US mathematician John Nash, who inspired the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind, has died in a car crash, local media has reported.
Nash, 86, and his wife Alicia were both killed when their taxi crashed in New Jersey, the reports said.
The mathematician is renowned for his work in game theory, winning the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994.
Nash, 86, and his wife Alicia were both killed when their taxi crashed in New Jersey, the reports said.
The mathematician is renowned for his work in game theory, winning the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994.
His breakthroughs in maths – and his struggles with schizophrenia – were the focus of the film.
Russell Crowe, who played him in the film, tweeted: “Stunned… My heart goes out to John & Alicia & family. An amazing partnership. Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.”
Alicia Nash helped care for her husband, and the two later became prominent mental health advocates.
Media reports said the couple may not have been wearing seatbelts when they crashed.
Nash married Alicia Larde in 1957, when he was a rising star in the maths world.
But he developed severe schizophrenia soon after, and Alicia had him committed several times, with the pair divorcing in 1962.
They stayed close, and his condition had begun to improve by the 1980s. The two remarried in 2001.
Earlier this week, Nash received the Abel Prize, another top honour in the field of mathematics, reports the BBC.