US game theory specialists win Nobel prize in economics

Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson awarded prize 26 years after game theory scholar John Nash

The Nobel prize for economics was awarded on Monday to two US game theory specialists, 26 years after John Nash - the Princeton academic depicted by Russell Crowe in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind - won for his groundbreaking work on the same subject.

Americans Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson won for the designs of mathematical models that promote improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats", said Goran K Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.