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Nobel Prize 2005 in Economic "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis"
Robert John Aumann is a mathematician and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He works at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.
Aumann was awarded the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis". He shared the prize with Thomas Schelling.
Aumann's greatest contribution was in the realm of repeated games, which are situations in which players encounter the same situation over and over again.
Aumann was the first to define the concept of correlated equilibrium in game theory, which is a type of equilibrium in non-cooperative games that is more flexible than the classical Nash equilibrium. Furthermore, Aumann has introduced the first purely formal account of the notion of common knowledge in game theory.
Aumann used Game Theory also to analyze dilemmas.
These are some of the theses of Aumann's Nobel lecture, named "War and Peace":
1. War is not irrational, but must be scientifically studied in order to be understood, and eventually conquered;
2. Repeated game study de-emphasizes the "now" for the sake of the "later";
3. Simplistic peacemaking can cause war, while arms race, credible war threats and mutually assured destruction can reliably prevent war.
Aumann is a member in the Professors for a Strong Israel (PSI), a right-wing political group. Aumann opposed the disengagement from Gaza in 2005 claiming it is a crime against Gush Katif settlers and a serious threat to the security of Israel. Aumann has also appeared extensively on Israeli media claiming that giving land to the Palestinians is wrong based on the science behind game theory.
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