Nobel Prize winner John Nash, whose work in mathematics along with years of struggling with debilitating mental illness were the subject of the movie A Beautiful Mind, died along with his wife in a car crash in New Jersey.
Nash, 86, and his wife Alicia, 82, were passengers in a taxi whose driver lost control attempting to pass another vehicle and slammed into a guardrail and another car, the New Jersey State Police said.
The Nashes, apparently not wearing seat belts, were ejected from the taxi and pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday.
The driver of the taxi was treated for non-life threatening injuries, police said. Criminal charges have not been filed.
Nash, whose decades-long battle with schizophrenia was documented in a book, A Beautiful Mind, later made into a movie, shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in economics for his mathematical work concerning game theory and decision-making, which greatly extended the reach and usefulness of economic theory.
Published in 1950, his theory on noncooperative games created a powerful mathematical tool useful in analyzing almost any competitive situation in fields as diverse as business and politics.
Known as the Nash equilibrium, it is a foundation of modern economic theory, and helps describe how companies, government and people compete.
Nash, born in West Virginia, received a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1950, going on to work there and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Following his marriage to Alicia, an MIT physics major, in 1959, Nash began suffering symptoms of what he termed "mental disturbances," according to his biography on the Nobel Prize website.
"I was disturbed in this way for a very long period of time, like 25 years," Nash said in a video interview from 2004, posted on the website.
Of the movie, in which Russel Crowe played Nash, the mathematician called it an "artistic" portrayal of his experience that, while addressing the issue of mental illness, did not accurately portray the nature of the mental delusions he was suffering.
Nash was eventually able to stop taking medications prescribed for his condition, and was able to resume normal activities and his mathematical research.
Following word of Nash's death, tributes began to flow.
"John's remarkable achievements inspired generations of mathematicians, economists and scientists who were influenced by his brilliant, groundbreaking work in game theory," said Princeton University president Christopher Eisgruber.
"The story of his life with Alicia moved millions of readers and moviegoers who marveled at their courage in the face of daunting challenges," he added.
The accident occurred as the Nashes were returning to their Princeton home from Norway, where Nash was awarded the Abel Prize from The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
