Page 62 of A Beautiful Mind


  23. Al Vasquez, interview, 6.17.97.

  24. Z. Levinson, interview.

  25. Vasquez, interview.

  26. Garsia, interview.

  27. Jürgen Moser, interview, 3.23.96.

  28. Duchane, interview.

  29. George Mackey, interview, 12.14.95.

  30. Herta Newman, interview, 3.2.96.

  31. Felix Browder, interview, 1.2.95.

  32. Gian-Carlo Rota, interview, 10.29.94.

  33. Garsia, interview.

  34. This is Jerome Lettvin’s term, Jerome Lettvin, professor of electrical engineering, MIT, interview, 7.25.97.

  35. John McCarthy, interview, 2.4.96.

  36. Arthur Mattuck, interview, 11.7.95.

  37. I am assuming that Nash’s treatment was similar to that of other patients and have based my account on the recollections of Paul Howard, clinical director of McLean at the time, as well as other McLean staffers, including Joseph Brenner, psychiatrist, interview, 7.25.97; Cain, interview; Kahne, interview.

  38. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.

  39. Kahne, interview.

  40. Brenner, interview, 7.23.97.

  41. Z. Levinson, interview.

  42. Cohen, interview; F. Browder, interview.

  43. Francine M. Benes, psychiatrist, McLean Hospital, interview, 2.13.96.

  44. See, for example, Mariani, op. cit., and Hamilton, op. cit.

  45. Kahne, interview; also Howard, interview.

  46. Kahne, interview.

  47. Howard, interview.

  48. Brenner, interview.

  49. Z. Levinson, interview.

  50. Isadore Singer, interview, 12.13.95.

  51. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.

  52. Duchane, interview.

  53. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.

  54. Taffy’ Griffiths, physician, Princeton, 5.20.59, and interview, 7.95.

  55. Notes of a telephone conversation between A. Warren Stearns and Bernard E. Bradley, attorney, 5.13.59. In an interview (8.19.97), Bradley said that he handled many similar cases, but did not recall Nash.

  56. The sketch of A. Warren Stearns is based on a biographical essay provided by the Tufts University archives; an interview with his son Charles Stearns, 3.14.96; and an interview with Paul Samuelson, who knew Stearns, 3.15.96.

  57. A. W. Stearns and B. Bradley phone conversation, 5.14.59.

  58. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.

  59. Ibid.

  60. Letter from Robert A. Grimes, attorney, Hardy, Hall & Grimes, to A. Warren Stearns, 6.18.59.

  61. Letter from A. W. Stearns to B. Bradley, 5.20.59.

  62. Ibid.

  37: Mad Hatter’s Tea

  1. Emma Duchane, interview, 6.26.97. The sketch of Alicia Nash and the final months of her pregnancy are based on this.

  2. Confidential source.

  3. Confidential source.

  4. Michael Artin, interview, 12.12.95.

  5. Confidential source.

  6. Zipporah Levinson, interview, 9.11.95.

  7. Al Vasquez, interview, 6.17.97.

  8. Letter from John Nash to Lars Hörmander, undated (arrived around 6.1.59).

  9. Gaby Borel, interview, 9.94.

  10. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.

  11. Paul Samuelson, interview, 3.16.97.

  12. Z. Levinson, interview.

  13. William Ted Martin, interview, 9.7.95.

  14. A. Warren Stearns, note for file, 6.15.59.

  15. Samuelson, interview.

  16. Letter from Henry Y. Wan, Jr., to author, 6.5.96.

  17. Enrique Larde, interview, 12.21.95.

  18. John Danskin, interview, 10.19.95.

  19. Alicia Nash, interview, 7.1.97.

  Part Four: THE LOST YEARS

  38: Citoyen du Monde

  1. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 7.18.59.

  2. Ibid., 7.20.59.

  3. Janet Flanner, Paris Journal 1944–1965 (New York: Atheneum, 1965).

  4. John Moore, interview, 10.6.97.

  5. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.97.

  6. Odette Larde, interview, 12.8.95.

  7. International Herald Tribune, 7.10.59, 7.11.59, 7.12.59, 8.7.59.

  8. Interviews with Joseph Baratta, historian, 8.12.97; Francis Bourne, 8.12.97; David Gallup, attorney, 8.12.97.

  9. New York Times, 5.27.48; Garry Davis, World Citizen Foundation, interview, 8.13.97. See also Art Buchwald, I’ll Always Have Paris (New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1996), and Garrv Davis, Mv Countrv Is the World: The Adventures of a World Citizen (New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1961).

