Mathematician John Nash killed in car crash
Play
John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematicianwhose life and struggles with schizophrenia was the subject of theOscar-winning movie A Beautiful Mind, has died in a car crash,US police confirmed Sunday.
New Jersey police told dpa that both Nash, 86, and his wife, Alicia,82, were killed after a car crash.
They were in a taxi traveling along the New Jersey Turnpike when thedriver lost control, reported the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Police saidthe couple was ejected from the car, which has led to speculationthey were not wearing seatbelts.
Nash was on his way home from the airport after returning from a tripto Norway, where he had accepted the Abel Prize, which is given forachievements in mathematics.
Nash was best known in the field of mathematics for his work in gametheory and won the 1994 Nobel economics prize. However, his struggleswith schizophrenia that inspired A Beautiful Mind provided him withan even wider measure of fame.
Russell Crowe, who portrayed Nash in the film, wrote on Twitter:"Stunned...my heart goes out to John & Alicia & family. An amazingpartnership. Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts."
Nash was born on June 13, 1928, in Bluefield, West Virginia, a smalltown in the Appalachians. He spent most of his academic career atPrinceton University in New Jersey and the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology.
