Jim writes: > I am told that Alfred Nobel's wife had an > affair with a mathematician, so that when > the inventor of dynamite decided to endow > his famous Prize, he specifically stated that > mathematicians shouldn't get rewarded. > > But the historically more recent invention of > the "Nobel" in "economic sciences" shows the > ability to find loopholes: mathematicians could > be rewarded for their alleged contributions to > economics. John Nash, along with John Harsanyi > and Reinhardt Selten, seem obvious examples. Maurice > Allais and Gerard Debreu are others.
Damn. That means I will have to content myself with a Nobel Prize in Economics, not in Mathematics. Joking aside, I was told that the above story is a hoax. You never know though! You can expect anything from these weird mathematicians. Sabri
