Srinivasa Ramanujan is considered to be one of the most gifted and talented mathematicians that ever lived. Born in Erode, India in 1887, he is a trailblazer in many Mathematical fields (Kolata, 1987). Additionally, Ramanujan was the pioneer to many mathematical notations and definitions that are in an application today. The other fields where Euler made invaluable additions to areas such as the hypergeometric series, the Riemann series, the functional equation of the zeta function, the elliptic integrals, and his own personal divergent series theory. He was born to two Indian parents, with his mother being known as an intellect and an adept astrologist.
History and Contributions
The most influential work was seen through his analysis and development of Carr’s Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics. The book had many theorems, but few of them had evidence or proof to back them. This interested Ramanujan who developed his mathematical notations, ideas, and theorems. These elements ended up being influential and positively impactful to the Mathematical field today. In 1903, he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Madras, but soon enough it was terminated as he was only concentrating on mathematics and not his other subjects (Aiyangar, 1995).
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Ramanujan did not give up on his passion for mathematics but continued the work that he had started earlier on in the university even without employment and being in abject poverty. He was able to get permanent employment after an interview with a government official who instantly recognized his talents and supported his mathematical research work. Ramanujan, however, was not pleased with the charity offer and decided that he would work as a clerk at the Madras Trust (Kolata, 1987).
Ramanujan published a memoir in 1911 in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society (Aiyangar, 1995). His outstanding work was starting to get a lot of attention, and by 1913 he was able to work with Godfrey Hardy as a respondent. Eventually, he was awarded another scholarship at Trinity College in Cambridge, and he moved to England where he was able to work with Hardy, and they together published several books, and Hardy was also his tutor helping him to bridge the gap in knowledge as he lacked any formal education. Ramanujan’s knowledge in mathematics was particularly impressive as he was able to work most of his notations and theories on his own without any external assistance (Kolata, 1987). For example, his prowess in modern-continued fractions was unrivaled. However, he had issues in other theories such as Cauchy’s theorem, doubly periodic functions, and the classical theory of quadratic forms. The theories that he also formulated on prime numbers were full of errors.
Ramanujan got into the Royal Society of London after several of his papers were published in both European and English Mathematical journals. He contracted TB in 1917 but made remarkable improvements and was able to get back to India in 1919 (Nandy, 1980). He died in 1920 at the young age of 32.
Conclusion
Srinivasa Ramanujan was one of science’s greatest minds. He was an influential figure in the fields of Mathematics and Physics. He made massive and important contributions to several areas such as the hypergeometric series, the Riemann series, the functional equation of the zeta function, the elliptic integrals, and his own personal divergent series theory.
References
Aiyangar, S. R. (1995). Ramanujan: letters and commentary (Vol. 9). American Mathematical Soc.
Kolata, G. (1987). Remembering a" magical genius."(mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan). Science , 236 , 1519-1522.
Nandy, A. (1980). Alternative Sciences: Creativity and authenticity in two Indian scientists (Vol. 4). Allied.
