Harry Max Markowitz

Nobel Laureate economist who pioneered the idea of a “portfolio” that investors could use to minimize their risks. The theory was that if one were to diversify holdings among several asset classes and levels of risks, then reductions in the value of a particular asset could be offset by gains in other assets. He shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics with William Sharpe and Merton Miller. He currently teaches finance at Baruch College of the City University of New York (1982–).