Gérard Debreuwas a French-born American economist and mathematician. Best known as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he began work in 1962, he won the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics... (wikipedia)
The dark outside world of Paris under German occupation exerted a strong containing pressure.
I had become interested in economics, an interest that was transformed into a lifetime dedication when I met with the mathematical theory of general economic equilibrium.
In the mid-'60s in Berkeley, the theory of measure spaces of economic agents became one of my main interests.
The Cowles Commission was the optimal environment for the type of research that I wanted to do.
The small size of each entering class and the strict admission procedures helped to create a superheated intellectual atmosphere.