On March 25th, 2002, the dust of the 74th Academy Awards was settled. Unsurprisingly, A Beautiful Mind, a biographical film based on the real experience of a talented mathematician and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994, won four awards: best film, best director, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actress.
The popularity of movies and successive awards have brought Nash's name and his magical story into the eyes of China readers, and the original biography of Nash (the ghost of Princeton-Nash Biography) has also become popular.
The onset and recovery of this wizard, as well as winning the Nobel Prize at the age of 66, are all miracles. Nash's life is so wonderful and dramatic. The beauty of human nature reflected in his mental journey is also quite interesting.
■ Such a thing has never happened.
199410 June 12 At noon, the resplendent conference hall of the Science College of the Royal Swedish Academy was crowded with reporters and photography teams. At this time, the scene has been a bit chaotic, because the Nobel Prize in Economics that everyone has been expecting this year has not yet been announced. Traditionally, the press conference of the Nobel Prize is always held after the formal voting, and it always starts on time-11:30.
What happened today? It's past 12, and the officials of the Academy of Sciences haven't shown up yet, and no one has come out to explain. Such a thing has never happened before. The reporters speculated that there must be different opinions about the winner.
In fact, in the summer of the year before last, the rumor that the Nobel Prize in Economics may fall in the field of game theory has spread everywhere, and several candidates can be listed. Later, I learned that the Economics Prize Committee did reach an understanding on one issue, that is, I hope to award the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics to scholars in the field of game theory. Because this year coincides with the 50th anniversary of the publication of Game Theory and Economic Behavior written by john von neumann and Oscar Morgenstein. Since the publication of this book, game theory has been further developed and perfected by scholars, which has brought profound changes and influences to modern economics and become a knowledge that enterprises can "profit". John Forbes Nash Jr. is a leader in the field of game theory. As early as the mid-1980s, his name appeared on the list of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Economics.
10 years passed quickly. This time, the Economic Committee began to consider Nash again. However, during the specific discussion, sharp objections emerged within the Committee. Opponents say: Nash's contribution was made a long time ago, and mathematics is too strong. More importantly, he is a mental patient, and it is doubtful whether he can cope with the grand occasion of the award ceremony. ...
I won't go into details about that heated debate. Let's turn our eyes back to the press conference that day: at around 1 p.m., the noisy crowd finally quieted down and stared at the college officials who had just entered the hall. A few minutes later, they heard this passage in the press release read by the Secretary-General of the Academy of Sciences: ... John Forbes Nash Jr., Princeton University, New Jersey. ...
■ "He always does things in his own way"
Because Nash suffers from schizophrenia as an adult, people always like to ask: Was he stimulated or abused in his childhood? It has also been noticed that many great scientists and philosophers have similar personalities: eccentric and withdrawn; However, indifference and introversion seem to be particularly helpful to scientific creativity, just as rapidly changing emotions may sometimes create artistic masterpieces. So, what is Nash's situation? Sylvia Naisha's biographical literary work The Ghost of Princeton-The Biography of Nash (based on this book, the award-winning film A Beautiful Mind) depicts a very complete image of Nash.
1928 June 13, Nash was born in bloomfield, West Virginia, USA. His parents are a loyal couple with similar interests. My father studies electronic engineering, works in an electric power company, and is interested in technical fields and natural problems. My mother, who likes reading and teaching, knows several foreign languages and used to be a teacher. After marriage, she resigned from public office and became a housewife.
Nash and his sister Martha, who is two years younger than him, live in a warm and harmonious family, and their parents take good care of them and are full of love. Nash doesn't look like a wizard, but he is a little smart and full of curiosity. But he is a little withdrawn, introverted, unsociable and has no good friends. This is in sharp contrast with the outgoing Martha. When his sister is in the swimming pool, or playing games or fighting with his friends, Nash often hides aside and plays with his own toy planes and cars made of matchboxes.
Primary school teachers don't think highly of Nash. They said he was daydreaming, didn't pay attention to the class and didn't know how to do his homework. His fourth grade report card shows that math and music are the worst. In the comments, the teacher warned him to "redouble his efforts, change his study habits and abide by the rules and regulations". At that time, Nash's best friend was probably books. He likes to stay quietly in his room, burying himself in books or magazines. He read and reread the Compton Illustrated Encyclopedia bought for him by his parents and learned a lot from it. He is also keen on doing experiments. /kloc-When he was 0/2 years old, he turned his room into a laboratory full of electronic components. He used the scientific principles he had learned and played some tricks with simple instruments, often scaring his friends to death.
