Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

Nobel Winner John Nash Killed in US Car Crash


FILE - In this Oct. 28, 1997 file photo, John Forbes Nash, 1994 Economics Nobel Prize winner, takes a break during the European School of Economics conference in Rome.
FILE - In this Oct. 28, 1997 file photo, John Forbes Nash, 1994 Economics Nobel Prize winner, takes a break during the European School of Economics conference in Rome.

Nobel Prize-winning mathematical genius John Nash, whose struggle with schizophrenia was portrayed in the 2001 movie A Beautiful Mind, and his wife have been killed in a traffic accident in the U.S.

The 86-year-old Nash and his wife, Alicia, 82, were killed Saturday when the driver of the taxi they were riding in lost control of the cab on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Nash won the 1994 Nobel Prize for economics for his study of game theory and the mathematics of decision-making, considered some of the most influential ideas of the 20th century.

The Oscar Award-winning movie starring Russell Crowe was based loosely on Nash's battle with schizophrenia. Nash said he suffered from the illness for 25 years, although in later years was able to stop taking medication and returned to normal activities and his research.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG