Brief Introduction
All recorded life story of him is going to be covered through Srinivasa Ramanujan biography . Srinivasa Ramanujan who was born in 1887 AD was one of the greatest mathematician of 20th century who invented many formulas and theories of mathematics which we are using today .
Srinivasa Ramanujan is known as “ The Man Who Knew Infinity “ . His life was like a rollercoaster .He had seen many ups and downs in his life.
Before talking about his great inventions , let us focus on his early life and his struggle to become the great mathematician . And will also know about his mysterious dream of Goddess Namagiri who taught him the formulas of mathematics which he later invented .
Indian people are deeply rooted in tradition and culture. The God and goddess who are Worshipped are not just mere imagination But they are the reflection of the true universe which is still mysterious to the modern scientists . The biggest example of this statement lies in the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan .
Name | Srinivasa Ramanujan |
Birth | 22nd Dec , 1887 |
Birthplace | Erode ( Tamil Nadu ) |
Famous for | His largest contribution in the field of Mathematics |
Death | 26th April 1920 |
The whole world knows the brilliancy of the great mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan . His theory and his formulas had made many great mathematicians at that time to bow down in front of his great talent and gave him the Highest regard possible .
His life finally ended at the very young age of 32 ( In1920) due to tuberculosis . The loss is nothing less than the great enlightened master in the field of mathematics .
Early life of Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan was born in Erode , which Is 44 km away from Chennai in 1887 on 22nd december in a Brahmin family . His father’s name was Srinivas Iyengar and His mother’s name was Komalathammal . His Parents lived in Sarangpani street in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu .
He had two brothers named as Laxmi Narsimhan and Tirunarayan . Ramanujan’s father was a clerk In a saree shop Where he earned rs20 monthly And his mother used to sing bhajan in nearby Temple where she earned 5 rs .
He didn’t like to play outside his home . He was mostly busy with himself . He used to follow every ritual which was taught by his mother . He had a deep interest in visiting temples so , He spent most of his time in temples .
At the age of 5 , Srinivasa Ramanujan used to live his life according to Brahmin tradition. He was well versed in Vedas , Puranas and other Hindu scriptures . Ramanujan used to pray to his family deity , Goddess Namagiri . He was in love with mathematics at a very young age .
When the children of his age were busy playing games , he was busy solving the critical mathematics questions . In 1897 , he completed his primary examination In English, Tamil, arithmetic and geography. Ramanujan scored the highest marks in the district and This achievement made him popular .
Srinivasa Ramanujan education
Economically , his family’s condition was not good enough to run the house . So at the age of 11, he started to take tuition classes so that he can earn some money for his family . He was also Busy in solving mathematics questions With the formulas and theories invented by himself .
He mastered the English textbook on advanced trigonometry written by S.L. Loney . Everyone was amazed to see the extraordinary talent of Ramanujan . According to them , 100 marks is not enough to judge his extraordinary talent .
During school time , Srinivasa Ramanujan came across a book Written by George Shoobridge Carr In which roughly 5000 equations were given Related to trigonometry and calculus , algebra and many more . This book left a great impact on Ramanujan . He was determined to solve all the questions in the book .
During solving the equation , he himself invented many formulas and theories Which he used to compile in different notebooks .
He imbibed himself in maths so deeply that he failed in all other subjects due to which his scholarship had been taken away from him . His family was not in a good position to give school fees . This made Ramanujan stressful And because of that he ran away from his home in 1905 But soon he came back to his family .
He Then gave another try to Pachaiyappa ‘s college in Madras . There , his mathematics teacher after seeing his unremarkable skill in solving the maths problems compelled him to talk to the Principal for his partial scholarship.
His brilliance had no match . Teachers used to solve the mathematical problems with Ramanujan and he left no stone unturned in surprising his college mate and his teachers with his skill .
According to Srinivasa Ramanujan , “ An equation has no meaning for him unless it expresses the thought of God. “ He found spirituality in maths . He found a theory of reality around zero and infinity , when he went to England . According to him “ 0 represent absolute reality And infinity is the myriad form of that reality . “
Srinivasa Ramanujan was from a poor family and his father was not able to Take the responsibilities of Ramanujan study . So he was in search of Giving the tuition classes but The ordinary students were not able to grasp the theory and formulas given by Ramanujan . They found it difficult to understand .
He always kept his large notebooks with himself because these are the notebooks where he had written his theories and formulas invented by himself till the time And this is the only most precious wealth in his life . He got a lot of recognition from Many teachers But still he was not able to get rid of his poverty .
Srinivasa Ramanujan struggling life
Srinivasa Ramanujan Met V.Ramaswami , The founder of Indian mathematical society and in 1910 he met R. Ramchandra Rao , district collector of Nellore . He recognised the abilities of Ramanujan And promised him to pay an Allowance of 25 rupees which was not good enough but at least this allowance made him free from economic worries .
Finally in 1911 , Ramanujan first paper Appeared in the journal of Indian mathematical society And this was the first time came into LimeLight not just in India but abroad too .
Under the guidance of Ramchandra Rao , He applied for a job in the Madras Port Trust And got the job as a clerk in the account department where he was able to make an earning of 30 rupees a month And it was more than good enough for him and his family .
During his job time, he met many seniors who understood his brilliance in Mathematics but They also knew it very well that in India , no one was there to understand his extraordinary talent so they recommended him to write letters to western great mathematicians where his talent could be recognised on an international level .
Srinivasa Ramanujan and G.H. Hardy
Then Srinivasa Ramanujan started to write letters to Western great mathematicians But unfortunately didn’t get a reply . Then finally in 1913 in January , He wrote a letter to another great Cambridge Mathematician G.H. Hardy And the letter was as follows :
Dear sir
I Beg to introduce myself To you as a clerk in the accounts department of the Port trust Office at Madras Earning a salary of 20 Pounds per annum .I am now at the age of 23 . I have had no University education And I have undergone an ordinary School course.
And he also wrote about his investigation on a theory of divergent series And the result I get are termed by Local mathematician “ startling “ . And finally on the cover letter ended with “ Being poor , if you are convinced that There is anything of value I would like to have my theorem published .Being un experienced I would very highly value Any advice you give me. Requesting to be excused For the trouble I give you . I remain , Dear Sir , Yours truly , S. Ramanujan “ .
Along with this letter he sent 11 pages of technical results of Mathematics . At first sight , it seemed to be absurd but When investigated properly , it just blew the mind . G.H. Hardy First contacted Littlewood And started to go through pages . some they recognised and knew were correct but many of them are out of their skill .
But later , G.H. Hardy said about other pages which he wasn’t able to recognise was that “ It must be true because if they were not true no one would have the imagination to invent them “ .
Bertrand Russell found Littlewood And G.H Hardy in Wild excitement And they believed that they had found a second Newton working in Madras Port Trust earning 20 pound a year . And finally , they took a week to reply to Ramanujan’s letter Where he expressed his excitement “ I was exceedingly Interested by your letter and by the theorem you stated And also asked for proof of his assertion .
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Hardy and littlewood wanted Srinivasa Ramanujan in Cambridge University so that they could work together . But for Ramanujan , it was very difficult to follow his vegetarian life in England . It was very hard for him to follow the western culture as he found himself , Dharmik person . Taking the blessing From his Goddess Namagiri , he went to England in 1914 during the World war .
Interesting Facts about Ramanujan’s life
Ramanujan openly stated that The formula and the theories invented came from contacting Hindu goddess Namagiri While dreaming . He claimed that
“ While sleeping , I had an unusual experience . There was a red screen Formed by flowing blood .When I was observing it , suddenly a hand appeared on the screen And started to write on the screen . I became all attention . That hand started to write a number of elliptic integrals Which stuck into my mind and then as soon as I woke up in the morning , I committed to writing it down .
According to G H Hardy , Ramanujan Combined a power of generalization , a feeling for form ,And a capacity for Rapid modification of his Hypothesis .Here was a man who could workout Modular equations And theorems which is beyond any mathematician in the world .
Paul Erdos of Israel’s Technion passed on the ratings given by G.H. Hardy to mathematicians based on pure talent ranging from 0 to 100 . He himself , given 25 , Littlewood 30 , David Hilbert 80 and Ramanujan 100.
Srinivasa Ramanujan achievements
- When Ramanujan was in Cambridge , he published 21 research papers comprising of theorems on Modular equation , infinite series, Modular function, Summation of series ,Number theory etc.
- In 1915 ,some of his research papers also appeared in the journal of the London mathematical society.
- In 1916, he was awarded with B.A. Degree for his substantial work on highly composite numbers .
- In 1918 , he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society,London for his work on elliptic functions and theory of numbers.
Srinivasa Ramanujan inventions
Let us discuss some Profound mathematics formula and theories given by Srinivasa Ramanujan
- Theta Function
- Game theory
- Infinite series for Pi
- Circle method
- Mock theta function
Death
The great mathematician or the gem of superconsciousness , Srinivasa Ramanujan took his last breath in a very young age . Unfortunately we lost him so early in the age of 32 (1920 ) due to Tuberculosis . England’s culture and environment didn’t suit him and finally returned to India and died in 1920 . It was a great loss in the mathematical field .
As he was a pure vegetarian man , he found it difficult to live in western world specially for food . He didn’t get that kind of food as he want and the weather was another loggerhead for him . Gradually he started to have health issue and then after passing some years he suffered from critical diseases which was incurable at that time .
But the surprising part of his death was that in that very critical state , he had written many formulas and mathematical theories which later became very popular and helped other mathematicians to solve many problems related to math.
Everyone around the world was in grief after getting the news of his death . Teachers and great Professors who used to work with him were shocked to know that the great mathematicians had left his body .
Conclusion
If one tries to imagine the intensity of Ramanujan’s mind , then certainly he would be a failed person to imagine because no one has dared to imagine the superhuman mind of Ramanujan. His mind was way beyond anyone’s imagination. His whole invention in mathematics was a breakthrough in the evolution of mathematics .
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