, 142, 237 Suez
-------------------------------------------------------------1222
crisis, 217
Sullivan, Harry Stack, 259 Summers, Lawrence, 375 surreal
numbers, 158 Surviving Schizophrenia
(Torrey), 324 Svenson, Lars, 364, 367
Synge, Hutchie, 281-82
Synge, John L., 41, 44, 46, 217, 281 -
282
Synge, John Millington, 41 Szasz, Thomas, 305 Szilard, Leo, 56
Tate, John, 64, 239, 242, 311 Tate, Karin, secArtin, Karin (Tate)
Taylor, Sir Hugh, 62, 73
Tech, The,
153, 190 Teller, Edward, 193 tensor calculus, 380
Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, 26-27
Th6orie des Fonchons                                        A1222
(Borel), 81
Th6orie des Nomhres
(Legendre), 230
Theory of Games and Econornic Beha vior,
-------------------------------------------------------------1223
The
(von Neumann and Morgenstern), 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90,
94,96-97,116,363
Thinking Strategically
(Dixit and Nalebuff),
97,375
This Side of Paradise
(Fitzgerald), 49 Thom, Ren6, 226 Thompson, F. B., 117 Thompson,
John, 236
Thorazine, 250, 258, 260, 306, 307 Thorson, Ervin, 170-71, 174,
204 Thurmer family, 281
Time,
3 2
Tobin, James, 360 Tobin, Joseph, 291 topology, 46, 56, 64, 68, 69
algebraic, 59, 68
see also
manifolds, algebraic
Torrey, E. Fuller, 324
Trenton State Hospital, 287, 288-94, 302,
306,344,383
-------------------------------------------------------------1224
Trial, The
(Kafka), 327
Trotter, Hale, 334, 337, 338, 350, 384 Troutman, Nelda, 170
Truesdell, Charlotte, 48 Truesdell, Clifford Ambrose, 47 Truman,
Harry S., 49, 62, 109, 123, 185 Tsuang, Min, 351, 352-53
Tucker, Albert, 69, 72, 75, 76, 137, 272,
285-86,291,312,338 Alicia Nash's pregnancy announced to,
235
Carnegie mathematics impressive to,
42
Carrier Clinic visits of, 307 description of, 95
game theory and, 64-65, 77, 83, 90, 91, 100,118,119,362 Michigan
position arranged by, 303 Nash defended by, 73, 74, 236 as Nash's
advisor, 92, 95-96
Nash's draft deferment and, 125, 202 Nash's job search and, 132
ONR grant of, 126 on Shapley, 103 as straitlaced, 64
-------------------------------------------------------------1225
Thkey, John, 62, 76 turbulence, 218-19
Turing, Alan, 56, 107, 188, 189 Tversky, Amos, 373
TwilightZone, 301
"Two Person Cooperative Games0ggNash), 120
two-person zero-sum games, 14, 87, 95, 96,
115,116,119
"Veber die Anzahl derphinzahlen unter einergegebenen Grosse"
(Riemann),
230
Uitti, Karl, 297-98, 310 Ulam, Stanislaw, 217 unified field
theory, 70 United Mine Workers (UMW), 28 United Nations,    A1225
192, 248-49
United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 274
universe, nonexpanding, 380, 382
Index
Vallcius, 94
Vanzetti, Bartolomeo, 261
Vasquez, A], 240, 244-45, 257,
-------------------------------------------------------------1226
264, 299,
314
on Nash's decline, 319, 320 on Nash's improvement, 317
Nash's 1959-60 European stay and, 281, 282
Vaught, Robert, 205 Veblen, May, 49 Veblen, Oswald, 49, 50, 53,
54, 56 Veblen, Thorstein, 15, 50
Villard, Henry S., 278 Viner, Jacob, 86 Voltaire, 273
von Neumann, John, 12, 19, 28, 45, 46, 50,
52,59,63,74,215,216,270 background of, 81 death of, 217
on decline of mathematical powers, 228 description of, 79-82
