Background Material for John Nash's Independent Discovery of Independence

The paper
Bleichrodt, Han, Chen Li, Ivan Moscati, & Peter P. Wakker “Nash Was a First to Axiomatize Expected Utility”
discusses the independent invention of the independence condition by Nash (1950), simultaneously and independently from Marschak (1950). This website gives background material, being letters supporting the independence of Nash's invention.

  1. Letter from Samuelson to Fishburn of 11 June 1992.
    This letter supports our claim that Nash obtained his idea independently, by writing
    “I now have no memory of 1950 Nash as being in the “independence” act.”
    and
    “Nash was a loner and I know of no “influences” on him.”
    It also mentions Dalkey's interactions with others.
  2. Letters from Wakker to Nash (1 April 1998) and to Fishburn (3 April 1998).
    The first letter I gave in person to Nash when he visited Tilburg University, and the second reports my meeting with him to Peter Fisburn. Nash thought, when writing the independence condition and the expected utility implication, that it was known, and did not realize that he was doing something new.
  3. Letter from Samuelson to Fishburn of 30 July 1991.
    This letter suggests, in point 4, that Rubin helped Marschak, mentions discussions with Dalkey, and writes that Samuelson knows no role of Nash in this.
  4. Letter from Arrow to Fishburn of 5 August 1991.
    This letter suggests interactions between Marschak, Dalkey, Rubin, and Savage, with Nash not mentioned as one of them.
  5. Letter from Arrow to Samuelson of 9 September 1991.
    This letter suggests that Marschak did not develop his idea in isolation but interacted much with young people (Rubin and Chernoff) around, with Nash not mentioned as one of them.
  6. Letter from Dalkey to Fishburn of 10 September 1992.
    This letter suggests that Dalkey (1949) developed the idea of independence by himself.
  7. Letter from Wakker to Fishburn of 19 September 1991.
    It writes “Nash clearly indicates that he got his ideas from von Neumann & Morgenstern.” suggesting that Nash was not affected by others. Unfortunately, at present (29 June 2015) I do not remember which source of information made me write this sentence. It was not direct communication with Nash because in those days that was not possible, him not being in a very good state then.
Last updated: September 29, 2015