  10. New York Times, 9.18.48.

  11. International Herald Tribune, 6.16.49.

  12. Buchwald, op. cit.

  13. International Herald Tribune, 6.16.49.

  14. Louis Sass, Madness and Modernism, op. cit., pp. 324–25.

  15. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.29.59.

  16. Section 1481 of the 1941 Immigration and Naturalization Act.

  17. Edward A. Betancourt, Overseas Citizens Services, Immigration and Naturalization Service, interview, 8.26.97.

  18. 1941 Immigration and Naturalization Act.

  19. John Nash, plenary lecture, World Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid, 8.26.96, op. cit.

  20. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 3.29.96.

  21. Armand Borel, interview, 3.1.96.

  22. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.31.59.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Denis Brian, Einstein: A Life, op. cit.

  25. International Herald Tribune, various issues, August 1959.

  26. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit.

  27. See, for example, Paul Hofmann, Switzerland (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1994).

  28. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus (New York: Penguin, 1985).

  29. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 8.12.59.

  30. As quoted by Sass, op. cit.

  31. Letter from John Nash to Lars Hörmander, 2.10.60.

  32. Zurbuchen, Le Directeur, Contrôle de l’Habitant, Geneva, 9.29.59, provided by Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv.

  33. Franz Kafka, The Castle (New York: Scholastic Books, 1992), with an introduction by Irving Howe.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 9.28.59.

  37. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of July 28, 1951, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva.

  38. Zurbuchen, op. cit.

  39. Ibid.

  40. Direktion der Eidg. Militarverwaltung, Berne to Controle de l’Habitant, Geneva, 11.21.59.

  41. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit.

  42. Ibid.

  43. Harold Kuhn, interview, 1.95.

  44. John Haslam, as quoted by Sass, op. cit.

  45. Sass, op. cit.

  46. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 9.28.59.

  47. Letter from M. Legg to John Nash, 9.59.

  48. A. Nash, interview.

  49. Telegram from Amory Houghton, U.S. ambassador to France, to Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, 12.15.59.

  50. Letter from J. Nash to L. Hörmander, from Paris, 1.18.60.

  51. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 10.11.59.

  52. After returning to the U.S., Nash claimed to be a resident of Liechtenstein, which levied no income tax, and refused to sign U.S. tax forms (source: H. Kuhn, interview, 8.92).

  53. O. Larde, interview, 12.8.96.

  54. Letter from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 11.10.59.

  55. The anecdote concerns Paul Erdos and was told by Donald Spencer, interview, 11.28.95.

  56. O. Larde, interview, 12.8.95.

  57. M. Legg, interview, 3.29.96.

  58. Sass, op. cit.

  59. Letter from John Nash to Norbert Wiener, 12.9.95.

  60. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 12.13.59.
>
  61. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis (New York: Schocken Books, 1995).

  62. Irving Howe introduction, Kafka, The Castle, op. cit.

  63. James M. Glass, Delusion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).

  64. Telegram from A. Houghton to C. A. Herter.

  65. Telegram from Henrv S. Villard, U.S. consul to Switzerland, to Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, 12.16.59.

  66. Ibid.

  67. Theodore Friend, obituary of Edward Hill Cox, 8.4.75, Swarthmore College Archive.

  68. A. Nash, interview.

  69. Telegram from A. Houghton to C. A. Herter.

  70. Telegram from H. S. Villard to C. A. Herter.

  71. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 12.26.59; O. Larde, interview, 12.8.95.

  72. O. Larde, interview, 12.8.95.

  73. Shiing-shen Chern, professor of mathematics, University of California at Berkeley, interview, 6.17.97.

  74. A. Nash, interview.

  75. “Alexandre Grothendieck,” History of Mathematics Archive, School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of St. Andrews, Scotland; see also interviews with Nick Katz, professor of mathematics, Princeton University, 8.26.97; Arthur Mattuck, 9.19.97; Paulo Ribenboim, professor of mathematics, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 9.28.97; Tony Phillips, 8.26.97.

  76. O. Larde, interview, 12.8.85.

  77. A. Nash, interview.

  78. Felix Browder, interview, 9.6.97. See also Larkin Farinholt’s obituary, New York Times, 7.17.90, for details of his career.

