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I was watching the movie, "A Beautiful Mind", in which John Nash walks into the Pentagon, looks at a board having codes and deciphers them.

I am quite skeptical about the way the scene is portrayed in the movie. Did Nash actually decipher such complex codes?

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Are you asking about the validity of the scene itself or if Dr. Nash did code breaking in general? – rob Jun 7 '12 at 14:45

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I know Wikipedia isn't a great source, but in this case, Wikipedia seems to have good references, so I'm going to quote Wikipedia because it's concise.

John Nash never worked for the Pentagon, so he never would have had the chance to do that, as portrayed in the film.

Wikipedia says this:

...in real life Nash spent his years between Princeton and MIT as a consultant for the RAND Corporation in California, in the film he is portrayed as having worked for the Pentagon instead. (Source: A Beautiful Mind DVD Commentary)

Further information about Nash's career can be found on the wikipedia page specifically about John Forbes Nash, Jr.

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You may want to check Wikipedia's sources - that's what we are here for :-) – Sklivvz♦ Jun 6 '12 at 17:46
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It is true he worked for RAND, I have read Nasar's book. However, if you look up RAND in Wikipedia you will find that RAND first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces ... so the movie is not way off in this regard. We're talking about RAND as it was in the 50's. – rwst Jun 7 '12 at 14:31
I'm trying to recall as it has been awhile since I've seen the movie but I don't think that they said he worked for the Pentagon merely that he was at the Pentagon so on that grounds the scene is still plausible. Additionally, the question to me reads more like they are asking if he actually did any code breaking in general. – rob Jun 7 '12 at 14:44
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@RobZ: My initial recollection was that his working for the gov't was all in his head. But wikipedia says the movie portrays him as working "for the Pentagon." shrug – Flimzy Jun 7 '12 at 15:48
As RAND does some consulting for the pentagon he might have been effectively being employed by RAND and at the same time working for the pentagon. – Christian Jun 11 '12 at 10:46
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