| John Forbes Nash, Jr. (played by Russell Crowe in the film) was a child prodigy. While other boys his age were playing childhood games, John was reading E.T. Bell’s Men of Mathematics. Learning more at home than he did at school, the young lad was able to solve some of math’s most difficult problems.
Studying at Princeton University, Nash was undaunted by other brilliant students and professors. At twenty-one, he wrote a doctoral thesis which eventually made him a Nobel Laureate.
Falling in love with Alicia Larde (Jennifer Connelly), one of his graduate students at M.I.T., Nash married and soon had a son, John Charles Martin Nash. The family's world, however, had already fallen apart. John Nash, thirty-year-old mathematician, was now John Nash, paranoid schizophrenic.
Time passed. Two decades which might have been devoted to consistent, on-going mathematical work slipped away. But even while Nash was unable to run a classroom, he still produced amazing results in his chosen field.
Alicia, Princeton and John’s family and friends stood by him. They gave him love and provided a familiar environment. Then, accomplishing what so few people have ever been able to do, Nash willed himself to get well.
In 1994, at the age of 66, he shared the Nobel for work he did as a graduate student. Most of his colleagues have said that his dissertation, for which he was honored, is far less sophisticated than his later work.
In this story behind the movie, meet John Nash and Alicia Larde Nash. Watch a video in which the famous professor explains the influence of mathematics in his life - and how he viewed such things even when he was ill.
Take a trip to Princeton to see what life was like for Nash when he studied at that university. Hear what he had to say when he won the Nobel Prize.
Learn about paranoid schizophrenia. Examine what scientists have determined about its development and treatment. And ... discover how the condition impacts the person who has it and the lives of friends and family who try to be supportive.
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