Alicia Nash

Alicia Nash
Nash in 2006
Born Alicia Esther Lardé Lopez-Harrison
(1933-01-01)January 1, 1933
San Salvador, El Salvador
Died May 23, 2015(2015-05-23) (aged 82)
Monroe Township, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Spouse(s)
Children 1

Alicia Esther Nash (née Lardé Lopez-Harrison; January 1, 1933 – May 23, 2015) was a Salvadoran-American physicist. The wife of mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr., she was a mental-health care advocate, who gave up her professional aspirations to support her husband and son who were both diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Her life with Nash was chronicled in the 1998 book, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, as well as in the 2001 film of the same title, in which she was portrayed by Jennifer Connelly.[1][2]

Personal life

Alicia Lardé Lopez-Harrison was born January 1, 1933 in El Salvador, the daughter of Alicia (née Lopez-Harrison) and Carlos Lardé, a doctor. The Lardé family also included two boys, Carlos and Rolando Lardé. Both of her parents came from socially prominent, well travelled families who spoke several languages. Her aunt was the poet Alice Lardé de Venturino; her paternal grandfather was Jorge Lardé, a chemical engineer.[3]

When Lardé was a child, her father traveled to the United States a few times before deciding to move the family there permanently in 1944. After first settling in Biloxi, Mississippi, the family later moved to New York City.[4] Lardé was accepted to the Marymount School with the help of a letter of recommendation from El Salvador's Ambassador to the United States. Following graduation from Marymount, Lardé was accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to study physics. She was one of very few women studying at MIT in the 1950s. It was there she met her future husband, John Forbes Nash, Jr..[4]

Despite signs of Nash's mental illness which had emerged in the early 1950s,[5][6] the couple married in 1957. She became pregnant with their son John Charles Martin Nash[6] (who also has schizophrenia)[4] in 1958, and shortly before the birth in 1959, John was committed into McLean Hospital in order to receive psychiatric treatment for his illness.[6] After spending 50 days in hospital, he was released,[4] but was recommitted three times over the next few years against his will by his sister.[5] The couple divorced in 1963, but when John's mother died in 1968, he pressed her to allow him to return to live with her. In 1970, he moved in and she continued to help take care of her then ex-husband; the couple remarried in 2001.[4]

Career

After graduation from M.I.T., Nash went to work for the Brookhaven Nuclear Development Corporation as a lab physicist. In the early 1960s, she worked for RCA as an aerospace engineer, but was laid off. She then worked for years at Con Edison as a system programmer and later for the New Jersey Transit system as a computer programmer and data analyst.[4][5] She was a member of numerous women's engineering societies. When the film A Beautiful Mind was released, Nash was serving as president of M.I.T.'s Alumni Association Board.[7]

Mental health advocacy

Nash became a spokesperson about schizophrenia and mental illness. In 2005 she was given the Luminary Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. She traveled around the country to discuss rights for those with mental illness, and in 2009 she met with New Jersey state lawmakers to discuss how to improve that state's mental health care system. In 2012, she was honored at the University of Texas at Austin’s John and Alicia Nash Conference for her support of those with mental illness, where she delivered the keynote address.[8][9][10]

Death

Alicia and her husband were killed in a car crash on the New Jersey Turnpike on May 23, 2015, near Monroe Township, New Jersey. They were on their way home after a visit to Norway, where her husband had been awarded the Abel Prize. The driver of the taxicab they were riding in from Newark Airport lost control of the cab and struck a guardrail. Both passengers were ejected and killed.[11][12][13][14][15]

Portrayal in media

Nash was portrayed by Jennifer Connelly in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind. For her performance, Connelly won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, mentioning Nash during her acceptance speech.[2][16]

References

  1. ↑ "Alicia Nash’s beautiful, complex, rebellious life", Toronto Star, May 29, 2015; accessed May 30, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Funeral for John Nash and wife to be private; Alumni group plans memorial", nj.com, May 26, 2015; accessed May 27, 2015.
  3. ↑ Alicia Nash biography accessed 5/27/2015
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vásquez, Verónica; Guerrero, Francisca (22 March 2002). "Alicia Lardé de Nash: Refugio de un Genio" [Alicia Lardé Nash: Refuge of a genius] (in Spanish). Antiguo Cuscatlan, El Salvador: La Prensa Gráfica. pp. 118–119. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Didion, Joan (April 23, 1998). "Varieties of Madness". New York City, New York: The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 The Lost Years of a Nobel Laureate accessed 5/27/2015
  7. ↑ Alicia Nash was loyal heart accessed 5/28/2015
  8. ↑ UTA Symposium Archived 2015-05-29 at the Wayback Machine. accessed 5/29/2015
  9. ↑ John Nash and family advocate for mental health care accessed 5/28/2015
  10. ↑ Alicia Nash dies at 82 accessed 5/28/2015
  11. ↑ Ma, Myles (May 23, 2015). "Famed 'A Beautiful Mind' mathematician John Nash, wife still live in Princeton NJ say". NJ.com. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  12. ↑ "'A Beautiful Mind' mathematician John Nash, wife killed in crash". USA News. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  13. ↑ "'Beautiful Mind' mathematician John Nash killed in crash". BBC News. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Princeton mathematician John Nash and his wife, Alicia, are killed in a car accident". QUARTZ. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  15. ↑ "John Nash, mathematician who inspired 'A Beautiful Mind', killed in car crash". Reuters.com. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  16. ↑ Academy Awards database accessed 5/30/2015

Further reading

  • A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, 1998 ISBN 978-1-4516-2842-5
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