by Sylvia Nasar
39. John Nash, personal communication with Harold Kuhn, 8.97.
40. Hörmander, interview.
41. Ibid.
42. Death certificate of Carlos Larde, State Department of Health, New Jersey, 7.2.62.
43. Postcard from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 7.24.63.
44. John Danskin, interview, 10.19.95.
45. Confidential source.
46. Proceedings, International Congress of Mathematicians, Stockholm, 1962.
47. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 9.20.62.
48. Unsigned postcard to mathematics department, Princeton University, 9.1.62.
49. Uitti, interview.
50. Letter from John Nash to M. Legg, 11.19.62.
51. Ibid., 1.26.63.
52. M. Legg, interview, 3.30.96.
53. Alicia L. Nash vs. John Forbes Nash, Complaint, Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County, 12.27.62; Frank L. Scott, attorney, interview, 8.12.97.
54. M. Legg, interview, 8.2.95.
55. A. Nash vs. J. Nash, op. cit.
56. Judgment Nisi, Alicia Nash vs. John Forbes Nash, Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County, 5.1.63.
57. Final Judgment (Divorce), Alicia L. Nash and John Forbes Nash, 8.2.63.
58. Robert Winters, interview, 8.9.95.
59. Letter from James G. Miller to Albert E. Meder, Jr., treasurer, American Mathematical Society, 4.2.63.
60. Harold Kuhn, interview, 8.95.
61. Letter from William Ted Martin to Albert W. Tucker, 4.1.63.
62. Ibid.
63. Letter from Albert E. Meder to William Ted Martin, 3.28.63.
64. Confidential source.
65. Donald Spencer, interview, 11.28.95.
66. Winters, interview.
67. Letter from Martha Nash Legg to Donald Spencer, 4.24.63.
42: The “Blowing Up” Problem
1. Robert Garber, interview, 5.6.96.
2. Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuekoo’s Nest (New York: Viking, 1962); Joanne Greenberg, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (New York: Signet, 1964); Thomas S. Szasz, The Mvth of Mental Illness (New York: Hoeber-Harper, 1961).
3. William Otis, psychiatrist, interview, 5.3.96.
4. Garber, interview.
5. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.97.
6. Otis, interview.
7. A. Nash, interview.
8. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.30.96.
9. Garber, interview.
10. Ibid.
11. Frank L. Scott, interview, 11.12.97.
12. Garber, interview.
13. Letter from John Nash to Norbert Wiener, 5.1.63.
14. Interviews with A. Nash; Donald Spencer, 11.28.95; Gaby Borel, 3.14.96.
15. Howard Mele declined to be interviewed, 4.9.96.
16. New Jersey Board of Medicine.
17. Interviews with Garber and Otis.
18. Belle Parmet, social worker, interview, 8.24.97.
19. Letter from J. Nash to N.Wiener.
20. Garber, interview.
21. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 8.10.63.
22. Ibid., 8.22.63.
23. Ibid., 8.29.63.
24. Richard S. E. Keefe and Phillip D. Harvev, Understanding Schizophrenia (New York: Free Press, 1994), p. 48.
25. Louisa Gauvin, interview, 8.25.97.
26. Armand Borel, interview, 3.1.96.
27. Ibid.
28. Memorandum from Robert Oppenheimer to Atle Selberg, 9.30.63.
29. Letter from David Gale to Deane Montgomery, 1.3.64.
30. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 10.31.63.
31. Ibid., 3.14.64.
32. Ibid., 10.31.64 and 12.13.64.
33. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.
34. Heisuke Hironaka, “On Nash Blowing Up,” in Arithmetic and Geometry II (Boston: Birkhauser, 1983).
35. William Browder, interview.
36. Memorandum from John Milnor to Dean of Faculty J. Douglas Brown, 4.8.64.
37. Ibid.
38. Letter from Howard S. Mele to John Milnor, 3.30.64.
39. Garber, interview.
40. Letter from H. S. Mele to J. Milnor.
41. Memorandum from J. Douglas Brown to Robert F. Goheen, 4.6.64.
42. Letter from Ernest J. Johnson to John Nash, 5.1.64.
43. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 2.18.64.
44. Ibid., 3.14.64.
45. Ibid., 3.64.
46. During the spring, Nash wrote to a colleague in Europe saying that he hoped to accept a visiting position at the Institut des Hautes Études near Paris, arranged by Alexandre Grothendieck.
