Srinivasa Ramanujan 132nd Birth Anniversary: 10 Things to Know About ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’

Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar was one of the rare genius minds in the early 20th century. Ramanujan is regarded as India's one of the greatest mathematical geniuses of all time. His contribution to the field of mathematics has not been limited to the Indian shores, but instead, it gained credence, acknowledgement, and popularity abroad as well. His birth anniversary, on December 22, is celebrated as National Mathematics Day in India. There are a lot of things which one doesn't know when it comes to Srinivasa Ramanujan. If you are looking for some facts and more information on the Indian mathematical legend Srinivasa Ramanujan, then you have landed at the right place. We, at LatestLY, bring you some of the most amazing facts and trivia about Srinivasa Ramanujan here below.

1. Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887, into a Tamil Brahmin family in Erode Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu). He comes from a modest family background. His father was a clerk at a sari shop, while her mother was a housewife.

2. Srinivasa Ramanujan had a lucky escape in his childhood, in 1889, when he was diagnosed with smallpox. He recovered successfully, but over 4,000 children lost their lives in his district, i.e. Thanjavur, during the same period.

3. Not many know this but Srinivasa Ramanujan was such a brilliant kid at the age of 10, that he used to complete his mathematics exam in half the allotted time.

4. Srinivasa Ramanujan received a scholarship to study at Government Arts College, but he was so fond of mathematics that he failed in other subjects, and eventually lost the scholarship.

5. When Srinivasa Ramanujan sent his groundbreaking work to GH Hardy, the latter's initial views on Ramanujan's papers were that they were a fraud. He was so awestruck that he found 'them hardly possible to believe'.

6. The praise and applause didn't stop there, the notable mathematician GH Hardy once commented (after looking at Srinivasa Ramanujan's theorems), "these defeat me completely, I have never seen anything like this before."

7. Srinivasa Ramanujan's notable works include Landau–Ramanujan constant, Mock theta functions, Ramanujan conjecture, Ramanujan prime, Ramanujan–Soldner constant, Ramanujan theta function, Ramanujan's sum, Rogers–Ramanujan identities, Ramanujan's master theorem, Ramanujan–Sato series among other notable contributions.

8. It is a little known fact that Srinivasa Ramanujan was the youngest member (and the only second member) to be added as a 'Fellow of the Royal Society' in London for his immense contribution in the subject of Mathematics.

9. Not many people know that Srinivasa Ramanujan was the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

10. Do you know why 1729 is called the Hardy-Ramanujan number? Well, the duo discovered it to be the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.

Srinivasa Ramanujan breathed his last on April 26, 1920, at a young age of only 32. Nonetheless, he left behind an unmatched legacy and his contributions to the field of maths still help in groundbreaking revelations.

The Government of India also released postal stamps with his pictures in the year 1962, 2011, 2012, and 2016. As India gears to celebrate the National Mathematics Day on December 22, we at LatestLY wish Srinivasa Ramanujan's soul rests in peace and thank him for his contribution in the field of maths.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 22, 2019 07:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).