Although Nash's parents know that he is unusual and clever, they are deeply worried about his withdrawn and reserved personality. They want their son to develop in an all-round way. They don't want him to stay in the house all day and be obsessed with his hobbies and inventions. To this end, my father often takes Nash and Martha to "internship" when he goes out to check the wires on Sunday. Nash always patiently answers questions about electricity, geology, weather and astronomy. Mother insisted that Martha introduce Nash to her circle of friends, even her girlfriend. But Martha is reluctant to introduce her eccentric brother to everyone. In order to make his mother happy, Nash obediently went to boy scout camp, dance school, Bible reading class, and used his summer vacation to work in a newspaper, and even accepted a girl's date arranged by Martha according to his mother's wishes.
However, Nash didn't make any friends after this trip, and his social skills didn't improve. In his view, those things that excite and amuse his peers are really boring and boring, which will only hinder him from concentrating on reading and doing experiments. Once, he and his family went to his father's office for dinner and fell in love with the elevator. As a result, he stayed in it almost all night until the iron guy could no longer run, which embarrassed his parents.
"Nash is always different. He always has to do things in his own way. " Adult Martha said of her brother. In high school, Nash had such "ability": when the teacher finally made a reluctant and lengthy proof, he often told everyone that it was not that complicated, and only two or three wonderful steps could solve the problem.
He spends most of his time thinking.
In mathematics, Nash's ancestors showed no signs of any genius; In his family education, mathematics is not very important. Nash mentioned in his autobiography that when he was about 13 years old, he read the book Mathematical Elite written by Bell and found a mysterious kingdom composed of mathematical symbols and attractive secrets. This is probably Nash's first glimpse of real mathematics.
However, mathematics was not Nash's favorite at that time. When he described his career ideal in an article as required, he said that he wanted to be an electrical engineer like his father. 1June, 945, Nash went to Pittsburgh to study at Carnegie Institute of Technology. But before the end of the first semester, his enthusiasm for engineering was reduced by half. First of all, it seems that the rigid and tedious mechanical drawing work makes him tired of "standardization"; Later, his re-selected chemistry major failed to cheer him up. While working as a laboratory assistant for a teacher, he also made trouble again and again-broke several instruments. What annoys him even more is that he only got a C in "Physical Chemistry". To this end, he repeatedly told the professor "theory" and complained that the course lacked mathematical accuracy. (One of his classmates recalled: "He just didn't want to answer the questions in the way the professor specified." This is probably the crux of the problem. )
At the same time, Nash's interest in mathematics is increasing day by day, and he dares to challenge the recognized problems in mathematics. His mathematics knowledge and wisdom also attracted the attention of the mathematics professor. Someone praised him as a "young Gauss" and advised him to change his mind and specialize in mathematics. In the eyes of his classmates, he became a big star, and many people came to him for classes. When the teacher can't solve the problem, he can often stand up and help.
1948 In the spring, Nash also received admission notices from Harvard, Princeton, Chicago and the University of Michigan. He chose Princeton University, which has a slightly higher scholarship and keeps an eye on him. This is the oldest and most influential small university in America. Students are naturally very proud and conceited, especially Nash, who is even more eccentric and soon falls behind others. As a classmate said, "He has the ability to say anything you may think is unimportant, which is sometimes regarded as a kind of ridicule."
Ironically, Nash later casually said that he had "studied mathematics very extensively" at Princeton, but he always skipped classes, and his classmates simply couldn't remember when he had a formal class with him. No one saw him take a book while he was in graduate school. One of Nash's classmates later said: "He (Nash) defended not reading because excessive learning of second-hand knowledge may damage creativity and originality. This reflects his aversion to passivity and surrender. "
Nash obviously spends most of his time thinking. He learns by talking in the lounge and attending lectures by visiting mathematicians. He advocates learning through hands-on research on a subject and is ready to find problems anytime and anywhere. Just a few weeks after the first semester at Princeton University, Nash came up with the idea of "letting Einstein discuss problems with himself"-this shows Nash's courage and imagination from one side. One day, he found the assistant of the scientific giant John Kemenger (the inventor of the computer language BASIC) and said that he had a question to discuss with the professor. Einstein had no airs at all and received the reckless young man politely. Nash put forward his views on "gravity, friction and radiation" and kept writing equations on the blackboard. Einstein listened calmly, smoking a pipe without tobacco, and occasionally inserting a comment or a question. This lasted nearly an hour. Finally, Einstein just smiled kindly and said to him, "Young man, you'd better learn more physics."
Nash was a little disappointed with the meeting with von Neumann. This famous scholar has no patience to listen to Nash's viewpoint as a "newborn calf". Now it seems that the whole building of game theory is based on two theorems, namely the minimax theorem proposed by von Neumann 1928 and the equilibrium theorem published by Nash 1950. The latter can be regarded as a generalization of the former. Although Nash adopted the same strategic form as Von Neumann's idea, he solved the problem in a completely different way. By expanding to games involving all kinds of cooperation and competition, Nash successfully opened the door to apply game theory to economics, politics, sociology and even evolutionary biology. In his second semester at Princeton, he began to write a paper, which later became one of the important classics of modern economics. His paper is also one of the earliest examples of using the kilometer method to solve a social science problem. Nash pointed out in his paper that the behavior that economists have long thought belongs to the category of human psychology and cannot be explained by economic reasoning actually needs to be systematically analyzed.
