American mathematician John Nash, who inspired the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, has been killed in a car crash in New Jersey, along with his wife Alicia.
Per reports in BBC News, the 86-year-old and his 82-year-old wife were travelling in a taxi. The driver and a passenger in another car were reportedly injured in the incident.
The Nash Equilibrium, for which he won a Nobel Prize for economics in 1994, allows a way to “analyse situations of conflict and co-operation and produce predictions about how people will behave.”
His struggles with schizophrenia formed the basis for A Beautiful Mind. The film’s director Ron Howard and star Russell Crowe have since offered their condolences:
Stunned…my heart goes out to John & Alicia & family.
An amazing partnership. Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts. https://t.co/XF4V9MBwU4
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) May 24, 2015
RIP Brilliant #NobelPrize winning John Nash & and his remarkable wife Alicia. It was an honor telling part of their story #ABeautifulMind
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) May 24, 2015
Nash and his wife divorced in 1962, but remained close, and remarried in 2001, after his condition had improved. His Nash Equilibrium has been called “the most important idea in economic analysis”, and is widely used across fields from finance to biology.
R.I.P.
Photo: Getty Images Entertainment
