Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician who is widely regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. He was born on December 22, 1887, in Erode, a small village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Ramanujan's life was marked by a deep love of mathematics and an extraordinary ability to solve complex problems.
Early Life and Education
Ramanujan's parents were poor Brahmins, and his father worked as a clerk in a cloth merchant's shop. Ramanujan showed an early interest in mathematics, and he was largely self-taught, spending many hours poring over books on mathematics and solving problems. He showed a particular aptitude for arithmetic, and by the age of 11, he had exhausted the mathematical knowledge of his schoolteachers.
In 1904, Ramanujan was awarded a scholarship to attend Government Arts College in Kumbakonam, where he studied mathematics, but his lack of interest in other subjects led to his losing the scholarship. He continued to study mathematics independently and began to develop his own theories and methods.
In 1909, Ramanujan married Janaki Ammal, and the couple moved to Madras, where Ramanujan worked as a clerk in the Accountant General's office. He continued to pursue his mathematical studies in his spare time and began to correspond with several leading mathematicians in Europe, including G. H. Hardy, a professor at the University of Cambridge.
Breakthroughs in Mathematics
In 1913, Ramanujan wrote to Hardy, enclosing a copy of a manuscript containing hundreds of mathematical formulas and theorems. Hardy was amazed by the work and recognized Ramanujan's talent. He arranged for Ramanujan to come to England, where he began to work with Hardy and other mathematicians at Cambridge.
Ramanujan's work was groundbreaking, and he made significant contributions to many areas of mathematics, including number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. His theories and methods were often unconventional and used intuitive and symbolic reasoning rather than rigorous proof. Despite this, his work was highly respected and widely studied.
Ramanujan's most famous work is his "Lost Notebook," a collection of over 3,000 theorems and formulas that he developed in the last year of his life. The manuscript was discovered in 1976 and has been the subject of extensive study and research.
Personal Life and Legacy
Ramanujan's life was marked by poor health and financial difficulties. He suffered from tuberculosis and malnutrition, and his work was often interrupted by periods of ill health. He returned to India in 1919 and died the following year, at the age of 32.
Despite his short life, Ramanujan's legacy as a mathematician is significant. His work has had a profound impact on modern mathematics, and many of his discoveries are still being studied and applied today. His contributions to number theory, in particular, have been essential to the development of modern cryptography and computer science.
Ramanujan has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including the Royal Society of London's Fellowship, the highest honor in British science. In India, he is considered a national hero, and his life and work have been the subject of numerous books and films.
In conclusion, Srinivasa Ramanujan was a brilliant mathematician whose work has had a profound impact on modern mathematics. His intuitive and unconventional methods challenged traditional mathematical thinking and opened up new areas of study and discovery. Despite his short life, Ramanujan's legacy continues to inspire and influence mathematicians around the world.
