Srinivasa Ramanujan: The mathematical genius who credited his 3900 formulae to visions from Goddess Mahalakshmi (2024)

Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan, born on December 22, 1887, as the son of a sari shop clerk, the man who gave us mathematical equations that are solving cosmic problems even now, was certainly much, much ahead of his time. A self-taught mathematician, it is astonishing how much the man achieved, turning into one of the most significant groundbreakers in history, much like Newton and Einstein.

Ramanujan's house

When a constable was appointed to force him to attend school

Ramanujan was one of several siblings in a Tamil Brahmin family in Madras. But he lost all of them to a small pox epidemic in 1889. The young genius didn't like attending school and a constable was enlisted to make sure he did. His mind worked differently from his peers. He didn't have friends as few could understand him. Leaving aside sports, Ramanujan picked up Maths and lost himself in the numbers.

With parents; Source: athreya-kavithakidambi.blogspot

The unquenchable thirst for knowledge: Working on theorems since 13

At the age of 11, he came across two college students who lodged at his home for a period of time and he took the opportunity to learn all he could from them. Later, when he was 12, he got a tougher book from a senior school student--- S.L. Linney's Plane Trigonometry. By the time he was 13, the young genius had mastered this book completely and was already working on his own sophisticated theorems. He had even calculated the length of the earth's equator. It was no surprise that he completed his Maths exams in half the time and was also securing a number of merit certificates and academic awards by the age of 14.

Ramanujan's handwriting; Source: colorlibrary.blogspot.in

Two years later, 16-year-old Ramanujan came across another book, a library loaned copy from his friend, a collection of 5000 theorems, called A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics by G. S. Carr. It is this book that is said to have truly awakened his seer-like genius.

Ramanujan was offered a scholarship to study at the Government Arts College, but the young mathematician was far too interested in the subject of Maths to focus on any other. He ended up losing his scholarship.

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Ramanujan with Janaki

In 1909, Ramanujan was married to a 9-year-old child bride, S Janaki Ammal.

Paper - the unaffordable commodity

As he worked on his theorems, Ramanujan couldn't use paper as it was quite expensive. He worked on his derivations on slate, choosing to note down only the important results and summaries in his notebooks. Despite his unemployment and abject poverty, he had filled an entire notebook by the age of 23.

Making contact with Cambridge and being labelled a fraud

A few years later, he found himself quite inspired by a book 'Orders of Infinity', and in January 1913, with the help of his office colleagues, Ramanujan wrote to the writer-- G H Hardy at Cambridge University and sent him some of his own work. The renowned mathematician took a look at Ramanujan's work and ticked them off as "fraud". After all, Ramanujan was a lowly Indian clerk's son, barely educated. It was astonishing to even consider that the likes of him could have produced work that showed such intricate hold on Advanced Mathematics.

GH Hardy; Source: colorlibrary.blogspot.in

Cultural holdbacks from crossing the sea

In February, 1913, flummoxed by the incredible findings of Ramanujan, Hardy wrote back to him, inviting him to Cambridge. However, having been strictly brought up as a Brahmin, Ramanujan considered the culinary and cultural differences he would face; and combined with the vehement objections from his mother, Ramanujan refused to go.

Ramanujan's mother

It was only later, when his mother spoke of her vivid dream in which their family goddess Namagiri ordered her 'to stand no longer between her son and the fulfilment of his life's purpose', that he agreed to go to Cambridge.

England: The strangeness of a foreign country

In England, Ramanujan struggled to adjust with the culture and cuisine. The English weather was not quite suitable, and he also faced mild racism from his peers. However, at Cambridge, he was quickly hailed as the most remarkable mathematician of his time.

The man soon realised that he was very detached from the Western findings already carried out in Mathematics. Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku said: "Working in total isolation from the main currents of his field, Ramanujan was able to re-derive 100 years' worth of Western mathematics on his own. The tragedy of his life is that much of his work was wasted rediscovering known mathematics."

Mahalakshmi of Namakkal: The goddess behind Ramanujan's work

Ramanujan frequently said, "An equation for me has no meaning, unless it represents a thought of God."-and he wasn't kidding. Like ancient Indian mathematicians, Ramanujan only noted the results and summaries of his works; no proof was worked out for the formulae he came up with. He straightaway credited his work to the divine providence of Mahalakshmi of Namakkal, a family goddess whom he looked to for inspiration. The mathematician said that he dreamed of the Goddess' male consort Narasimha, who is denoted by droplets of blood, after which, scrolls of complex mathematical work unfolded in front of his eyes.

Ramanujan (centre) at Trinity College; Source: colorlibrary.blogspot.in

In 1916, Ramanujan earned a PhD for his work on highly composite numbers. In 1918, the 31-year-old became the second Indian Fellow of the Royal Society and the youngest in history. The same year, he became the first Indian to be elected as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Ramanujan's untimely death and the questions surrounding it

Ramanujan's insufficient diet in England during the time of war, while trying to maintain his staunch Brahmin eating habits, combined with his long hours of study and research gradually broke down his health. He was admitted to a Cambridge nursing home and it was a year before he showed some signs of improvement. After the war ended, he headed back to his familiar Indian climate in 1919. But his illness relapsed and he lasted for only a year after that, passing away on April 26, 1920.

Hardy's personal letter to friend and colleague Sir Joseph Thomson revealed that though Ramanujan had been diagnosed with tuberculosis, he didn't show all the usual symptoms. Apparently, the doctor running the institute was also skeptical about the diagnosis. It was much later after his death that Ramanujan's demise was credited to hepatic amoebiasis instead of tuberculosis, a "tropical disease" that the English specialists had little knowledge of at the time.

Ramanujan's treasure trove

After his early and untimely death, Ramanujan left behind a treasure that was more priceless than the largest diamond on earth--- his three notebooks and a few scraps of paper covering around 3900 equations, summaries and results. However, there was no proof with them. And even now, after almost 100 years, scientists and scholars are still working on research papers based on his work. More and more scientists are coming forward with their top findings only to discover that Ramanujan has already been there before.

Ramanujan's three notebooks; Source: colorlibrary.blogspot.in

The genius whose work is inspiring research even now

Srinivasa Ramanujan had a sort of child-like simplicity and with his penetrative intuition, he was a seer in mathematics. Except for the classical number theory, there is hardly a field of Maths that the genius did not add to. His birthday is celebrated as National Mathematics Day and he even has a prime number named after him-the Ramanujan Prime.

The findings he gave all those years ago are now being used in fundamental problems and challenges of science that the world is facing now-things that he could not have known about-computer science algorithms, the "superstring theory" of cosmology, and the complicated molecular systems in statistical machines are to name a few.

It is truly not often when you find such a simple-mannered, unassuming man who breaks all stereotypes despite little formal education and no such exposure to advanced mathematics. Here's hoping that Srinivasa Ramanujan gets due credit for what he was---- the greatest mathematician in the world of his time.

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