47. M. Legg, interview, 3.29.96.
48. Ibid.
49. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 4.64.
50. Karl Uitti, interview, 8.22.97.
51. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 2.18.64.
52. Letter from John Nash to a colleague, 5.64 or 6.64.
53. Letter from John Nash to Robert Oppenheimer, 5.24.64.
54. The 1964 Summer Research Institute on Algebraic Geometry, American Mathematical Society, Notices, October 1963; also John Tate, professor of mathematics, University of Texas, interview, 6.20.97.
55. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 8.31.64.
56. Ibid.
57. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit.
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid.
60. Letter from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 11.13.71.
61. Harold Kuhn, e-mail, 5.96.
62. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 8.3 1.64.
63. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 9.2.64.
64. Jean Pierre Serre, e-mail, 2.15.96.
65. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 9.7.64.
66. Memorandum from A. W. Tucker to J. D. Brown, 9.18.64.
67. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 9.64.
68. Atle Selberg, interview, 1.23.96.
69. Letter from John Nash to John Milnor, 12.27.64.
70. Interviews with John Danskin, 10.9.96; also with William Lucas, professor of mathematics, Glaremont Graduate School, 6.27.95, and Herbert Scarf, professor of mathematics, Yale University, 8.97.
71. Danskin, interview.
72. Kuhn, interview.
73. Richard C. Palais, professor of mathematics, Brandeis University, interview, 11.6.95.
74. A. Borel, interview.
75. Palais, interview.
76. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.29.65.
43: Solitude
1. Letter from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 1.16.66.
2. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96.
3. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 7.27.65.
4. Ibid., 8.2.65.
5. John David Stier, interviews, 6.29.96 and 9.20.97.
6. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 10.31.65.
7. Ibid., 5.1.66.
8. Ibid.
9. J. D. Stier, interviews, 6.29.96 and 9.20.97. Except where noted, the facts of John David Stier’s childhood are drawn from these interviews.
10. Eleanor Stier, interview, 3.25.96.
11. J. D. Stier, interview, 9.20.97.
12. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 1.16.66.
13. Ibid., 2.22.66.
14. Ibid., 2.27.66.
15. Ibid., 4.24.66.
16. Ibid., 5.8.66.
17. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 10.31.65.
18. Ibid.
19. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 11.14.65.
20. Letters from J. Nash to V. Nash, 10.31.65 and 1.16.65.
21. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 11.28.65.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid., 1.9.66.
24. Letters from J. Nash to V. Nash, 1.16.65, and to M. Legg, 2.22.66; also Joan Berkowitz, interview, 8.28.97.
25. Palais, interview.
26. Al Vasquez, interview, 6.17.97.
27. “Analyticity of Solutions of Implicit Function Problems with Analytic Data,” Annals of Mathematics, vol.
84 (1966), pp. 345–55.
28. Harold Kuhn, interview, 7.17.97.
29. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 9.19.66.
30. Egbert Brieskorn, professor of mathematics, University of Bonn, interview, 1.27.98.
31. Letters from J. Nash to M. Legg, 12.5.65 and 5.1.66.
32. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 2.27.66.
33. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 1.9.66.
34. Kuhn, interview, 5.96. The paper was not rejected, according to Nash, but the editors asked for revisions that he never made.
35. Mikhail Gromov, interview, 12.15.97.
36. This point was raised by Francine M. Benes, psychiatrist, McLean Hospital, interview, 2.13.96.
37. John Nash visited Gian-Carlo Rota in New York City sometime during his first year in Boston. Rota recalled that at lunch Nash traced patterns on his plate and complained that shock treatments had caused him “to forget all my mathematics,” interview, 10.29.94.
38. Richard Wyatt, personal communication, 6.97.
39. This was Max Shiffman at Stanford University. Donald Spencer, interview, 11.29.95.
40. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 6.26.96.
41. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 11.15.96.
42. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 5.22.66.
43. Letter from John Nash to Harold Kuhn, 5.17.66.
44. Palais, interview.
45. Vasquez, interview.
46. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 9.1.66.
47. Martha Legg quoting her letter of 9.28.66 to Pattison Esmiol.
48. M. Legg, interview.
49. Letter from Pattison Esmiol to Martha Nash Legg, 10.7.66.
50. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 10.8.66.
