‘Beautiful Mind’ mathmetician John Nash killed in NJ car crash

The American mathematician whose works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations have provided insight into the factors that govern chance and events inside complex systems of daily life was killed in a car crash. John Nash and his wife, died Saturday after a car accident according to reports from the New Jersey State Police.

The couple was riding in a taxi near Monroe Township when the incident occurred, State Police Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Williams said. The taxi driver lost control while trying to pass another car, Williams said.

John Forbes Nash Jr photo/ Peter Badge

The car crashed into the guard rail, and they were ejected from the vehicle. They were both pronounced dead at the scene, Williams said.

The taxi driver, Tarek Girgis, was flown to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening. A passenger in the other car was transported to the hospital complaining of neck pain.

Nash, 86, is widely regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. His wife, Alicia, 82, was an MIT physics major from an aristocratic Salvadoran family, has been credited with saving his life after schizophrenia derailed his career in the 1960s, letting him into her home and looking after him even after they divorced in 1963.

As the couple’s biographer, Sylvia Nasar, wrote in the 1998 book A Beautiful Mind, which was adapted into an Oscar winning film in 2001, starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly.

“RIP Brilliant #NobelPrize winning John Nash & and his remarkable wife Alicia. It was an honor telling part of their story #ABeautifulMind,” director Ron Howard tweeted.

Crowe expressed condolences to the family on Twitter, calling the couple an “amazing partnership” with “beautiful minds” and “beautiful hearts.”