Chapter 1. John Nash: A Beautiful Mind

Short Description

John Nash, a brilliant mathematician and a winner of the Nobel Prize, suffered from schizophrenia for many years. In 1958, Nash was enjoying a remarkable career and had married a beautiful wife. But shortly after his thirtieth birthday, the same year that Fortune magazine named him a mathematical star, he began to imagine conspiracies and see hidden messages that did not exist.

Long Description

Reflecting back with amusement, Nash suggests that at the time these experiences left him feeling exceptionally “enlightened.” Schizophrenia affects up to one percent of adults and has no cure. Thus, many victims spend time in and out of institutions, just as John Nash did many times during the 1960s. Initially, the police brought Nash in for treatment, an experience he later described as torture. He felt he was being treated like an animal. Nash was brilliant, creative, and abrasive. Wandering the streets as a homeless person, he appeared to be a zombie, probably as a result of having undergone insulin therapy. As he was being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize, there was concern he might do something bizarre or shocking. Nonetheless, in 1994 Nash received the prize for his work in economics. “Recognition is a cure for many ills,” wrote Howard Kuhn, Nash's friend and colleague. Kuhn claims that his friend was a changed man after receiving the Nobel Prize. Nash became socially responsive, and his life story was told in the popular feature film “A Beautiful Mind” starring Russell Crowe. Nash's son Johnny shares both his father's talent for mathematics and his schizophrenia. Johnny, who has also earned a doctorate, has always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and match his accomplishments. Nash observes that his son would be better off if he could think more logically and rationally. When Nash is asked whether he thinks he reasoned his way out of his illness, he replies that he “became disillusioned with his delusions.”

Questions