Ramanujan, Srinivasa (1887-1920) -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography






            
  
             
             
                  
             
             
             

             
             
             
             

             
              Branch of Science     Mathematicians   
              Nationality     Indian   



            Ramanujan, Srinivasa (1887-1920)



                 Indian mathematician who was self-taught and had an uncanny 
            mathematical manipulative ability. Ramanujan was unable to pass his 
            school examinations in India, and could only obtain a clerk's 
            position in the city of Madras. However, he continued to pursue his 
            own mathematics, and sent letters to three mathematicians in England 
            (which arrived in January of 1913) containing some of his results. 
            While two of the three returned the letters unopened, G. H. Hardy 
            recognized Ramanujan's intrinsic mathematical ability and arranged 
            for him to come to Cambridge. Because of his lack of formal 
            training, Ramanujan sometimes did not differentiate between formal 
            proof and apparent truth based on intuitive or numerical evidence. 
            Although his intuition and computational ability allowed him to 
            determine and state highly original and unconventional results which 
            continued to defy formal proof until recently (Berndt 1985-1997), 
            Ramanujan did occasionally state incorrect results. 


            Ramanujan had an intimate familiarity with numbers, and excelled 
            especially in number theory  and modular function  theory. His 
            familiarity with numbers were demonstrated by the following 
            incident. During an illness in England, Hardy visited Ramanujan in 
            the hospital. When Hardy remarked that he had taken taxi number 
            1729, a singularly unexceptional number, Ramanujan immediately 
            responded that this number was actually quite remarkable: it is the 
            smallest integer that can be represented in two ways by the sum of 
            two cubes: 1729=13+123=93+103. 


            Unfortunately, Ramanujan's health deteriorated rapidly in England, 
            due perhaps to the unfamiliar climate, food, and to the isolation 
            which Ramanujan felt as the sole Indian in a culture which was 
            largely foreign to him. Ramanujan was sent home to recuperate in 
            1919, but tragically died the next year at the very young age of 32. 



            Ramanujan published some of his results in journals, and many are 
            beautiful indeed. However, his working notebooks contained much 
            additional unorganized material which remained uninvestigated until 
            the sustained efforts of Berndt and his coworkers who systematically 
            examined and proved Ramanujan's sometimes vague or ambiguous 
            statements. For anyone with a little knowledge of number theory, 
            Ramanujan's notebooks make absolutely fascinating reading. It is 
            therefore a great pity that their publisher, Springer-Verlag, has 
            chosen to price these slim volumes at the ridiculous price of about 
            $100 apiece. 

            Additional biographies: MacTutor (St. Andrews) 
            Hardy, Littlewood 

             
            References 
            Andrews, G. E. (Ed.). Ramanujan Revisited: Proceedings of the 
            Centenary Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 
            June 1-5, 1987. Boston, MA: Academic Press, 1988. 
            Berndt, B. C. and Rankin, R. A. Ramanujan: Letters and Commentary. 
            Providence, RI: Amer. Math. Soc., 1995. 
            Berndt, B. C. Ramanujan's Notebooks, Part I. New York: 
            Springer-Verlag, 1985. 
            Berndt, B. C. Ramanujan's Notebooks, Part II. New York: 
            Springer-Verlag, 1988. 
            Berndt, B. C. Ramanujan's Notebooks, Part III. New York: 
            Springer-Verlag, 1997. 
            Berndt, B. C. Ramanujan's Notebooks, Part IV. New York: 
            Springer-Verlag, 1985. 
            Berndt, B. C. Ramanujan's Notebooks, Part V. New York: 
            Springer-Verlag, 1997. 
            Hardy, G. H. A Mathematician's Apology, reprinted with a foreword by 
            C. P. Snow. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 96, 1993. 
            Hardy, G. H. "The Indian Mathematician Ramanujan." Ch. 1 in 
            Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on Subjects Suggested by his Life and 
            Work. New York: Chelsea, pp. 1-21, 1999. 
            Hoffman, P. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers. New York: Hyperion, pp. 
            82-92, 1998. 
            Kanigel, R. The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius 
            Ramanujan. New York: Washington Square Press, pp. 30-40 and 148, 
            1991. 
            Ramanujan, S. and Raghavan, S. The Lost Notebook and Other 
            Unpublished Papers. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1988. 
            Ramanujan, S. Notebooks, 2 vols. Bombay: Tata Institute of 
            Fundamental Research, 1957. 
            Ramanujan, S. Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan (Ed. G. H. 
            Hardy, S. Aiyar, P. Venkatesvara, and B. M. Wilson). Providence, RI: 
            Amer. Math. Soc., 2000. 
            Rankin, R. A. "Ramanujan's Manuscripts and Notebooks." Bull. London 
            Math. Soc. 14, 81-97, 1982. 
            Srinivasan, G. "Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920)." 
            http://www.interlog.com/~gems/. 


            Author: Eric W. Weisstein