In memory of John and Alicia Nash|鄒至莊

美國著名數學家、諾貝爾經濟學獎得主納殊（John Nash），與妻子在新澤西州遇上車禍喪生。鄒至莊特撰文悼念這位一代傑出學者。

（美國著名數學家、諾貝爾經濟學獎得主納殊（John Nash），與妻子在新澤西州遇上車禍喪生。鄒至莊特撰文悼念這位一代傑出學者。）

The shocking news that Princeton mathematician John Nash and his wife Alicia passed away suddenly on last Saturday spread quickly in the US media. They were involved in an automobile accident when the taxi driver was hit while trying to pass another car on New Jersey turnpike on their way home from Norway after receiving the most distinguished Able Prize in mathematics. I learned about this tragic event when I tried to use my computer to get to the internet through the Princeton University website but the news was already in the website at noon on Sunday.

President Christopher Eisgruber had the following to say:

“We are stunned and saddened by news of the untimely passing of John Nash and his wife and great champion, Alicia…Both of them were very special members of the Princeton University community.”

Paula and I saw John Nash soon after we arrived at Princeton University in 1970. He walked around Princeton streets not paying attention to any people around him. He would take the dinky train from Princeton to Princeton Junction aimlessly back and forth. Most people in Princeton recognized him and his strange behavior but no one spoke to him other than a very few Princeton colleagues including Prof Harrold Kuhn of the Department of Economics and Mathematics.

His life suddenly changed when the news came that he was to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994. He became fairly normal all of a sudden and Paula and I soon became his friends. He began coming to the events of the Economics Department, including our seminars, social events and events sponsored by various research programs or research centers of our Department. The last time Paula and I talked with the Nash’s was to share a table at a dinner party on March 27 sponsored by the Center from Economic Policy Studies (CEPS). We congratulated him for the Able Prize in mathematics.

If one did not know his achievements in mathematics and economics one would find him a friendly and quite ordinary person. He could get along with people easily.

Paula, who worked with international students on campus, sometimes responded to students request and asked him to talk with them and to have pictures taken with them. He and Alicia always obliged and spoke with them gently.

鄒至莊

普林斯頓大學名譽政治經濟學教授與經濟學教授。在經濟學的多個領域都有所建樹，共出版專著17部，發表論文超過200篇。在計量經濟學方面有著名的「鄒氏檢驗」（Chow Test），在西方經濟學界開創了研究耐用品需求函數的先河，並提出動態經濟學的譜分析方法和最有控制方法。他在80年代初十分關注中國的經濟改革問題，是最早參與中國經濟改革進程、研究中國經濟問題的海外學者之一。1989年美國《教育經濟學報》「全球經濟學家排行榜」名列第28位，在華裔經濟學家中排名最高。1993年美國密歇根大學經濟學俱樂部評選「29位偉大的經濟學家」，排名第8，是唯一上榜的華裔學者。早在1985年在南開大學出版了其專著《中國經濟》。2008年全球經濟危機後出版《中國經濟隨筆》等書。