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Leonid "Leo" Hurwicz (born August 21, 1917) is an American economist and mathematician who is known to fifty years of students as a professor and to his peers as the researcher who originated incentive compatibility and mechanism design, which are used in economics, social science and political science to achieve desired outcomes. Interactions of individuals and institutions, markets and trade are analyzed and understood today using the models Hurwicz developed. A man of commanding intellect, Hurwicz is described as calm and humble. He loves to teach and to connect with people and is admired for thinking of others as equals. Hurwicz is Regents’ Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Minnesota. He is among the first economists to recognize the value of game theory and is a pioneer in its application. Hurwicz shared the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson for their work on mechanism design. Hurwicz's interests include mathematical economics and modeling and the theory of the firm. His published works in these fields date back to 1944. He is internationally renowned for his pioneering research on economic theory, particularly in the areas of mechanism and institutional design and mathematical economics. (Full article)