Oskar Morgenstern

Who was Oskar Morgenstern?

Oskar Morgenstern was a German-born economist. He was a prominent member of the Austrian School of Economics before the Second World War and later, in collaboration with mathematician John von Neumann, he founded the mathematical field of game theory and its application to economics.

Morgenstern was born in Görlitz, Germany. His mother was said to be an illegitimate daughter of Emperor Frederick III of Germany.

Morgenstern grew up in Vienna, Austria, where he also went to university. in 1925 he graduated from the University of Vienna and got his PhD in political science. From 1925 until 1928 he went on a three year fellowship financed by the Rockefeller Foundation. 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 a colleague of him, Eduard Čech pointed him to an article of John von Neumann, Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele. During Morgenstern's visit to Princeton University, Adolf Hitler took over Vienna through the Anschluss Österreichs 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. There, he met the mathematician John 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. Game Theory is a mathematical framework for the study of strategic structures which govern rational decision-making in certain economic, political and military situations.