PERSONALITY SPECIAL Ramanujan's beautiful mind

PERSONALITY SPECIAL Ramanujan's beautiful mind





If genius is 99 per cent perspiration, then this mathematician's life is all the inspiration anyone needs

The life of Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887 1920) is tremendously inspiring for many reasons. Born in poverty, his was truly a “rags to riches“ story, mathematically speaking. He flunked college not once, but twice, because he couldn't clear exams in non-mathematical subjects. He got a job under the chief accountant at the Madras Port Trust (to note a parallel, Einstein too failed a college entrance exam once, and later got a job as a clerk in the patent office!). At the Port Trust, Ramanujan had a sympathetic manager, who also loved mathematics and encouraged him to work on math problems in his spare time, even during office hours.

Ramanujan had earlier worked out all of the 6,165 theorems in a book by George S Carr, which was actually like a handbook used by students to prepare for the entrance examination for Cambridge. At his workplace, he produced many more theorem, which he wrote up, and mailed to several prominent mathematicians of the day.Most discarded his missives into the dustbin and certainly didn't acknowledge them. But then Ramanujan's letter reached GH Hardy, one of the world's preeminent mathematicians and also a professor at Trinity College in Cambridge.

Hardy was amazed, nay shocked, with the genius lurking in those handwritten theorem in that letter. He famously said, “(these theorems) had to be true, because if not, then no one would have the imagination to invent them“. Hardy arranged for Ramanujan to sail to England, and thus began one of the world's most famous mathematical collaborations. They were so utterly different, but it was Hardy who was bowled over.

Much later (after Ramanujan had passed away) Hardy wrote in his autobiography, (rather modestly) that if there was one silver lining in his life, it was his association with a genius called Ramanujan. His conjectures, theorems, and even his “lost notebook“ laid the foundation for a major branch of modern mathematics. There is so much drama, romance and sheer inspiration in this story, which also lurks undiscovered by many. For instance, there is the story of Hardy visiting Ramanujan in hospital. Hardy said his taxi had the licence plate number 1729, rather glum because it is divisible by the unlucky 13. To which Ramanujan instantly replied that in fact it was a fantastic number, being the smallest which could be represented as the sum of two cubes in two different ways (1729 = 12^3 + 1^3 = 10^3 + 9^3). Such was his breathtakingly deep insight! Ramanujan's life is now being splashed on the big screen across the world, with the release of the major Hollywood motion picture “The Man Who Knew Infinity“. This movie too is a labour of love and it took almost ten years to make. One of its key advisors is top mathematician Ken Ono, whose own life was completely transformed due to a letter that Mrs Ramanujan (Janaki Ammal) wrote to his father.

Ken grew up as an immigrant in America, an introverted kid under great pressure to excel, which almost destroyed his self-esteem and confidence. He was ready to quit everything. It was a chance encounter with Ramanujan, his work and life, that inspired Ken and developed a deep and abiding love for mathematics. It was Ramanujan who ultimately caused the reconciliation between Ken and his parents. Ken Ono has written an outstanding book, which is like his pilgrimage (both literal and metaphorical) called “My Search for Ramanujan“.

That a gem such as Ramanujan could emerge from utter poverty, against untold hardships and hostility, and from an education system that almost discarded him, was largely self-taught and became a mathematical giant, is an inspiration not only to Ken Ono but to all of us.

Ramanujan died very young. In England he faced many difficulties owing to his orthodox lifestyle and strict vegetarianism. The weather was harsh; he suffered from malnutrition and contracted tuberculosis. He spent his last years in ill health in India. But even from his deathbed he wrote a last letter to Hardy outlining a new theory, which created a sensation and spawned much research many years later. Truly a beautiful mind!

AJIT RANADE

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