From 65438 to 0958, because of Nash's achievements in game theory, algebraic geometry and nonlinear theory, Fortune magazine recommended him as the most outstanding figure of a new generation of talented mathematicians active in the fields of pure mathematics and applied mathematics. He was also awarded a teaching position by MIT and married his beautiful and elegant student Alicia ... However, at the peak of Nash's happiness, tragedy happened.
■ Alone in a strange world
When the New Year bell of 1959 was just ringing, MIT teachers had clearly felt that johnf nash, a talented mathematician who was originally known for his eccentricity and arrogance, was getting more and more wrong recently.
Two weeks after his disappearance, the listless Nash came to his colleagues in the college lounge and mysteriously pointed to a The New York Times in his hand, saying that abstract forces from outer space or foreign governments were communicating with him through The New York Times. He also said that the information he received was only for him, and it was encrypted with a password. It needs careful analysis to see it, and others can't decipher it. Now he is allowed to share these secrets with the whole world. Colleagues listened to his serious words and looked at each other-is this guy joking again or playing some practical joke?
More bizarre things are yet to come. The University of Chicago has already prepared a decent place for Nash, and Nash intends to give a speech there. But at this moment, Albert, the head of the mathematics department of the school, received a letter from Nash, which made him deeply puzzled. In the letter, Nash declined Albert's kindness, saying that he had to refuse because he was arranged to be the emperor of Antarctica. Almost at the same time, Nash wrote to the embassies in Washington, claiming that he was forming a world government and that he hoped to talk to ambassadors and consult with heads of state in the future. At the end of 1962, when he was seriously ill, Nash even sent a postcard to his alma mater, Princeton University, and asked him to hand it over to Mao Zedong. The postcard only wrote a mysterious note about the triple cut in French. ...
Nash, who was in a crazy state, was repeatedly forced to be sent to a mental hospital. The most heartbreaking thing is undoubtedly his deep infatuation with his wife and student Alicia. This elegant young beauty is one of the few girls majoring in physics at MIT. Although Nash seems to many people to be withdrawn, weird and difficult to get along with, in Alicia's eyes, "he is very handsome and smart ... this feeling is a bit like hero worship." Yes, Nash is not slovenly like other mathematicians. His arrogant attitude and indifferent attitude can only prove that he does have an advantage. Practical Alicia thinks that marrying an excellent person may also satisfy her ambition, and Nash is obviously a very suitable candidate.
However, Nash didn't notice Alicia who was infatuated with him at that time. After Nash's calculus course, this spoony woman got a job in Nash's favorite music library. She found that Nash played chess and liked reading science fiction, so she added another task to herself: learning chess; At the same time, I got into the habit of visiting the science library-sitting near the collection of science fiction. ...
Now, "out of water, spring is gone." Alicia had to face the painful reality that her husband became more and more cold, distant and unpredictable, and even threatened to hurt her and divorce her.
Finally, they broke up.
■ A miracle happened suddenly.
What's rare is that Alicia, who once suffered from lovesickness, remained unusually calm and patient in the face of sudden troubles. She still feels responsible for Nash. She knew she could give Nash something he couldn't get from the doctor. 1970, Alicia, who has divorced Nash, offered to take Nash to live in her own home instead of watching him be forcibly sent to a mental hospital ... In those long years, her gentle behavior undoubtedly played an extremely important role in Nash's recovery.
Of course, Princeton University is also very concerned about Nash. Nash was lucky enough to study in Princeton and live and recuperate in Princeton. His recovery can be said to be gradually improving. People noticed that Nash went to an academic lecture and was able to discuss academic issues with others and write computer programs. ...
Scholar Laureate, love is successful. Alicia's girlish love, after experiencing disillusionment, hardships and all kinds of disappointments, never disappeared, and finally ushered in the day when the flowers were full and the moon was full. As Sylvia Naisha said, "Marriage is undoubtedly the most mysterious kind of human relationship. Superficial emotions can become surprisingly deep and lasting, and this is the relationship between Nash and Alicia. " The true story of caring for genius has become the most touching legend in the history of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
1994 On the afternoon when the Nobel Prize in Economics was announced, Princeton University held a small champagne party for Nash. Nash said at the meeting that he was not used to making speeches, but this time he had three things to say. The first thing is that he hopes that winning the Nobel Prize will improve his credit rating, because he really needs a credit card. It's amazing that this little wish comes from such an outstanding person.
Forgot to adopt