Fischer Black and the revolutionary idea of finance

The title of my post today is the name of book I have read recently. For those of you uninitiated, Black is the one behind Black-Scholes formula. He missed Nobel prize because he died at a age(57) before his work received Nobel prize (received by his co inventors- Scholes and Merton). This man had no prior knowledge in economics and finance until he met Treynor who remained his mentor for rest of life. I am deeply impressed by this biography of Black. It took 7 years for author Perry Mehrling to put together this fine biography of Black.

Fischer- the man who was maverick, he did not believe any theory or any idea until he assimilated it himself by his own thinking process. The man who took cereals with orange juice instead of milk. The mind who impressed everyone he met. The man who took time for research after office hours and the weekend hours. The non academician who was pulled towards academics but came back to industry again- when he realized that his ideas and theories were way too ahead of time and people's minds. At least in industry he can work on recent issues and needs. The man whose office in MIT Boston( when he was a professor for a while) overlooked charles river. But he chose to close the window and put his rack of books in front of it and sat on his chair with back towards it. He worked and researched alone for hours together in locked rooms. Even his receptionist who sat outside his room could call him only when needed.

I saw a passion and enthusiasm in Black for his work which was unseen by me before. No wonder when throat cancer was detected in him, the first thought in his mind was to complete his planned book on business cycles before he die. I thought people think about family when their time is counted. He was able to get the book in print before he died called Business Cycles and Equilibrium

I learned many things from the life of this great man- primarily that strong belief on your mind and thinking is supreme for going a long way in your life. In his short life, he has given to finance academia and industry far more than many intellectuals.