Background
George Akerlof was born in 1940 in New Haven, Connecticut, where his parents, Swedish immigrant Gustav, and German-Jewish descended Rosalie, were both graduate students in chemistry. His father, a research chemist, was involved in the Manhattan Project, as was his maternal uncle, Joseph Hershfelder, a famous physical chemist. This family emphasis on chemistry and physical science led George to feel inferior as a youth to his older brother, Carl, who would become a physicist.