Nobel prize-winning mathematician John Nash killed in taxi crash
Princeton University mathematician and Nobel Prize for Economics winner John Forbes Nash, brought to wider attention by the 1994 Russell Crowe film, A Beautiful Mind, was killed in a taxi crash in New Jersey on Sunday, aged 86.
Nash, who only last week was awarded the Abel Prize for mathematics, was returning home in a taxi with his wife after receiving the award in Norway, when the car crashed into a barrier after attempting to pass another vehicle, as reported by local media.
Apparently, neither Nash nor his wife were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the accident, which is still under investigation.
Nash and fellow mathematics professor Louis Nirenberg were awarded the $800,000 Abel Prize on Wednesday for the partial differential equations.
Their breakthroughs have developed into versatile and robust techniques
"Their breakthroughs have developed into versatile and robust techniques, which have become essential tools for the study of nonlinear partial differential equations," the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters said in a statement.
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Nash's story as well as his “game theory” were taken to the screen in the 1994 Ron Howard film A Beautiful Mind, starring Russel Crowe.
Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his fifties, and had to be admitted into a psychiatric hospital. He received treatment on several occassions at specialised centres for his hallucinations. He later travelled to Europe, where he requested to be recognized as a political refugee, claiming he was being chased by "cryptocommunists".
Reading your work was inspirational. Meeting you, and spending time together, was an unearned bonus. Farewell John Nash Jr.
— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) May 24, 2015