On December 22, mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was born on this date in 1887, is honored with National Mathematics Day.
National Mathematics Day 2021: Every year on December 22, India commemorates National Mathematics Day. Srinivasa Ramanujan, a well-known mathematician, was born on this day. To honor the outstanding man, then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared the date National Mathematics Day in 2012.
Ramanujan was a brilliant Indian mathematician who, despite having received no formal education in advanced mathematics, mastered trigonometry at the age of 12 and went on to make significant contributions to number theory, infinite series, and continuing fractions.
He was born in Erode, Tamil Nadu, on December 22, 1887. At the age of 14, Ramanujan enrolled in Madras’ Pachaiyappa College.
In 1912, Ramanujan was working at the Madras Port Trust, when his abilities were recognized by some of his coworkers, one of whom referred him to Trinity College, Cambridge University professor GH Hardy. In 1913, he met Hardy, and a year later, he proceeded to Trinity College to study under the Englishman’s supervision. With the support of Hardy, he got his degree from Cambridge in 1916 and went on to publish several great works on his subject.
National Mathematics Day: A Brief History
While paying respect to Ramanujan in Chennai in 2012, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared December 22 as National Mathematics Day.
Every year since then, the day has been observed as National Mathematics Day.
The impact of Ramanujan on popular culture
The world has always been enthralled by mathematicians’ theorems and other accomplishments.
Dev Patel, a British-Indian actor, played this unusually bright mathematician in the 2015 film ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity.’ It delves into Ramanujan’s beautiful friendship with Hardy and offers light on his youth in India.
Ramanujan died on April 26, 1920, at the age of 32, due to failing health.