  79. Letter from J. Nash to L. Hörmander, 2.10.60.

  80. John Nash, plenary lecture, op. cit.

  81. Letter from Lars Hörmander to John Nash, 2.12.60.

  82. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 3.2.60.

  83. John Nash, conversation with author, 6.25.95.

  84. F. Browder, interview.

  85. Ibid.

  86. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 3.60.

  87. Michael Artin, interview, 12.12.95.

  88. Al Vasquez, interview, 6.17.97.

  89. Cathleen Morawetz, interview, 2.29.96.

  90. John Danskin, interview, 10.19.95.

  91. M. Legg, interview.

  92. Eleanor Stier, interview, 3.18.96.

  93. Letter from J. Nash to V. Nash, 4.9.60.

  94. Ibid.

  95. Telegram from Allyn C. Donaldson, Department of State, to Virginia Nash, 4.21.60.

  96. Emma Duchane, interview, 4.30.95.

  97. Vasquez, interview.

  98. A. Nash, interview.

  99. C. Davis, interview.

  39: Absolute Zero

  1. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.97.

  2. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 8.1.95.

  3. Interviews with John Danskin, 10.19 95, and Joyce Davis, 5.30.97.

  4. Handwritten note from Alicia Nash to Joyce Davis, summer 1960.

  5. Odette Larde, interview, 12.7.95.

  6. A. Nash, interview.

  7. Jean-Pierre Cauvin, professor of French, University of Texas at Austin, interview, 8.25.97; also Agnes Sherman, interview, 8.26.96.

  8. O. Larde, interview.

  9. Cauvin, interview.

  10. Danskin, interview.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Elvira Leader, interview, 6.9.95.

  13. Solomon Leader, interview, 6.9.95.

  14. Danskin, interview.

  15. Samuel C. Howell, memorandum to file, 11.10.60.

  16. Notes of conversations between Oskar Morgenstern and Douglas Brown, Princeton University Archives, 11.2.50.

  17. Letter from Raymond J. Woodrow to John F. Nash, Jr., 10.21.60.

  18. Letter from Donald Spencer to Jean Leray, 10.31.60.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Burton Randol, professor of mathematics, City University of New York, interview, 8.26.97.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Confidential source.

  25. Confidential source.

  26. Randol, interview.

  27. Danskin, interview.

  28. Martin Shubik, interview, 10.94.

  29. Paul Zweifel, interview, 9.6.95.

  30. Edmond Nelson, professor of mathematics, Princeton University, interview, 8.17.95.

  31. Armand Borel, interview, 3.1.96.

  32. Danskin, interview. Robert Goheen, president of Princeton University, was unable to confirm these events, which would have been handled by someone on the campus security detail in any case, interview, 9.10.97.

  33. A. Nash, interview.

  34. O. Larde, interview.

  35. Confidential source.

  40: Tower of Silence

  1. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 8.2.95.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Gerald N. Grob, The Mad Among f/s (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), and “Abuse in American Mental Hospitals in Historical Perspective: Myth and Reality,” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol. 3 (1980), pp. 295–310. Also interview with Grob, professor of history, Rutgers University, 8.4.97.

  4. See biographies of Dorothea Dix, including Rachel Basker, Angel of’Mercy: The Story of Dorothea Dix (New York: Messner, 1955); also Penny Colman, Breaking the Chains: The Crusade of Dorothea Lynde Dix (White Hall, Va.: Shoetree Press, 1992).

  5. Descriptions of Trenton State are based on interviews with psychiatrists who were affiliated with the hospital, including Robert Garber, former president, American Psychiatric Association, 5.6.96; Peter Baumecker, 5.1.96, 5.2.96, 5.9.96; Arthur A. Sugarman, 8.25.97.

