A Beautiful Mind (78 page)

6
. Obituaries of Martha Nash,
Baptist Standard
(1944); M. Legg, interview, 8.1.95; R. Nash, interview, San Francisco, 1.7.97.

7
. M. Legg, interview, 7.31.95.

8
. The history of the Martins and the facts of Virginia Martin’s early life are based on interviews with Martha Legg as well as obituaries of Emma Martin and Virginia Martin in the
Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

9
. Letter from John Forbes Nash, Jr., to Martha Legg, undated (1969).

10
. For a short history of the marriage bar, see Claudia Goldin, “Career and Family: College Women Look to the Past,” Working Paper No. 5188 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, July 1995).

11
. C. Stuart McGehee,
The City of Bluefield: Centennial Histon 1889–1989
(Bluefield Historical Society).

12
. Ibid.; John E. Williams, professor of psychology, Wake Forest University, interview, 8.95.

13
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

14
. Williams, interview, 10.24.95; William Lewis, McKinsey & Partners, interview, 10.94.

15
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

16
. M. Legg, interview, 8.3.95.

17
. Ibid.

18
. John G. Gunderson, “Personality Disorders,” op. cit., pp. 343–44; also Nikki Erlenmeyer-Kimling, professor of genetics and development, Columbia University, interview, 1.17.98.

19
. M. Legg, interview.

20
. George Thornhill, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,
10.94.

21
. Report cards, various years, supplied by Martha Legg.

22
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

23
. M. Legg, interview, 8.1.95.

24
. Eddie Steele, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,
10.13.94.

25
. Donald V. Reynolds, interview, 6.29.97.

26
. Ibid.

27
. Ibid.

28
. M. Legg, interview, 8.2.95.

29
. Ibid.

30
. E. T. Bell,
Men of Mathematics,
op. cit.; Beth Umberger, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,
10.13.94.

31
. Janice Thresher Frazier, personal communication, 9.97.

32
. The origin of this quotation is unknown.

33
. M. Legg, interview, 10.94.

34
. Kuhn, interview, 3.97.

35
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

36
. Bell, op. cit.

37
. Ibid.

38
. Ibid.

39
. Denis Brian,
Einstein: A Life
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996).

40
. Bell, op. cit.; also Kuhn, interview, 10.21.97.

41
. Bell, op. cit.

42
. M. Legg, interview, 8.1.95.

43
. Williams, interview.

44
. Donald V. Reynolds, interview.

45
. Interviews with Peggy Wharton, 12.96; Robert Holland, 6.9.97; John Louthan, 6.21.97; John Williams; Reynolds.

46
. Reynolds, interview.

47
. Ibid.

48
. Felix Browder, president, American Mathematics Society, interview, 11.2.95.

49
. M. Legg, interview, 11.94.

50
. Nelson Walker, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,
10.94.

51
. Edwin Elliot, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,
11.14.94.

52
. M. Legg, interview, 8.2.95.

53
. Reynolds, interview; see also William Archer, “Boys Will Be Boys,”
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,
11.14.94.

54
. Julia Robinson, in Donald Albers, Gerald L. Alexanderson, and Constance Reid,
More Mathematical People
(New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990), p. 271.

55
. Anthony Storr,
The Dynamics of Creation,
op. cit.

56
. M. Legg, interview, 11.94.

57
. Vernon Dunn, quoted in William Archer,
Bluefield Daily Telegraph,
11.94.

58
. Beaver High School Yearbook, 1945.

59
. Interviews with Williams and Louthan.

60
. M. Legg, interview, 8.1.95.

61
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

62
. John F. Nash and John F. Nash, Jr., “Sag and Tension Calculations for Cable and Wire Spans Using Catenary Formulas,”
Electrical Engineering,
1945.

63
.
Uncle App’s News,
7.45.

