"He is a mathematical genius."
So ends a recommendation letter written for the late John Forbes Nash, Jr., who was applying to attend Prince University's graduate college in 1948. The famed mathematician, whose life was the subject of Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind, is globally recognized for his research in game theory, as well as his struggle with schizophrenia. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994.
[seealso slug="math-exam-gcse-question"]
The letter, which is dated Feb. 11, 1948 was written by well-known mathematician Richard J. Duffin, who kept it short and to the point:
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Posted by Princeton University on Thursday, June 4, 2015
Princeton published the letter online Thursday.
John and his wife Alicia Nash died in a car accident in New Jersey late last month.