Chapters 3-5 Summary and Analysis

Nash arrived at Princeton in September 1948. He was twenty years old at the time. At this time, America was lagging behind Europe in the areas of mathematics and physics. Princeton was building its faculty in these areas. The Rockefeller Foundation financing allowed the university to recruit top scholars from Europe.

Chapter Four discusses the department at Princeton. Solomon Lefschetz was chairman of the mathematics department at the time. There were no lectures or tests and grades were arbitrary. The faculty engaged in research and supervised student research. The one requirement was that the students have tea with the faculty every day between three and four. The tea was hosted by Mrs. Lefschetz and the wives of the senior faculty.

Chapter Five tells of Nash's first year at Princeton. He showed up regularly at the teas but his attitude implied...