2: Carnegie Institute of Technology

1
. Nash’s interest in number theory, topology, and other branches of pure mathematics was recalled by Robert Siegel, professor of physics, College of William and Mary, interview, 10.30.97; Hans F. Weinberger, professor of mathematics, University of Minnesota, interviews, 9.6.95, 10.28.95, and 10.29.95; Paul F. Zweifel, professor of mathematics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, interviews, 10.94 and 9.6.95; Richard J. Duffin (deceased), emeritus professor of mathematics, Carnegie-Mellon University, interviews, 10.94, 8.95, and 10.26.96.

2
. See, for example, Stephan Lorant,
Pittsburgh: The Ston of an American City
(Lenox, Mass.: author’s edition, 1980) and interviews with Nash’s contemporaries.

3
. Richard Cyert, former president, Carnegie-Mellon University, interview, 10.26.95. Also Herbert Simon, Nobel Laureate, Carnegie-Mellon University, interview, 10.26.95.

4
. Duffin, interview, 10.26.96; Robert E. Gleeson, professor of history, Carnegie-Mellon University, interview, 10.27.95; Glen U. Cleeton,
The Ston of Carnegie Tech, II: The Doherty Administration, 1936–19S0
(Pittsburgh: Carnegie Press, 1965); Robert E. Gleeson and Steven Schlossman,
George Leland Bach and the Rebirth of Graduate Management Education in the United States, 1945–1975
(Graduate Management Admission Council, Spring 1995); Robert E. Gleeson and Steven Schlossman,
The Many Faces of the New Look: The University of Virginia, Carnegie Tech and the Reform of American Management Education in the Postwar Era
(Graduate Management Admission Council, Spring 1992).

5
. Interviews with Weinberger, 10.28.95; Zweifel, 10.94; George W. Hinman, professor of physics, Washington State University, 10.30.97; David R. Lide, editor,
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics,
10.30.97; Edward Kaplan, professor of statistics, Oregon State University, 5.21.97.

6
. Interviews with Martha Nash Legg, 8.2.95; Weinberger, 10.28.95; Zweifel, 10.94.

7
. Interviews with Siegel, 10.30.97; Hinman, 10.30.97.

8
. John Nash, autobiographical essay,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

9
. Lide, interview, 10.30.97.

10
. Hinman, interview, 10.30.97.

11
. Lide, interview, 10.30.97.

12
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

13
. Interviews with Raoul Bott, professor of mathematics, Harvard University, 11.5.95; Hinman, 10.30.97; Cathleen S. Morawetz, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute, and daughter of J. Synge, 2.29.96.

14
. Duffin, interview, 10.26.95.

15
. Duffin, interview, 10.94.

16
. Morawetz, interview.

17
. Ibid.

18
. Interviews with Lide, 10.30.97, and Duffin, 10.26.95.

19
. Weinberger, interview, 9.6.95.

20
. Siegel, interview, 10.30.97. Siegel may have been mistaken; Bluefield had both a symphony and concert series before the war.

21
. Bott, interview, 11.5.95.

22
. Patsy Winter, Williamsburg, Virginia, interview, 10.30.97.

23
. Weinberger, interview, 10.28.96.

24
. Lide, interview, 10.30.97.

25
. Interviews with Zweifel, 10.94, and Lide, 10.30.97.

26
. Weinberger, interview, 10.28.95.

27
. Siegel, interview, 10.30.97.

28
. Hinman, interview, 10.30.97.

29
. Zweifel, interview, 10.94.

30
. Zweifel, interview, 1.21.98.

31
. Ibid.; also interviews with Hinman, 10.30.97, and Siegel, 10.30.97.

32
. Siegel, interview, 10.30.97.

33
. Weinberger, interview, 10.28.95.

34
. Zweifel, interview, 10.94.

35
. Fletcher Osterle, professor of mechanical engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, interview, 5.21.97.

36
.
Mathematical Monthly
(September 1947), p. 400.

37
. Leonard F. Klosinski, director, the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, interview, 10.96; Gerald L. Alexanderson, associate director, the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, interview, 10.96; Garrett Birkhoff, “The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition: Early History,” and L. E. Bush, “The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition: Later History and Summary of Results,” reprinted from
American Mathematical Monthly,
vol. 72 (1965), pp. 469–83.

