Oskar Morgenstern was born in Gorlitz, Germany. He taught at the University of Vienna from 1928 to 1938 and directed the Austrian Institute of Business Cycle Research from 1931 to 1938. When the Germans took over Austria in 1938 he moved to the United States, taught at Princeton University (full professor 1944), and from 1948 directed its econometric research program. From 1955 to 1957, he was advisor to the US Atomic Energy Commission and in 1959-1960 was White House advisor on atomic energy matters. Morgenstern published many books, his main fields of expertise being econometrics and business cycles.