Oskar Morgenstern (January 24, 1902 – July 26, 1977) was an Austrian-American
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
. In collaboration with mathematician
John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest c ...
, he founded the mathematical field of
game theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
as applied to the social sciences and strategic decision-making (see
von Neumann–Morgenstern utility theorem).
Companies he served as founder/co-founder of included Market Research Corporation of America,
Mathematica
Wolfram Mathematica is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allow machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network analysis, time series analysis, NLP, optimiza ...
and Mathematica Policy Research.
Biography
Morgenstern was born in
Görlitz
Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and is the largest town in Upper Lus ...
in the Prussian
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...
. His mother was said to be a daughter of Emperor
Frederick III of Germany.
Morgenstern grew up in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria, where he also went to university. In 1925, he graduated from the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...
and got his PhD in political science. From 1925 until 1928, he went on a three-year fellowship financed by the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...
. After his return in 1928, he became a professor in economics at the University of Vienna until his visit to Princeton University in 1938. In 1935, Morgenstern published the article ''Perfect Foresight and Economic Equilibrium'', after which his colleague
Eduard Čech pointed him to an article of
John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest c ...
, ''Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele'' (1928).
During Morgenstern's visit to
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
took over Vienna during the
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...
, and Morgenstern decided to remain in the United States. He became a member of the faculty at Princeton but gravitated toward the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
. There, he met von Neumann and they collaborated to write ''
Theory of Games and Economic Behavior'', published in 1944, which is recognized as the first book on game theory, a mathematical framework for the study of strategic structures which govern rational decision-making in certain economic, political, and military situations. In 2013, the University of Vienna relocated the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics and named the square Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz in his honor.
The collaboration between economist Morgenstern and mathematician von Neumann led to the birth of entirely new areas of investigation in both mathematics and economics. These have attracted widespread academic and practical interest since that time. In 1944, Morgenstern also became a United States citizen, and four years later he married Dorothy Young, with whom he had two children, Carl and Karin. In 1950, he was elected as a
Fellow of the American Statistical Association
Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...
. Morgenstern remained at Princeton as a professor of economics until his retirement in 1970, at which time he joined the faculty of
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
. Morgenstern wrote many other articles and books, including ''On the Accuracy of Economic Observations'', and ''Predictability of Stock Market Prices'' with subsequent Nobel laureate
Clive Granger.
Morgenstern died in
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...
in 1977. The archive of his published works and unpublished documents is held at
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...
.
In November 2012 a place in
Alsergrund
Alsergrund (; Central Bavarian: ''Oisagrund'') is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (german: 9. Bezirk, Alsergrund). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburb ...
, Vienna was called "Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz"; it is the address of the Faculties of Economics and of Mathematics of the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...
.
Mathematica
In the late 1950s
"Oskar Morgenstern and several of his
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
colleagues" began a "small research organization."
Company names with which he, along with others, were involved
as founders/co-founders included:
* Industrial Surveys Company
* ("which later became") Market Research Corporation of America
*
Mathematica
Wolfram Mathematica is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allow machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network analysis, time series analysis, NLP, optimiza ...
*
Mathematica Policy Research
Mathematica, formerly Mathematica Policy Research, is an American research organization and consulting company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. The company provides data science, social science, and technological services for social polic ...
(MPR)
Bibliography
*
*
*
* Morgenstern, Oskar (1972). "Thirteen Critical Points in Contemporary Economic Theory: An Interpretation," ''Journal of Economic Literature'' 10, no. 4 (December): 1184
: – reprinted in Selected Economic /writings by Oskar Morgenstern, Andrew Schotter, ed. (New York: New York University Press, 1976), p. 288.
*
[ 306 pp. New York: Random House. "In this book, Oskar Morgenstern, the Princeton economist, takes a look at the prospects for American survival and what we are doing to improve them. What he finds should make the angels weep."]
*
*
* Morgenstern, Oskar (1976). "The collaboration between Oskar Morgenstern and John von Neumann on the Theory of Games". ''Journal of Economic Literature'' 14, No. 3 (Sep., 1976), pp. 805-816
: – reprinted in ''Theory of games and economic behaviour — Sixtieth anniversary edition.'' Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, p. 712. .
References
Sources
*
External links
''The Limits of Economics'' William Hodge and Company, London, 1937
Oskar Morgenstern Papers, 1866–1992 and undated Rubenstein Library, Duke University
''Oskar Morgenstern’s Contribution to the Development of the Theory of Games''; Andrew Schotter, Center for Experimental Social Science
''Theory of Games and Economic Behavior'' Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1944
*
Biography of Oskar Morgensternfrom the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Oskar Morgenstern(in German) from the archive of the
Österreichische Mediathek
The Österreichische Mediathek ("Austrian Mediathek") is the Austrian archive for sound recordings and videos on cultural and contemporary history. It was founded in 1960 as Österreichische Phonothek (Austrian Phonothek) by the Ministry of Educat ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgenstern, Oskar
1902 births
1977 deaths
People from Görlitz
People from the Province of Silesia
Emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss
Austrian people of German descent
American people of German descent
German emigrants to the United States
German economists
Game theorists
Princeton University faculty
Rationality theorists
Academics of the University of Vienna
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
Fellows of the Econometric Society
Distinguished Fellows of the American Economic Association
New York University faculty