When Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises died in New York City in 1973 at the age of 92, there was no front-page obituary in the New York Times. But believers in liberty knew that a giant had fallen.

Mises was born in 1881 in the Austro-Hungarian city of Lemberg, the son of a successful engineer. At the age of 19, he entered the University of Vienna, and received his doctorate at 27.

In the intellectually stimulating atmosphere of the University of Vienna, the young Mises studied in the tradition of the founder of the Austrian School, Carl Menger. Mises also attended the seminar of the other giant of the School, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk. Along with teaching, Böhm-Bawerk was finance minister of Austria-Hungary, and he put the School's ideas into practice by balancing the budget and establishing a gold standard.

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)