51. M. Legg, interview.
52. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 11.66.
53. Ibid., 11.28.66.
54. Vasquez, interview.
55. Joseph Kohn, interview, 1.16.96.
56. Z. Levinson, interview, 11.15.96.
57. Richard Nash, interview, San Francisco, 1.6.96.
58. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 2.67, saying that he had been in Seattle since February.
59. Postcard from John Nash to Martha Nash Legg, 3.11.67, saying that he had been in Santa Monica for about ten days and would be returning to Roanoke by March 22.
60. Jacob Bricker, interview, 5.22.97.
61. Letter from P. Esmiol to M. Legg, 4.19.67.
62. Gilbert Strand, professor of mathematics, MIT, e-mail, 6.5.97.
63. Letter from Armand Borel to Norman Levinson, 5.17.67.
64. Greeting card from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 1.15.73.
65. Palais, interview.
66. Letter from John Nash to Jürgen Moser, 5.23.67.
67. Z. Levinson, interview, 11.15.96.
68. Letter from J. Nash to M. Legg, 6.26.67.
69. Z. Levinson, interview.
70. Anna Rosa Kohn, interview, 1.16.96.
71. Letter from Norman Levinson to Martha Nash Legg, 6.30.67.
44: A Man All Alone in a Strange World
1. Letter from John Nash to Arthur Mattuck, 8.5.68.
2. Ibid.
3. Letter from John Nash to a colleague, 1967.
4. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.2.96.
5. James Glass, Delusion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
6. M. Legg, interview, 10.94.
7. Ibid., 8.31.95.
8. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 8.8.67.
9. See, for example, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 1987). Ming T. Tsuang, Stephen V. Faraone, and Max Day, “Schizophrenic Disorders,” op. cit.
10. E. Fuller Torrey, Surviving Schizophrenia (New York: Harper & Row, 1988).
11. “…symptoms of clouded consciousness and disorientation in schizophrenia are relatively rare,” Richard S. E. Keefe and Phillip D. Harvey, Understanding Schizophrenia, op. cit.
12. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 3.18.68.
13. See, for example, Torrey, op. cit. Also Glass, op. cit., and James Glass, professor of government and politics, University of Maryland, research affiliate of the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, interview, 10.94.
14. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 7.24.67.
15. Ibid., 8.8.67.
16. Ibid., 9.9.67.
17. Ibid., 10.7.67.
18. Ibid., 9.9.67.
19. Ibid., 1.10.68.
20. References to the story of Jacob and Esau appear in numerous letters and postcards written by Nash between 1967 and 1969, including 8.8.67, 9.25.67, 10.7.67, 11.8.67, 12.24.67, and 6.16.69.
21. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 1.20.68.
22. Ibid., 2.22.68.
23. Ibid., 3.10.68.
24. Ibid., 6.16.69.
25. Letter from John Nash to Eleanor Stier, 8.20.68.
26. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 8.11.67.
27. Ibid., 11.8.67.
28. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 3.18.68.
29. Ibid., 2.27.68.
30. Ibid., 4.24.69.
31. See, for example, Keefe and Harvey, op. cit., p. 110.
32. Letter from J. Nash to A. Mattuck, 11.11.69.
33. See, for example, Keefe and Harvey, op. cit., pp. 6–7.
34. Peter Newman, interview, 12.12.95.
35. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 8.8.68.
36. The example given combines phrases from two letters to Arthur Mattuck, 9.9.67 and 3.18.68. Nash ended virtually every letter in this period with a variation on this paragraph.
37. M. Legg, interview, 3.2.96. The account of the remainder of Nash’s interlude in Roanoke comes from this interview.
45: Phantom of Fine Hall
1. Joseph Kohn, interview, 7.25.95.
2. David Raoul Derbes, University of Chicago, e-mail, 3.27.95; Daniel Rohrlich, University of Tel Aviv, e-mail, 9.3.97.
3. Derbes, e-mail.
4. Sylvain Cappell, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute, 2.29.96.
5. Lee Mosher, professor of mathematics, Rutgers University at Newark, interview, 9.20.97.
6. Derbes, e-mail.
7. Mark Reboul, interview, 8.30.97.
8. Steven Ebstein, e-mail, 3.28.95.
9. Sara Beck, University of Tel Aviv, e-mail, 5.31.95.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Frank Wilczek, professor of physics, Institute for Advanced Study, interview, 9.11.97.
