He has studied a wide range of subjects in economic theory, such as game theory, the economics of incentives, and contract theory. He is particularly well known for his work on mechanism design/implementation theory and dynamic games. His current research projects include comparing different rules for elections, the causes of inequality and studying coalition formation. He is a Fellow of the "American Academy of Arts and Sciences", "Econometric Society", and the "European Economic Association", and a Corresponding Fellow of the "British Academy". He was president of the "Econometric Society" in 2003.
Maskin suggested that software patents make new inventions difficult. Software, semiconductor, and computer industries have made many inventions in the past when patent laws have been weak, he argued. "In the 1980s when patent protection was extended to software," wrote Maskin. "Arguments predicted that productivity should have increased among patenting firms." Maskins ideas that this would not happen were correct. "These increases did not occur."
Roger Myerson
Roger Bruce Myerson (born 29 March 1951) is an American economist and co-winner, with Leonid Hurwicz and Eric Maskin, of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory." He has made contributions as an economist, as an applied mathematician, and as a political scientist.
Roger Myerson was born on March 29, 1951 to a Jewish family. He attended Harvard University, where he received his A.B., S.M. (1973), and Ph.D. (1976), all in applied mathematics. From 1976 to 2001, he was a professor of economics at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Currently, he is the Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago.
Among his scientific contributions to game theory and mechanism design, the following are noteworthy:
He wrote a general textbook on game theory in 1991, and has also written on the history of game theory, including his review of the origins and significance of noncooperative game theory.
Myerson has worked on economic analysis of political institutions and written several major survey papers:
His recent work on democratization has raised critical questions about American policy in occupied Iraq.
Myerson has published the following books:
Mario Capecchi
Mario Renato Capecchi (born 6 October 1937) is an Italian-born American molecular geneticist. He won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.
Capecchi is Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics and Biology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, which he joined in 1973.
Mario Capecchi was born in the Italian city of Verona in 1937. His father, Luciano Capecchi, was an Italian airman who was reported as missing in action in the Western Desert Campaign. His mother, Lucy Ramberg, was the American-born daughter of Impressionist painter Lucy Dodd Ramberg and German archaeologist Walter Ramberg. During World War II, his mother was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, as punishment for handing out pamphlets and belonging to an anti-Fascist group. Before her arrest she had sold her belongings and gave the money to a poor family near Bolzano, to give her son a place to live. After a year, the money was spent and the family was unable to care for him. At four-and-a-half years old he was left to live on the streets of northern Italy for the next four years, living in various orphanages and roving through towns with groups of other homeless children.
He almost died of hunger. His mother had been freed from Dachau and began a year-long search for him. She finally found him in a hospital bed in Reggio Emilia, ill with a fever and living one bowl of chicory coffee and bread crust each day. She took him to Rome, where he had his first bath in six years.
In 1946 his uncle, Edward Ramberg, an American physicist at RCA, sent his mother money to return to the United States. Mario and his mother moved to Pennsylvania to live at a cooperative community which had been started by his uncle.
In 1960 Capecchi came to MIT as a graduate student to study physics and mathematics, but he soon became interested in molecular biology. He moved to Harvard to join the laboratory of James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the shape of DNA. Capecchi received his PhD in biophysics in 1967 from Harvard University.
In 1973 he joined the faculty at the University of Utah. Since 1988 Capecchi has also been an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has taught for Duke University's Program in Genetics and Genomics.
After the Nobel committee announced that Capecchi had won the Nobel prize, an Austrian woman named Marlene Bonelli claimed that Capecchi was her long-lost half-brother, which he acknowledged was true.
Mario Capecchi is known for his work in gene targeting of the mouse embryonic stem cells. This helped him and others study how genes work. The work includes cloning and genetic changing. The work on gene targeting and knockout mice won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies.
Dr. Capecchi has also pursued a systematic analysis of the mouse Hox gene family. This gene family is controls embryonic development in all multicellular animals (metazoa).
Wizard
A wizard, magician, sorceror or sorceress is a fictional or mythical person who uses magic. This ability to use magic may be due to innate ability, training, or both. Wizards are often depicted as having a special connection to supernatural beings, such as gods or fairies, or as such supernatural beings themselves.
Merlin from the Arthurian legends is one of the most well-known wizard characters.
Wizards have been portrayed as both evil and good. Dumbledore (from the Harry Potter series) and Gandalf (from Tolkien's Middle Earth) are fictional examples of "good" wizards. Voldemort and Saruman are corresponding examples of "evil" wizards.
Wizards are often depicted as old men with long, flowing beards, and wearing a large-brimmed hat, a thick cloak and holding a staff. This may be due to descriptions of Odin the Wanderer, a god from Norse mythology who often disguised himself thus, in order to pass through the lands of men unnoticed.
Wizards, when they are named thus, are almost always portrayed as male, but some fictional or mythical female characters seem to play the same role, sometimes as a foil character to a male wizard or other character. Notable examples include Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legends, and Circe from Greek mythology.
Nowadays, the term "wizard" is also used for someone whose accomplishments are due to unusual skill or creativity. Thomas Edison, the noted American inventor, was nicknamed "the Wizard of Menlo Park."
Kaunas
Kaunas, also known by several other names, is the second biggest city in Lithuania and used to be a temporary capital. Kaunas is found at the point where the two biggest Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris, meet. It is also near the Kaunas Lagoon, the largest body of water in Lithuania.
In 1361, Kaunas was first mentioned in annals of the Teutonic Knights. The knights were preparing to attack Kaunas Castle.
In 1408, Vytautas the Great gave the city Magdeburg Rights.
Warp drive
Warp drive (also called warp technology) is hypothetical technology created in science fiction. It is a way of moving objects faster than the speed of light. There are many examples of how this idea is used. A well-known one is found in the "Star Trek" universe, where faster-than-light travel is needed to tell the story.