Srinivasa Ramanujan

Srinivasa Ramanujan was one of the most brilliant and influential mathematicians of the 20th century. He was born in a poor Brahmin family in Erode, a small town in Tamil Nadu, India. He showed an exceptional talent for mathematics from an early age and taught himself advanced topics by reading books and journals. He made remarkable discoveries in various fields of mathematics, such as number theory, infinite series, continued fractions, elliptic functions, partition theory and modular forms. He also discovered many new formulas, identities and equations that were not known before or were very difficult to prove. Ramanujan had no formal education in mathematics and lacked access to the latest developments in the field. He tried to communicate his results to some Indian mathematicians, but they did not appreciate his work. In 1913, he wrote a letter to G. H. Hardy, a famous mathematician at Cambridge University, enclosing some of his theorems. Hardy was amazed by Ramanujan's genius and invited him to England to work with him. Ramanujan accepted the offer and arrived in Cambridge in 1914. There he collaborated with Hardy and other mathematicians on many problems and published several papers in prestigious journals. He also earned a Bachelor of Science degree by research and became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of Trinity College. Ramanujan's stay in England was not easy. He faced many difficulties due to cultural differences, dietary restrictions, racial discrimination and health problems. He suffered from tuberculosis and other illnesses that weakened his condition. He returned to India in 1919, hoping to recover, but his health deteriorated further. He died on April 26, 1920, at the age of 32. He left behind three notebooks and a sheaf of papers containing hundreds of unpublished results that were later studied by other mathematicians and found to be of great value. His legacy continues to inspire and influence mathematics and science to this day.