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“Science is exploration–exploration for the sake of exploration, and for nothing else. We must go where our curiosity leads us, we must go where we want to go. And eventually, it is sure to lead us to the beautiful, the important, and the useful."
Robert J. Aumann
Robert J. Aumann, an internationally known researcher in the field of game theory, is City College of New York’s ninth and most recent Nobel Prize winner, sharing the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics with Thomas C. Schelling "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis."
Robert Aumann was born in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Germany, in 1930. He graduated from City College in 1950 with a bachelor’s of science degree in mathematics. Dr. Aumann reflected on his education at City College,
“As is customary in American higher education, in addition to mathematics, I studied many other subjects [at City College]: physics, chemistry, biology, bacteriology, geology, philosophy, English and German literature, history, writing, art, music, public speaking, film...courses [that] left a deep impression.
The best were those with a "hands-on" approach: An example was the course in geology. For three weeks we did nothing but learn the names of various kinds of rock…after that, we never saw the inside of the classroom again; the course consisted exclusively of field trips, all inside New York City and its immediate surroundings, all accessible by public transportation. I will never forget what I learned there–why rivers meander, what makes rocks different, dikes, glaciation, U- and V-shaped valleys, etc. When hiking in Israel and all over the world, I teach these things to my children and grandchildren, who do not have the benefit of such a marvelously broad education.”
Dr. Aumann received his S.M. in 1952 and Ph.D. in 1955 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been on the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Mathematics Department since 1956.
“Science is exploration–exploration for the sake of exploration, and for nothing else. We must go where our curiosity leads us, we must go where we want to go. And eventually, it is sure to lead us to the beautiful, the important, and the useful.
For me, life has been, and still is, one tremendous joyride, one magnificent tapestry. There have been..very bad times...and there have been a lot of very good times: the excitement of research, of groping in the dark and then hitting the light…the satisfaction of teaching…the beauty of a walk in the woods with a four-year-old grandchild…raising a beautiful family.”
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