As numerous news sources reported today, two game theorists—one an economist, the other a mathematician, were awarded the Nobel Prize in economics yesterday. According to its press release, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences “award[ed] the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2005, jointly to Robert J. Aumann, Center for Rationality, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and Thomas C. Schelling, Department of Economics and School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA, ‘for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis’.”

By the way, a great online resource on game theory for educators, students, professionals, and “geeks” (at least that’s what the web site says) can be found at GameTheory.net.

There’s plenty of interactive materials and games available for game theory enthusiasts, and even links to references to game theory in popular culture.