Robert Solow was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a
Jewish family on August 23, 1924, the oldest of three children. He attended local public school and excelled academically early in life. In September 1940, Solow went to
Harvard College with a scholarship at the age of 16. At Harvard, his first studies were in
sociology and
anthropology as well as elementary economics. He served briefly in
North Africa and
Sicily, and later in Italy until he was discharged in August 1945. Shortly after returning, he proceeded to marry his girlfriend, Barbara Lewis (died 2014), whom he had been dating for six weeks. Solow was the founder of the Cournot Foundation and the Cournot Centre. After the death of his colleague
Franco Modigliani, Solow accepted an appointment as new Chairman of the I.S.E.O Institute, an Italian nonprofit cultural association which organizes international conferences and summer schools. He was a founding trustee of the
Economists for Peace and Security. Solow's students include Nobel Prize winners
Peter Diamond, George Akerlof, Joseph Stiglitz, and William Nordhaus, as well as
Michael Rothschild,
Halbert White,
Charlie Bean,
Michael Woodford, and
Harvey Wagner. Solow was one of the signees of a 2018
amicus curiae brief that expressed support for Harvard University in the
Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College lawsuit. Signers of the brief include
Alan B. Krueger,
George A. Akerlof,
Janet Yellen, and
Cecilia Rouse. Solow was one of the supporters of
Joe Biden's
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Solow died at his home in
Lexington, Massachusetts, on December 21, 2023, at the age of 99. == Model of economic growth ==