A Beautiful Mind

John Nash was born in Bluefield, West Virginia. Even from a young age, he is “solitary and introverted” (30) and his parents encourage him to interact with other children pushing him “as hard socially as they [do] academically” (33). However, Nash prefers reading, performing experiments and “inventing secret codes” (36). As he grows older, Nash maintains his anti-social outlook and is unpopular with his schoolmates who find him strange and arrogant and dislike his love of playing immature pranks that sometimes have “a nasty edge” (37).

Nash’s isolation continues as he begins studying mathematics, first at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and then as a graduate student at Princeton University, his fellow students finding him “weird and socially inept” (42). His love of pranks continues, revealing his disregard for others, which only furthers his alienation. His tutors, however, are impressed with his abilities and, especially, his capacity for intuitive leaps and original thought. His working methods remain peculiarly distant and removed and he spends much of his time “lost in thought” (66). Nevertheless, he makes important breakthroughs in several fields, including game theory, inventing the “Nash equilibrium” which will later win him a Nobel Prize.