News Release
SYLVIA NASAR RECEIVES
JPBM COMMUNICATIONS AWARD
Contact at AMS: Dr. John H. Ewing,
AMS Executive Director
e-mail: jhe@ams.org
telephone: 401-455-4100
fax: 401-331-3842
January 20, 2000
PROVIDENCE, RI --- Sylvia Nasar has received the 2000
Communications Award of the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics. This award
honors outstanding works that communicate mathematics to the general public.
The award will be presented at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC
on January 20, 2000.
Nasar is being recognized for her book A Beautiful Mind (Simon & Schuster,
1998), a biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr. Nash is a mathematician who
received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994. The award citation says: "Based
on extensive research, the vivid, beautifully written account of the life of
the troubled mathematical genius provides rare insight into the world of
academic research in mathematics. By portraying the mathematical culture at
several leading institutions and explaining the significance of John Nash's
contributions in game theory, geometry, and analysis, Sylvia Nasar has given
the general public a glimpse into the world of mathematical research and an
understanding of its impact on society."
Nasar has been writing about economics for many years, first at Fortune and US
News & World Report, and, in the past decade, at the New York Times. A
Beautiful Mind, Nasar's first book, won the 1998 National Book Critic's prize
for biography and many other accolades. She is now working on her second book,
about great 20th century economic thinkers.
Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, the
30,000-member American Mathematical Society fulfills its mission through
programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses,
strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of
mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.
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