Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) was a renowned Indian mathematician who made groundbreaking contributions to number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. He is regarded as one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century.

Ramanujan’s life is an inspiring story of brilliance and determination. Born in Erode, Tamil Nadu, India, he displayed exceptional mathematical talent early on. Overcoming significant challenges, including poverty and limited formal education, he succeeded in developing over 3,900 groundbreaking mathematical results and theories.

Ramanujan’s exceptional mathematical talent captured the attention of G.H. Hardy, a renowned British mathematician, who invited him to Cambridge University. Their collaboration resulted in groundbreaking discoveries, including work later used to calculate pi to over 31 trillion digits.

While in England, Ramanujan maintained his strict vegetarian diet, which proved challenging in wartime Britain. Combined with the harsh climate, this took a toll on his health. Despite his recognition and success at Cambridge, he declined multiple offers to remain in England permanently, choosing instead to return to India. His legacy endures through concepts like the Ramanujan Prime and the Ramanujan Theta Function, which highlight the profound impact of his contributions to mathematics.

Ramanujan, known for his extraordinary brilliance, faced academic challenges, failing his college exams multiple times due to his sole focus on mathematics while neglecting other subjects. This led to the loss of scholarships and significant financial difficulties before his talents gained recognition. Between 1908 and 1912, he worked as a clerk at the Madras Port Trust office, with limited research opportunities.

Remarkably, he tackled highly complex mathematical problems without calculators, computers, or even sufficient paper. Later, with the support of C.L.T. Griffith, he earned a degree in Science from London for his research on highly composite numbers.

In addition to his fame as a mathematician, Ramanujan had a keen interest in astronomy. He studied planetary motion and demonstrated remarkable accuracy in calculating lunar and solar eclipses. He believed that intuition and divine inspiration were central to his discoveries, often attributing his mathematical insights to his family deity, Goddess Namagiri, whom he claimed appeared to him in dreams.

In 1918, Ramanujan became the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His birthday, December 22, is now celebrated as National Mathematics Day in India. He also created a magic square that prominently features his birth date (22/12/1887), with every row, column, and diagonal summing to 139.

Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis fondly recalls Ramanujan’s unique qualities – “Ramanujan had a somewhat shy and quiet disposition, a dignified bearing, and pleasant manners. He would listen carefully to what other people were saying but would usually remain silent. If he was asked any question, or on rare occasions if he joined in any general conversation, he would speak frankly, but briefly. Whilst speaking to a friend or in very small groups, he would, however, expound his ideas with great enthusiasm, not only on philosophical questions but occasionally also on other subjects in which he was seriously interested. Although I could not follow his mathematics, he left a lasting impression on my mind. His bright eyes and gentle face with a friendly smile are still vivid in my mind.”

The exact cause of Ramanujan’s death remains a subject of debate. While he was diagnosed with severe tuberculosis, some modern researchers believe he may have suffered from a parasitic liver infection known as hepatic amoebiasis.

Although Ramanujan lived only 32 years, he left a lasting and profound legacy. Many of his formulas were so advanced that it took mathematicians decades to fully comprehend and prove them. His “lost notebook,” discovered after his death, continues to inspire mathematical research, influencing fields such as string theory and black hole physics to this day.

Dr Sanghamitra Parhi is an English lecturer at Anna Adarsh College, Chennai & Ms Pranuthy is an undergrad student of English Litt. at Ethiraj College.

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Srinivasa Ramanujan (Born 22 December 1887) was an Indian mathematician and one of the foremost figures in the history of mathematics globally. Though he had a seemingly ordinary education during the early stages of his life, he single-mindedly pursued the subject and rose to become one of the most celebrated mathematicians of his time.

Ramanujan was born in Erode, Tamil Nadu. He showed an early interest in mathematics, developing an exceptional aptitude for solving complex problems. He largely ignored other subjects, tending to focus completely on mathematics. At 16, Ramanujan was already working on advanced concepts and creating original mathematical theories. He mostly studied in isolation and was almost completely self-taught.

Ramanujan’s life significantly turned when some of his mathematical letters reached G.H. Hardy, a prominent British mathematician at Cambridge University in 1913. Despite sending these letters to dozens of other reputed mathematicians in the country, Hardy was the only one who took Ramanujan seriously and responded positively to Ramanujan. He was astounded by the depth and originality of Ramanujan’s work and was surprised that it seemed to emerge from intuition rather than formal logic. Recognizing his extraordinary talent, Hardy moved heaven and earth to bring this mysterious Indian mathematician to Cambridge in 1914, forming what would later be known as one of the most beautiful mathematical collaborations in recent times. Ramanujan’s key contributions were in Number Theory, Infinite Series, and Continued Fractions.

While Ramanujan’s time at Cambridge was fruitful, he faced difficulties due to the vast difference in weather. Also, Ramanujan was a strict vegetarian and struggled to find suitable food there. He often suffered from poor health and eventually returned to India in 1919, where his health continued to decline. Ramanujan died at the young age of 32 in 1920.

Modern mathematicians are still trying to understand and prove many of his theories, theories that Ramanujan formulated purely out of his raw genius and intuition. It is also to be noted that Ramanujan credits most of his discoveries to his family deity – Namagiri Thaayar, and once said – “An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.” Till the very end, Ramanujan never stopped talking about mathematics, which shows how deep his passion for mathematics was. It should teach us that greatness is not only achieved with talent but, most importantly, with passion.

Uma Venkat is a Montessori-trained teacher, Chinmaya Mission Balavihar Sevika, and a former NGO trustee who educates children in Chennai.

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Some people attain greatness at a very young age. Some people get recognition after they become old. Some eccentric brilliant minds take ages before their thoughts and postulates gets decoded by people four or five generations after them.

Few people have walked on this earth who have broken the stereotype of academic education being equivalent to intelligence. Some special men have left hallmark of their greatness by being unique and different from other contemporary beings.

In 2001, a movie was made on the great American mathematician and a Noble laureate, John Forbes Nash Jr. titled “A Beautiful Mind”

In 2014, another movie was made on great British mathematician, Alan Turing titled “Imitation Game”

But in 2015, another movie was released, a movie that should be more dearer to us, than the aforementioned ones, about a great mathematical genius of all time, titled “A Man Who Knew Infinity” made on the life history of our very own Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Great men tend to share similarities, if one cares to look closely. Bhagavathpada Adishankara, Swami Vivekananda, Subramaniam Bharathi and Srinivasa Ramanujam, lived for a very short span of time in this world, but the impact that they left behind through their work will remain to touch human lives for times to come.

Persistence under penury can be a characteristics of people who strive to attain perfection in their area of profession. Srinivasa Ramanujam should be hailed as a “mathemagician” who was not recognized during his lifetime for his extraordinary contribution in the field of Mathematics.

He is considered to be a mathematician par excellence only to be compared with greats like Euler and Jacobi. For all his informal education, he became the first Indian to elected a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He also became one of the youngest fellow of Royals society.

Just mere comments about “Simple Properties” and “Simple Outputs” seem to be profound. He individually compiled an astounding 3900 results such as Ramanujan Prime, Ramanujan Theta functions and mock theta functions. Most of his postulates or hypothesis are now found correct almost after a century of his existence.

But for all the revolutionary strides he made in mathematics, he credited his findings to the divine intervention of Namagiri Thaayar.

The famous Ramanuja number 1729, now fondly known as “taxicab number” is defined as the smallest integer that can be expressed as sum of two positive integer cubes in n distinct ways. Its also known as Hardy-Ramanuja number because when hardy visited Ramanuja in Putney when Ramanuja was taken ill, he quoted the number and states that hope it doesn’t bring bad omen for Ramanuja for which Ramanuja quipped that it is a very interesting number and proposed the postulate of taxicab number.

The state of Tamil Nadu celebrates Ramanuja’s birthday as “State IT day”. International Centre for theoretical Physics have constituted an award in Ramanuja’s name for young mathematicians from developing countries in co-operation with the international Mathematical Union, which nominates members of the prize committee.

He lived as if the only objective of his life was mathematics. He was selfless, sometime he can be considered as naive on his relationship with Hardy, he allowed Hardy to walk away with the credit, just because he never put his effort to win awards or accolades. Till he left this world, it is considered that he kept writing notes on theorems. His passion for mathematics is unmatched so is his resolve to follow strict vegetarianism according to his tradition.

It would be an understatement to say that Srinivasa Ramanujam was neither understood by his contemporaries nor by the generations followed. His pass time, work time even his lifetime can be described in one word, Mathematics! Any other normal human being might have lost their mind, if they were this much obsessed or dedicated to one subject or object, but not Srinivasa Ramanujam! He was an enigma! Yet, he credited his prowess to his family Goddess Namagiri Thayar of Namakkal.

He was unconventional, he ensured all the bare minimum for his existence was taken care of through whatever means available to him, so that he can continue his focus on mathematics. When other mortals would have scared for their life if they had failed in their regular academic subjects and thereby losing the scholarship they were bestowed upon, Ramanuja cared a little and kept looking for avenues to explore the subject deeper.

Srinivasa Ramanuja should have been an inspiration for many but he was not brought to limelight for reasons unknown. Today, the world, understands his contribution and it goes beyond pure mathematics. His contributions have a wide range of application – from data security to rocket science.

A tribute to Ramanuja would be to accept mathematicians around the world to explore the subject in their own way regardless of their academic achievements for that matter any individual who pursues their subject of interest with right earnest. Public institutions should think beyond regular classroom teachings and provide platform for those who are truly focussed on one subject regardless of their shortcomings in others. An overhaul of the education system around the world, can bring about a change, where present day Ramanujas will get avenues to shine.

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