Nobel Prize winner and math genius John F. Nash Jr. died May 23 in a car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike. He was with his wife Alicia Nash, who was also killed in the said car crash. To give empathy to the Nashes, Hollywood celebrities expressed their sadness including actor Russel Crowe from "A Beautiful Mind."
Mathematician and Nobel Prize winner John F. Nash Jr. and his wife Alicia died in a two-car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike when the taxi driver hit the guard rail and another vehicle. Dr. Nash was 86 while his wife, Alicia, was 82. The couple had just returned from the airport after a trip to Norway, where Mr. Nash received the Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters together with Louis Nirenberg, a professor emeritus of mathematics at New York University, Chronicle reports.
In the preliminary findings by the New Jersey State Police, the taxicab driver lost control of the vehicle where the Nashes are on board traveling southbound near Monroe, Washington Post states. In a separate report by The New York Times, the couple were thrown out of the vehicle due to not having worn seat belts. The taxi driver's injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Dr. Nash is known for his work on the game theory. Being a Princeton University graduate student, he had produced a 27-page thesis on this subject matter. His work on differential geometry and other mathematical research were significant in economic, artificial intelligence, and computer technology, Variety notes. More importantly, he won the 1994 Nobel Prize for his work in economics along with Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi.
His personal life was put into novel entitled "A Beautiful Mind" by Sylvia Nasar. Later on, it was adapted onscreen in the 2001 biographical drama film with the same title starring Russell Crowe as John Nash and Jennifer Connelly as Alicia. Dr. Nash's struggle with schizophrenia was the subject of the said movie. It even won Best Picture at the Oscars.
Lead actor of the "A Beautiful Mind" Russell Crowe took to Twitter his condolences for the Nashes. "Stunned...my heart goes out to John & Alicia & family. An amazing partnership. Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts," he wrote. Likewise, the director of the said film Ron Howard also expressed his sadness on the couple's death. "RIP Brilliant #NobelPrize winning John Nash & and his remarkable wife Alicia. It was an honor telling part of their story #ABeautifulMind," he tweeted.
The Abel Prize acknowledged John F. Nash Jr.'s work in partial differential equations.
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