Was a math grad student at Princeton in the early 80’s. As it turned out, I was “tea chairman”, which meant that I was in charge with overseeing the daily tea during my 2nd year there. I got this “honor” just because I passed my oral exams before everybody else due to arbitrary scheduling.
Nash liked to hang out in the tea room. Although we all knew he did some amazing things years before, not too many people acknowledged him back then.
I was glad when a couple of years later he would tilt his head at me when I returned after getting my PhD. He did this several times for me.
The two of us liked to spend time in Fine Hall’s large and mostly unoccupied tea room during other times besides the 4pm tea time.
He was the real thing in regards to what he did. Really was.
Forgot to say, that he died in a taxi ride on his return from Norway after getting the Abel Prize. This is a lifetime award that should be thought of as a Nobel Prize for math. There is no Nobel Prize for math. He shared this award with Nirenberg, who flew back from Norway with Nash and his wife from Norway. So tragic.
So you yourself knew Nash?