Mumbai, Dec 27: It was 1959 when John Forbes Nash (Jr) started hearing voices in his head. Subsequently, the brilliant mathematician with "a beautiful mind" was sent to a psychiatric hospital. He was suffering from schizophrenia. Forced to resign from his position at MIT, Nash appeared to be a shell of his former self. His former colleagues could no longer communicate with him. He wandered, sometimes barefoot, through the corridors of Princeton University's Fine Hall, the place where he had once been a formidable mathematical genius. Nash went on to win the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences in 1994, and was welcomed back to Princeton University, to which he is still attached. His story is now well-known to the world, for Nash became the subject of Ronal Howard's Oscar biopic, A Beautiful Mind. The blockbuster won four Oscars, including the best film, best screenplay and best direction. Russell Crowe, who was nominated for the Oscar in the film, starred as Professor Nash. India will soon play host to this beautiful mind. Prof Nash is expected in India to partake in the centenary celebrations of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. He will attend the International Conference of The Game Theory Society from January 8 to 10. Nash was barely 21 when he formulated an equilibrium concept for non-cooperative games that later came to be called Nash equilibrium, which had an enormous impact on economic theory. The recognition came much later, he won the Nobel in 1994, the honour delayed for a large part of his life he suffered from schizophrenia and delusions.


Dr Manoj Kumar, director, IBM India Research Labs, that is co-hosting the conference confirmed Nash's participation, and said that it was the first time that India was hosting an international conference on Game theory. Other Nobel Laureates Robert Aumann, Lloyd Shapely and Amartya Sen, are also expected to attend. The game theory studies the behaviour of rational decision-makers when they are involved in a subtle mixture of conflict and co-operation with the decision of one impacting the other. The word game stems from the study of parlour games like chess, poker, bridge, where the players devise a strategy based on the other players expected countermoves. The principles of game theory have a far-reaching impact on diverse fields such as auctions, bargaining, finance, social choices, economic research, law, statistics, political science and philosophy.