Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was a Nobel Prize-winning economist born in Gary, Indiana, to upwardly mobile Jewish immigrants from Poland who prospered during World War I in the new steel town. In 1923, his family moved to Chicago, where he graduated from Hyde Park High School (now Hyde Park Career Academy) and began studying economics at the University of Chicago at age 16. He earned a B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1935, followed by an M.A. in 1936 and a Ph.D. in 1941 from Harvard University, where he presented his doctoral thesis. Samuelson joined the faculty at MIT in 1940, becoming an Institute Professor and a pivotal figure in integrating mathematical methods into economic theory, particularly through the neoclassical synthesis of Keynesian and classical economics. He served as president of the International Economic Association in 1965 and influenced U.S. government policy by interpreting Keynesian economics. Samuelson was recognized for elevating scientific analysis in economic theory, authoring numerous influential works, including his seminal textbook 'Economics'.