Thursday, Apr 25, 2024 | Last Update : 06:43 AM IST

  Life   More Features  15 Dec 2016  Nobel-winning economist Thomas Schelling dies at 95

Nobel-winning economist Thomas Schelling dies at 95

PTI
Published : Dec 15, 2016, 8:46 am IST
Updated : Dec 15, 2016, 11:12 am IST

The American was famous for his use of game theory to explain nuclear strategy

Nobel Prize winning economist Thomas Schelling dies at 95 in his home in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo: AFP)
 Nobel Prize winning economist Thomas Schelling dies at 95 in his home in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: A colleague says Nobel Prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling, who used game theory to explain nuclear strategy, has died. Longtime friend and colleague Richard Zeckhauser says Schelling died Tuesday at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. The
former Harvard University and University of Maryland professor was 95.

Schelling was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2005 along with Robert Aumann. The Nobel committee said the economists' work "enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis."

Schelling's work explaining nuclear brinksmanship was part of what inspired director Stanley Kubrick to write his satirical masterpiece "Dr. Strangelove."

Schelling also used game theory to explain why white homeowners fled mixed-race cities for the suburbs. Game theory is the mathematical study of strategies used in competitive
situations. (AP)

Tags: nobel prize, award, thomas schelling, economist