Kenneth Joseph Arrow was born in New York City on August 23, 1921. He received a bachelor's degree in social science and in mathematics from City College. He did his graduate work at Columbia University. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He taught at Harvard University from 1968 to 1979 and at Stanford University until retiring in 1991.
He was an economist who was known for his contributions to mathematical economics. He wrote numerous books including Social Choice and Individual Values and Social Choice and Multicriterion Decision-Making written with Herve Raynaud. Arrow and John R. Hicks received the 1972 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for their work in welfare economics and the theory of social choice. In 2004, Arrow received the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor. He died on February 21, 2017 at the age of 95.
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