38
. Hinman, interview.

39
. Harold Kuhn, interview, 7.97.

40
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

41
. This scene is based on recollections of Duffin, interview, 10.94 and 10.26.95; Bott, interview, 10.94; and Weinberger, interviews, 9.6.95 and 10.28.95.

42
. Duffin, interview, 10.94.

43
. Bott, interview, 10.94.

44
. Martin Burrow, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute, interview, 2.4.96.

45
. Duffin, interviews, 10.94 and 10.26.95.

46
. Duffin, interview, 10.94.

47
. Bott, interview, 11.5.95.

48
. Weinberger, interview, 10.28.95.

49
. Siegel, interview, 10.30.97.

50
. Weinberger, interview.

51
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

52
. See
Chapter 9
.

53
.
The Carnegie Tartan,
4.20.48.

54
. Interviews with Kuhn, 10.97, and M. Legg, 8.3.95.

55
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

56
. The perception of Harvard’s relative decline and Princeton’s ascendancy by the late 1940s was widespread among Nash’s contemporaries.

57
. Duffin, interview, 10.26.95.

58
. Letter from Solomon Lefschetz to Nash, 4.8.48.

59
. Details about the JSK Fellowship, named after John S. Kennedy, a Princeton alumnus, are based on a memorandum from Sandra Mawhinney to Harold Kuhn, 10.27.97.

60
. Graduate Catalog, Princeton University, various years; Report to the Dean of Faculty, Princeton University, various years.

61
. John Nash,
Les Prix Nobel 1994,
op. cit.

62
. Letter from S. Lefschetz to J. Nash.

63
. Letter from John Nash to Solomon Lefschetz, undated, mid-April 1948.

64
. Clifford Ambrose Truesdell, interview, 8.14.96.

65
. Letter from J. Nash to S. Lefschetz. For the events transpiring then, see
Chronicle of the Twentieth Century
(Mount Kisco, N.Y.: Chronicle Publications, 1987).

66
. Interviews with Charlotte Truesdell, 8.14.96, and Kaplan, 5.21.97.

67
. Letter from J. Nash to S. Lefschetz, 4.26.48.

68
. Clifford Truesdell, interview, 8.14.96.

69
. Charlotte Truesdell, interview, 8.14.96.

3: The Center of the Universe

1
. Martha Nash Legg, interview, 8.3.95.

2
. See, for example, Rebecca Goldstein,
The Mind-Body Problem
(New York: Penguin, 1993); Ed Regis,
Who Got Einstein’s Office?
(Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley, 1987); and recollections of Nash’s contemporaries, including interviews with Harold Kuhn and Harley Rogers and letter from George Mowbry, 4.5.95.

3
. F. Scott Fitzgerald,
This Side of Paradise
(New York: Scribner, 1920).

4
. Albert Einstein, quoted in Goldstein, op. cit.

5
. As recalled by her niece Gillian Richardson, interview, 12.14.95.

6
. Donald Spencer, professor of mathematics, Princeton University, interview, Durango, Colorado, 11.18.95.

7
. Leopold Infeld,
Quest
(New York: Chelsea Publishing Company, 1980).

8
. Virginia Chaplin, “Princeton and Mathematics,”
Princeton Alumni Weekly (May
9, 1958).

9
. John D. Davies, “The Curious History of Physics at Princeton,”
Princeton Alumni Weekly
(October 2, 1973).

10
. Harold W. Kuhn, interview, 1.97.

11
. Eugene Wigner,
Recollections of Eugene Paul Wigner as Told to Andrew Szanton
(New York: Plenum Press, 1992).

12
. Regis, op. cit.

13
. Infeld, op. cit.

14
. Chaplin, op. cit.; William Aspray, “The Emergence of Princeton as a World Center for Mathematical Research, 1896–1939,” in
A Century of Mathematics in America, Part
//(Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1989); Gian-Carlo Rota, “Fine Hall in Its Golden Age,” in
Indiscrete Thoughts
(Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America, 1996), pp. 3–20.

15
. Davies, op. cit.