Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan (22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician and autodidact who lived during the British Raj. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. Ramanujan initially developed his own mathematical research in isolation; it was quickly recognized by Indian mathematicians. When his skills became obvious and known to the wider mathematical community, centred in Europe at the time, he began a partnership with the English mathematician G. H. Hardy. The Cambridge professor realized that Srinivasa Ramanujan had produced new theorems in addition to rediscovering previously known ones. Here are 10 things to know about him:
His father worked as a clerk with a cloth merchant and his mother was a homemaker who also used to sing at a local temple.
SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA
SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA
Many of his mathematical discoveries were based on pure intuition – but most of them were later proved to be true.
Srinivasa Ramanujan (centre) with other scientists at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge
SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA
He joined the fellowship in 1918 at the age of 31, as one of youngest fellows in the history of the society.
He once said, “An equation for me has no meaning, unless it represents a thought of God.”
The collection is the result of decades of effort by Late P.K. Srinivasan, a renowned math teacher. He worked hard for years looking for his pictures, letters, etc. that could be used in the museum. In 1993, he found a lot of material in a chest in Ramanujan’s old attic.
SOURCE: RAMANUJANMUSEUM.ORG
One of the notebooks, known as the ‘lost notebook’, was discovered in the Trinity College library by mathematician George Andrews in 1976, and was later published as a book.
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