Srinivasa Ramanujan! This man knows no introduction for he is the one who pioneered in mathematics, made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series & continued fractions.
While he lived only 32 years & left the world in 1920, he discovered ‘Infinity’.
He was “discovered” by G. H. Hardy and J. E. Littlewood, two world-class mathematicians at Cambridge. Ramanujan enjoyed an extremely fruitful period of collaboration with them from 1914 to 1919.
Unfortunately, his mathematical career was curtailed with his health problems; he returned to India and died when he was only 32 years old.
A son of a clerk from Erode, he stunned the world with his mathematics prowess.
Later he became one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society & was the only second Indian to enjoy the esteemed honour.
In 1841, Ardaseer Cursetjee, a shipbuilder and engineer was the first Indian to be elected to the Royal Society
In fact, Ramanujan was also the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Even in that short life independently compiled nearly 3,900 results. Most were novel. Interesting thing his many works are still attracting mathematicians.
He worked in isolation many a times, as a result he also proved things which were already done by others at that time.
His famous quote; An equation for me has no meaning,” he once said, unless it expresses a thought of God.
The year after his death, Nature, a British Weekly Scientific Journal listed Ramanujan among other distinguished scientists and mathematicians on a “Calendar of Scientific Pioneers” who had achieved eminence.
In fact, even today, when we use ATMs to withdraw money from banks, we use the theory discovered by Ramanujan. Salute to this hero…!
