An Unlikely Path

In April 1905, the Nobel Peace Prize award committee received an application from Leon Walras, then a retired professor from the University of Lausanne. As in 1905 he had submitted it after the deadline, he applied again, unsuccessfully, in 1906. A persever­ing man, he tried again in 1907, but his “La paix par la justice sociale et le libre echange” (“Peace by means of social justice and free trade”) failed to convince the committee. Neither dementia nor foolish ambition led Walras to this, but rather his belief in a con­sistent, fundamental scientific project. Walras was convinced that he had supplied the necessary tools to rid the world of poverty, and of the clash between social classes, he had provided, or so he thought, a scientific answer to the social question.