Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

PBS aired "A Brilliant Madness" last night on the American Experience program. This is a documentary about the life of mathematician John Nash. Nash was the subject of the recent movie "A Beautiful Mind." In addition to being a brilliant mathematician Nash also has battled schizophrenia throughout his much of his life.

His career was destroyed by his disease and one of the most brilliant minds in America was apparently lost. Nash later, as he put it in his own words, "willed" away his hallucinations and was taken back in by his former wife and colleagues. Nash stopped taking his anti psychotic medicine a decade before his colleagues realized it and long before he improved.

Nash now teaches at Princeton where he once taught before the onset of his disease and where after he came back to "society" he wandered the libraries as a mysterious figure in red Chuck Taylors for 10 years. He solved many very difficult mathematical equations and was known for scribbling tiny writing on chalkboards and consuming the entire space.

Eventually as his mental state improved his teaching status was restored (and I did not know this, but it is common for schizophrenia patients to improve after a LONG time, the reasons are not understood.) Nash received a Nobel prize for his work on game theory as it pertains to global economics in 1994.

It was a very good documentary and of course a very interesting subject. For more great info, including an interview with Nash, an explanation of his game theory, a forum and more check the linked PBS site. (Also look for air dates there, I am not sure if and or when the program is going to re-air.)   A Brilliant Madness: PBS