Srinivasa Ramanujan - The greatest mathematician of the 21st century.
Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar was a Tamilian Brahmin (caste). He was born on the 22nd December 1887 which is now celebrated as National Mathematics Day in his honour.
Ramanujan was mentored into leaving his clerical service by the then deputy collector V, Ramaswamy Aiyer – another Tamil Brahmin & pursuing his passion of mathematics. He also collaborated with GH Hardy – a renowned mathematician at Cambridge for 5 years, from 1914 – 1919.
His accomplishments include contributions to number theory, infinite series & continued fractions among others. Until his untimely death at the age of 32, Ramanujan had independently compiled over 3900 equations. His unconventional theorems also include Ramanujan Prime & Ramanujan Theta function. This is inspite of not having any formal education in Mathematics!
Inspite of his untimely death at the age of 32, Ramanujan produced a lifetime worth of work that continues to inspire mathematicians even after almost a century.
His life has recently inspired a bio-pic titled “Ramanujan”. Do watch it.
Birth score – 4/5
Pride score – 5/5
Overall NB score – 9/10