Born On Your Day
Leonid Hurwicz
Dong Oh (square by Juan Pablo Arancibia Medina), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

scientistTop tier

Leonid Hurwicz

Scientist · born August 21, 1917 · died 2008

XWhatsAppFacebook

About

Leonid Hurwicz was a Polish–American economist and mathematician, known for his work in game theory and mechanism design. He originated the concept of incentive compatibility, and showed how desired outcomes can be achieved by using incentive compatible mechanism design.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Milestones, by age

Dated facts from Wikidata; ages marked “about” come from year-only dates.

  1. ~28Named Guggenheim Fellowship1945
  2. ~73Received the National Medal of Science1990
  3. ~90Received the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel2007

Sources

Every fact on this page traces to one of these.

Sources (2)

Also born on August 21

Leonid's most notable birthday twins

Sergey Brin
billionaire

Sergey Brin

Entrepreneur · Google · technology

1973 · United States

$49.8Bolder estimate, as of 2019 · Forbes

Sergey Mikhailovich Brin is an American computer scientist and businessman who co-founded Google with Larry Page. He was the president of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., until stepping down from the role in 2019.

Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Full profile →

Sources (4)
François Pinault
billionaire

François Pinault

Entrepreneur · Kering

1936 · France

$29.7Bolder estimate, as of 2019 · Forbes

François Henri Joseph Pinault is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Groupe Artémis. In the early 1960s, Pinault started a timber-trading business.

S. Plaine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Full profile →

Sources (3)
Joe Gebbia
billionaire

Joe Gebbia

Founder · Airbnb · hospitality

1981 · United States

$8Bolder estimate, as of 2025 · Forbes

Joseph Gebbia Jr. is an American designer and entrepreneur, and a co-founder of Airbnb. In 2025, he joined the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Gebbia was appointed by President Donald Trump as the first Chief Design Officer to lead the National Design Studio.

Ryan Lowry, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Full profile →

Sources (3)