Robert John Aumann Israeli-American mathematician, member of the US National Academy of Sciences Date of Birth: 08.06.1930 Country: USA

1. Biography of Robert John Aumann
2. Early Life and Education
3. Academic Career
4. Nobel Prize and Political Views
5. Personal Life

Biography of Robert John Aumann

Robert John Aumann is an Israeli-American mathematician and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He currently holds a professorship at the Center for the Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and regularly lectures at Stony Brook University, where he co-founded the Center for Game Theory in Economics. Aumann is also a Nobel laureate.

Early Life and Education

Aumann was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 1938, his family fled to the United States just two weeks before the infamous Kristallnacht. In New York, he attended a Jewish school and later enrolled in the City College of New York. In 1950, Aumann earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics, followed by a master's degree in 1952, and a Ph.D. in 1955. He completed his bachelor's degree at the City College of New York and pursued further education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Academic Career

In 1956, Robert Aumann joined the faculty of mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and became an invited professor at Stony Brook University. Aumann made significant contributions to the study of repeated games, which are games in which participants encounter the same situations periodically. He was the first to introduce the concept of correlated equilibrium into game theory, which is a more general idea compared to the existing Nash equilibrium. Aumann collaborated with Michael Maschler on applying game theory to analyze complex problems in the Talmud, successfully solving the "division problem" - a story about how the inheritance of a deceased husband was divided among his three wives according to a complicated principle. A separate article was published on this problem, which Aumann dedicated to his son, Shlomo, who was killed during the 1982 Lebanon War.

Nobel Prize and Political Views

Aumann was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contributions to the use of game theory in analyzing conflicts and confrontations. In his Nobel lecture, titled "War and Peace," he argued that wars are entirely rational, can be studied, and can be completely prevented after thorough research. Trivial peacekeeping operations can be ineffective and even lead to new conflicts, whereas arms races, periodic threats, and the assurance of mutual destruction in the event of war can significantly reduce the probability of actual hostilities. Aumann has always been actively interested in politics and even belonged to the "Professors for a Strong Israel" movement. In 2005, he opposed the disengagement in the Gaza Strip, considering it a crime against the local settlers and a serious threat to the country's security. Using the so-called "blackmailer's paradox," he was able to mathematically prove that giving land to the Arabs is foolish. Aumann's political views almost cost him the Nobel Prize, as a petition to revoke his award garnered 1000 signatures from around the world.

Personal Life

In April 1955, Robert Aumann married Esther Schlesinger, with whom he had five children. Esther passed away in October 1998 from ovarian cancer. In November 2005, Aumann married Esther's sister, Batya Cohn.