BOOK OF THE MONTH: JANUARY 2012

                                                         
Title: A LIFE OF THE GENIUS RAMANUJAN:
             The Man Who Knew Infinity
Author: Robert Kanigel
Paperback: 438 pages
Publisher: C. Scribner's 
ISBN:  978-0684192598


In 1913, a young, unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G. H. Hardy, begging that pre-eminent English mathematician’s opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Hardy, realizing the letter was the work of a genius, arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England. Thus began one of the most remarkable collaborations ever chronicled.

2012 is the 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan and this biography traces the life of one of the greatest geniuses of the 20th century, Ramanujan. This incredibly brilliant Indian mathematician, working alone in relative obscurity and lacking the usual academic credentials, could easily have passed unnoticed. However, with the help of a handful of friends and the ultimate support of renowned English mathematician G.H. Hardy, his work was brought to the attention of the world. 
When he died in 1920 at 32 he had become a folk-hero in his own country. He left a rich lode of original mathematics, which is still being mined today. This extremely well-researched and well-written biography is a "must" addition to any library collection.

He was born in India, on December 22, 1887. He was of the Brahmin caste. His family was poor. He lived much of his life in Madras. He was mostly a failure at school, as mathematics is all that he would do. Several times he failed to get into college in India. In 1903, he found the mediocre book, A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics by George Carr. While mastering this book, Ramanujan began discovering mathematical formulas which were not in the book. And he wrote these down in notebooks. 


He got a job as a clerk. He traveled around India showing his notebooks to mathematicians, trying to get into college. In 1913, he wrote letters to mathematicians in England.Because of Hardy's support, Ramanujan received a scholarship at Presidency College in Madras. This gave him what he needed most, enough money to live, and the time to do mathematics. 


Hardy tried to get him to come to England, to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1914 Ramanujan sailed to England, leaving his 13 year old wife in India. World War I began.Ramanujan sharpened up his knowledge and technique. And he collaborated on papers with Cambridge mathematicians, mostly with Hardy. And Ramanujan became world famous among mathematicians. 


In 1918 Ramanujan got sick, apparently with tuberculosis, and published fewer papers. He tried to commit suicide. In 1918 he was elected to the Royal Society. World War I ended. In 1919 he returned to Madras. His mother tried to destroy his marriage. His illness got worse; he wasted away. Near the end he produced some of his most interesting work. 


On April 26, 1920, Ramanujan died at the age of 32. Ramanujan was creative and original, more so than perhaps any other mathematician in history. He was fairly weak in some areas, especially in proving his interesting conjectures. As a result, a few of his conjectures are false. Others of his conjectures and papers are still producing new results, 80 years later.


Courtesy: www.amazon.com, The Man Who Knew Infinity: Untutored Genius by R Tandon  published in RESONANCE, December 1996.