Dr. Strangelove
and, 80, 105
game theory and, 13-14, 81, 83-87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93-94, 95,
96-97, 98, 100,
111, 115, 116, 117-18, 119, 128, 149,
150,362,363
-------------------------------------------------------------1227
hydrogen bomb and, 81, 93, 109, 110 Kriegspiel played by, 76
Manhattan Project and, 81, 107 Nash's meeting with, 93-94
at RAND, 105, 106, 109, 111, 117-18,
122
recruited to Princeton, 53-54 on Shapley, 100
John von Neumann Theory Prize, 338-39,
354
Wacbtman, Jack, 43 Waggoner, Ray, 303 Walker, Nelson, 37 Wallace,
A. D., 69 Wallace, Henry, 62 Wallenberg family, 368 Walter, John,
205 Wan, Henry, 265 Warhol, Andy, 41 Warsh, David, 366
Washington, University of, 203-5 Martha Washington College, 27
Washnitzer, Gerard, 64 Way Ministry, 343 Weibull, Jbrgen, 356,
360-61, 362, 363
at Nobel ceremonies, 379, 380 Nobel deliberations and, 365, 366
Weil, Andre,
-------------------------------------------------------------1228
236
Weinberger, Hans, 42, 43, 44-45 Weinstein, Alexander, 41
Weinstein, Tilla, 217, 218 Weissblum, Walter, 144 Wertheim,
Margaret, 334
West, Andrew, 61 Westinghouse, 41
West Virginia University, 27
Weyl, Hermann, 52, 53, 54-55, 74, 157 Whitehead, George, 135,
141, 162, 163,
252
Moore visited by, 341 Whitehead, Kay, 252 Whiteman, Paul, 193
White Oak naval research project, 47 Whitney, Hassler, 55, 203,
266, 282 Wiener, Norbert, 12, 16, 28, 5 5, 129, 134,
137,142,202,218,235,307 description of, 135-36              A1228
Nash's esteem for, 145, 146, 200 Nash's McLean commitment and,
260
Nash's 1959-60 European stay and,
277
Nash's professorship and, 162-63 Wiener,
-------------------------------------------------------------1229
Theo, 136
Wigner, Eugene, 50, 5 3- 54, 56 Wilczek, Frank, 333
Wilder, Raymond, 69 Wiles, Andrew, 203, 386 Wilks, Sam, 56
William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition, 43-44, 72, 144
Williams, John, 38-39, 83, 111, 112, 113, 114,116-17,119,124,170
Nash's dismissal and, 185-86, 187,
188
Will to Power, The
(Nietzsche), 139 Wilson, James Q., 261
Wilson, Robert, 376, 377 Wilson, Woodrow, 51, 52-53, 61 Winokur,
George, 351, 352-53 Winters, Robert, 291, 303, 304
Wirtschaftsprognose
(Morgenstern), 84 Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 15, 66 Wohlstetter, A],
121 Wordsworth, William, 5, 11, 25 World Citizen Registry, 271
World Federalists, 271
Worldly Philosophers, The
-------------------------------------------------------------1230
(Heilbroner),
89
World War 1, 27
World War 11, 3 5- 36, 39, 107, 124, 193 mathematics and, 55-57,
100 Yale University, 51, 246-47
Zariski, Oscar, 318
zero-surn two-person games, 14, 87, 95, 96,
115,116,119
Zeuthen, Dane F., 89
Zur Theorie der GeselIschaftspiele (von Neumann), 84
Zweifel, Paul, 42, 43 Zyprexa, 384 Photo Credits
1-7: Courtesy of Martha Nash Legg. 8-12, 21, 22: Courtesy of John
D. Stier.
13-16, 18, 19, 23: Courtesy of Alicia Nash.
17: Adriano Garsia; courtesy of Alicia Nash.
20: Courtesy of Richard Nash.
24, 25: Pressens Bild.
26: Dick Pettersson,
-------------------------------------------------------------1231
Upsala Nya Tidning.










