The Nation / DPA
May 25, 2015

John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician whose life and struggles with schizophrenia was the subject of the Oscar-winning movie A Beautiful Mind, has died in a car crash,US police confirmed Sunday.

New Jersey police told DPA that both Nash, 86, and his wife, Alicia,82, were killed after a car crash. They were in a taxi traveling along the New Jersey Turnpike when the driver lost control, reported the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Police said the couple was ejected from the car, which has led to speculation they were not wearing seat belts.

Nash was on his way home from the airport after returning from a trip to Norway, where he had accepted the Abel Prize, which is given for achievements in mathematics.

Nash was best known in the field of mathematics for his work in game theory and won the 1994 Nobel economics prize. However, his struggles with schizophrenia that inspired A Beautiful Mind provided him with an even wider measure of fame.

Russell Crowe, who portrayed Nash in the film, wrote on Twitter:"Stunned...my heart goes out to John & Alicia & family. An amazing partnership. Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts."

Nash was born on June 13, 1928, in Bluefield, West Virginia, a small town in the Appalachians. He spent most of his academic career at Princeton University in New Jersey and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mathematician John Nash killed in car crash - The Nation