  6. Baumecker, interview.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ariel Rubinstein, e-mail, 2.3.97.

  9. Baumecker, interview. “B” probably refers to Jacob Bricker (see Chapter 44).

  10. John Danskin, interview, 10.19.96. For an account of the hijacking, see Time magazine, 2.3.61.

  11. M. Legg, interview.

  12. Danskin, interview.

  13. Robert Winters, interview, 8.9.95.

  14. Letter from Robert Winters to Joseph Tobin, 2.2.61.

  15. Letter from Robert Winters to Harold Magee, 2.2.59. Also interview with Tobin, 6.10.97.

  16. Seymour Krim, “The Insanity Bit,” op. cit.

  17. Baumecker, interview.

  18. Phillip Ehrlich, psychiatrist, Princeton Hospital, interview, 8.24.97.

  19. Baumecker, interview.

  20. M. Legg, interview.

  21. Interviews with Garber and Baumecker.

  22. Baumecker, interview.

  23. Danskin, interview.

  24. Garber, interview.

  25. Baumecker, interview.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Burton Randol, interview, 8.25.97.

  28. Lenore McCall, Between Us and the Dark (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1947).

  29. Baumecker, interview.

  30. Garber, interview.

  31. Jerome Lettvin, interview, 7.25.97.

  32. Grob, The Mad Among Us, op. cit., p. 185.

  33. Garber, interview.

  34. Letter from John Nash to Alexander Mood, 12.17.94, one of many references Nash has made to his insulin treatments and memory loss.

  35. Richard Nash, interview, 1.6.96.

  36. Interviews with Grob and Lettvin.

  37. Baumecker, interview.

  38. Ibid.

  39. Ibid.

  40. Postcard from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 7.14.61. Nash says he’s due to be released the following day.

  41. Baumecker, interview.

  42. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.14.61.

  43. Baumecker, interview.

  41: An Interlude of Enforced Rationality

  1. John Forbes Nash, Jr., Les Prix Nobel 1994, op. cit.

  2. Louis Sass, Madness and Modernism, op. cit.

  3. A decline in measured intelligence within a short time of the onset of schizophrenia has been documented in a series of studies. Jed Wyatt, personal communication, 6.97.

  4. Letter from John Nash t
o Donald Spencer, undated, spring 1961.

  5. Interviews with Armand Borel, 3.1.96, and Atle Selberg, 1.23.96.

  6. Letter from Atle Selberg to John Nash, 9.25.61; letter from Robert Oppenheimer to John Nash, 10.3.61.

  7. John Nash, membership application, 7.17.61, Institute for Advanced Study Archive.

  8. Letter from J. Nash to D. Spencer.

  9. Shlomo Sternberg, interview, 3.5.96. Also postcards from John Nash to Virginia Nash, 8.1.61 and 8.3.61.

  10. Alicia Nash, interview, 8.15.96.

  11. Interviews with John Danskin, 10.19.95, and Odette Larde, 12.7.95.

  12. O. Larde, interview.

  13. “Recent Advances in Game Theory,” Princeton, October 4–6, 1961.

  14. Reinhard Selten, professor of economics, University of Bonn, interview, 6.27.95.

  15. John Harsanyi, interview, 6.27.95.

  16. Harold Kuhn, personal communication, 8.97.

  17. John Nash, “Le Probleme de Cauchy Pour Les Equations Differentielles d’une Fluide Générale,” Bulletin de la Société Mathématique de France, vol. 90 (1962), pp. 487–97. Submitted 1.19.62.

  18. John Nash, Les Prix Nobel 1994, op. cit.

  19. According to the Encyclopedia of Mathematics, “Mathematical study of [the Cauchy problem for the general Navier-Stokes equation] has become active since J. Nash and N. Itaya proved the existence of unique regular solutions local in time.”

  20. Selberg, interview.

  21. Gillian Richardson, interview, 12.14.97.

  22. Karl Uitti, professor of French, Princeton University, interview, 8.22.97.

  23. Confidential source.

  24. Uitti, interview.

  25. Jean-Pierre Cauvin, interview, 8.25.97.

  26. Hubert Goldschmidt, Columbia University, interview, 3.20.97.

  27. Letter from Robert Oppenheimer to Leon Motchane, Institut des Hautes Etudes, 4.26.62.

  28. Memorandum from Robert Oppenheimer to Atle Selberg, 4.26.62.

  29. Stefan A. Burr, professor of computer science, City College of New York, interview, 5.95.

  30. A. Borel, interview.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Gaby Borel, interview, 10.94.

  33. Al Vasquez, interview, 6.17.97.

  34. Lloyd S. Shapley, interview, 10.94.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Postcard from J. Nash to V. Nash, 7.62.

  37. Ed Nelson, professor of mathematics, Princeton University, interview, 8.17.95.

  38. Lars Hörmander, interview, 2.13.97.