In the quiet town of Erode, Tamil Nadu, on December 22, 1887, a child was born into a modest Brahmin family—a child whose destiny would one day reshape the world of mathematics. This was Srinivasa Ramanujan, the boy who would become one of history’s most brilliant and enigmatic mathematical minds.
Ramanujan’s early years were marked by both hardship and curiosity. His father, Kuppuswamy Srinivasa Iyengar, worked as a clerk in a saree shop, while his mother, Komalatamma, managed the household and sang at the local temple. When Ramanujan was just a year old, his family moved to Kumbakonam, where he began his schooling. Even as a young boy, Ramanujan displayed a remarkable affinity for numbers, often astounding his teachers by solving complex arithmetic problems in his head.
Capturing the Spirit of Genius: Rare Images of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
His true awakening came at age fifteen, when he stumbled upon an old, worn copy of George Shoobridge Carr’s Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics. This book, a compilation of thousands of theorems and results, became his mathematical bible. Ramanujan devoured its contents, not merely memorizing but extending and reinventing the results with his own flair. He filled notebooks with theorems, many of which were entirely original, and some that would baffle even the greatest mathematicians of his time.
But Ramanujan’s single-minded devotion to mathematics came at a cost. He won a scholarship to the University of Madras, but his neglect of all subjects except mathematics led to the loss of his scholarship and his departure from formal education. Undeterred, he continued his research in isolation, often in poverty, scribbling equations on scraps of paper and slate, and sometimes even going hungry to pursue his passion.
In 1909, Ramanujan married Janaki Ammal, but financial struggles persisted. He sought employment and support, but his lack of formal credentials made it difficult to find steady work. Eventually, his genius caught the attention of Ramachandra Rao, a government official and member of the Indian Mathematical Society. Rao was so impressed by Ramanujan’s raw talent that he provided him with financial support, though Ramanujan, valuing self-reliance, soon took a clerical job at the Madras Port Trust.
Ramanujan’s first major breakthrough came in 1911, when he published his first paper in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society. Yet, he yearned for recognition and collaboration beyond India. In 1913, he took a bold step: he sent a letter filled with his theorems to G.H. Hardy, a renowned mathematician at Cambridge University. Hardy was initially skeptical, but soon realized he was corresponding with a true genius. “They must be true, because, if they were not true, no one would have had the imagination to invent them,” Hardy later remarked.
With Hardy’s encouragement, Ramanujan traveled to England in 1914, overcoming religious and cultural barriers. At Cambridge, the partnership between the intuitive Ramanujan and the rigorous Hardy flourished. Together, they produced groundbreaking work on number theory, infinite series, continued fractions, and the partition function. Ramanujan’s insights were so profound that they opened entirely new fields of research, and his notebooks became legendary among mathematicians.
Yet, life in England took a toll on Ramanujan’s health. The cold climate, unfamiliar food, and long hours of work weakened him. In 1917, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis—a disease that would ultimately claim his life. Despite his illness, Ramanujan continued to work feverishly, producing some of his most remarkable results during his final years.
In 1918, Ramanujan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, becoming only the second Indian to receive this honor. He returned to India in 1919, frail but undeterred, and continued to write down new theorems until his death on April 26, 1920, at the age of just 32.
Ramanujan’s legacy endures. His notebooks, filled with thousands of results—many still being explored and proved today—remain a testament to the power of intuition, perseverance, and the mysterious beauty of mathematics. His life, a journey from obscurity to international acclaim, continues to inspire generations, reminding us that genius can emerge from the most unlikely places, and that the pursuit of knowledge knows no boundaries.