14. Letter from Mark B. Schneider, professor of physics, Grinnell College, to author, 9.20.95.
15. Letter from David A. Cox, professor of mathematics, Amherst College, to author, 3.27.95.
16. Letter from M. Schneider to author, 9.28.95.
17. Mare D. Rayman, chief mission engineer, New Millennium Program, NASA, e-mail, 11.24.95.
18. Letter from M. Schneider to author.
19. Wilczek, interview.
20. Ibid.
21. Harold Kuhn, interview, 8.30.97.
22. Margaret Wertheim, “When 1 Plus 1 Makes Neither 2 Nor 11,” New York Times, 1997.
23. Hale Trotter, professor of mathematics, Princeton University, interview, 11.29.95.
24. Peter Cziffra, librarian, Fine Hall, interview, 8.26.97.
25. William Browder, interview, 12.6.95.
26. James Glass, interview, 10.94.
27. Ibid.
28. Roger Lewin, professor of psychiatry, University of Maryland, interview, 10.94.
29. Steven Bottone, e-mail, 9.2.97.
30. Daniel Feenberg, research associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, interview, 10.94.
31. Trotter, interview, 9.11.97.
32. Reboul, interview.
33. Feenberg, interview.
34. Trotter, interview, 9.30.96.
35. Marc Fisher, reporter, Washington Post, e-mail, 3.29.95.
36. Charles Gillespie, professor of history, Princeton University, interview, 7.26.95.
37. Amir H. Assadi, professor of mathematics, University of Wisconsin, interview, 12.13.95.
38. Kohn, interview.
39. Claudia Goldin, professor of economics, Harvard University, interview, 8.30.95.
40. Feenberg, interview.
41. Alicia Nash, interview, 12.6.97.
42. Interviews with Alan Hoffman, 10.94; Lloyd Shapley, 10.94; George Nemhauser, 8.29.97; Albert W. Tucker, 10.94.
43. Shapley, interview.
44. Ibid.
45. Nemhauser, interview.
46. Hoffman, interview.
47. Ibid.
46: A Quiet Life
1. Letter from Alicia Nash to Martha Nash Legg and Virginia Nash, 11.8.68.
2. Ibid.
3. Gillian Richardson, interview, 12.14.95.
4. John Coleman Moore, professor of mathematics, Princeton University, interview, 10.6.95.
5. George Whitehead, interview, 12.12.95.
6. Interviews with Moore, also with Gaby Borel, 10.94 and 3.14.96.
7. Herb Gurk, RCA, interview, 4.23.96.
8. Alicia Nash, private communication, 12.6.97.
9. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.30.96; confirmed by Alicia Nash in private communication.
10. Interview with Moore, and with G. Borel, 10.6.95.
11. A. Nash, private communication, and interview, 12.28.95.
12. A. Nash, interview, 12.28.95.
13. Ibid., 1.10.95.
14. Ibid.
15. Odette Larde, interview, 12.8.95.
16. Moore, interview, 10.94.
17. Richard Keefe, interview, 5.95.
18. Richard S. E. Keefe and Phillip D. Harvey, Understanding Schizophrenia, op. cit., p. 9.
19. A. Nash, interview, 1.10.95.
20. A. Nash, private communication, 12.6.97.
21. Joyce Davis, interview, 5.30.96.
22. Anna Bailey, interview, 5.29.97.
23. A. Nash, interview, 1.10.95. In addition, interviews with John Charles Martin Nash, Harold Kuhn, Gaby Borel, and others.
24. David Salowitz, “It’s Not a Matter of Degrees: John Nash, Shv High School or College Degree, Seeks Ph.D.,” The Princeton Packet, 7.1.81.
25. A. Nash, interview, 1.10.95.
26. Amir Assadi, interview, 2.4.96.
27. Solomon Leader, interview.
28. A. Nash, interview, 5.16.95.
29. Salowitz, op. cit.
30. Ibid.
31. A. Nash, interview, 5.16.95. Also letter from John Nash to Richard Keefe, 1.14.95.
32. Salowitz, op. cit.
33. Bailey, interview.
