Editing Paul Samuelson (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Paul Samuelson.jpg|right|thumb|Samuelson in 1997]]
Samuelson was born in [[Gary, Indiana]], on May 15, 1915, to Frank Samuelson, a [[pharmacy|pharmacist]], and Ella {{née}}} Lipton. His family, he later said, was "made up of upwardly mobile [[Jewish]] immigrants from [[Poland]] who had prospered considerably in [[World War&nbsp;I]], because Gary was a brand new steel-town when my family went there".<ref name="NYTs 2009 Dec 13" /> In 1923, Samuelson moved to Chicago where he graduated from Hyde Park High School (now [[Hyde Park Career Academy]]).

Samuelson attended the [[University of Chicago]] as an undergraduate, earning a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1935. He said he was born as an economist at 8:00&nbsp;am on January 2, 1932, in the University of Chicago classroom.<ref name="Econ2009" /> The lecture mentioned as the cause was on the British economist [[Thomas Robert Malthus|Thomas Malthus]], who most famously studied population growth and its effects.<ref name="NYTs 2009 Dec 13" /> Samuelson felt there was a dissonance between [[neoclassical economics]] and the way the system seemed to behave; he said [[Henry Calvert Simons|Henry Simons]] and [[Frank Knight]] were a big influence on him.<ref name="Parker 2002" /> He next completed his [[Master of Arts]] degree in 1936, and his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] in 1941 at [[Harvard University]]. He won the David A. Wells prize in 1941 for writing the best doctoral dissertation at Harvard University in economics, for a thesis titled "Foundations of Analytical Economics", which later turned into ''[[Foundations of Economic Analysis]]''. As a graduate student at Harvard, Samuelson studied economics under [[Joseph Schumpeter]], [[Wassily Leontief]], [[Gottfried Haberler]], and the "American Keynes" [[Alvin Hansen]].

Samuelson moved to MIT as an assistant professor in 1940 and remained there until his death.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1215/00182702-2716118| title = Paul A. Samuelson's Move to MIT| journal = History of Political Economy| volume = 46| page = 60| year = 2014| last1 = Backhouse | first1 = R. E.}}</ref> Samuelson's biographer argues that a central reason for Samuelson's move from Harvard to MIT was the anti-Semitism that was famously widespread at Harvard at the time. In a 1989 letter to his friend [[Henry Rosovsky]], Samuelson blamed anti-Semitism in Harvard economics above all on chair Harold Burbank, as well as on [[Edward Chamberlin]], [[John Henry Williams (economist)|John H. Williams]], [[John D. Black]], and Leonard Crum.<ref name="Backhouse">{{cite book |last1=Backhouse |first1=Roger |title=Founder of Modern Economics: Paul Samuelson, vol. 1: Becoming Samuelson, 1915–1948 |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780190664091 |pages=300–307}}</ref>

Samuelson's family included many well-known economists, including brother [[Robert Summers (economist)|Robert Summers]], sister-in-law [[Anita Summers]], brother-in-law [[Kenneth Arrow]] and nephew [[Larry Summers]].

During his seven decades as an economist, Samuelson's professional positions included:
* Assistant professor of economics at MIT, 1940; associate professor, 1944.
* Member of the Radiation Laboratory 1944–45.
* Professor of international economic relations (part-time) at the [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]] in 1945.
* Guggenheim Fellowship from 1948 to 1949
* Professor of economics at MIT beginning in 1947 and [[List of Institute Professors|Institute Professor]] beginning in 1962.
* Vernon F. Taylor Visiting Distinguished Professor at [[Trinity University (Texas)]] in spring 1989.

===Death===
Samuelson died after a brief illness on December 13, 2009, at the age of 94.<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news | title = Nobel economics laureate Samuelson died at 94 | url = https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BC15620091213 | publisher = Reuters | date=December 14, 2006}}
</ref> His death was announced by the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].<ref name="NYTs 2009 Dec 13" /> [[James M. Poterba]], an economics professor at MIT and the president of the [[National Bureau of Economic Research]], commented that Samuelson "leaves an immense legacy, as a researcher and a teacher, as one of the giants on whose shoulders every contemporary economist stands".<ref name="Reuters" /> [[Susan Hockfield]], the president of MIT, said that Samuelson "transformed everything he touched: the theoretical foundations of his field, the way economics was taught around the world, the ethos and stature of his department, the investment practices of MIT, and the lives of his colleagues and students".<ref name="revo">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6806318/Economics-revolutionary-Paul-Samuelson-dies-aged-94.html "Economics revolutionary Paul Samuelson dies aged 94"], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', December 14, 2009</ref> His second wife died in 2019.