National Mathematics Day 2022: India is celebrating National Mathematics Day today to commemorate the 145th birth anniversary of ace mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan who was born on December 22, 1887. In 2012, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared December 22 as National Mathematics Day to honor the life and achievements of Ramanujan. Considered one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, Ramanujan is known for his contributions to number theory and mathematical analysis.
Here's all you need to know about the day, and Ramanujan:
- Srinivas Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887, at Erode, Tamil Nadu in a Tamil Brahmin Iyengar family. He had developed a liking for mathematics at a very young age. After mastering trigonometry at 12, he was eligible for a scholarship at the Government Arts College in Kumbakonam.
- His excellence in Mathematics was recognized after he started working as a clerk in the Madras Port Trust in 1912, then he was referred to Professor GH Hardy of Trinity College, Cambridge University.
- Ramanujan received a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from Trinity College in 1916.
- He was elected to the London Mathematical Society in 1917. Next year, he was elected to the prestigious Royal Society for his research on Elliptic Functions and theory of numbers next year.
- In 1918, he became the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1919 he returned back to India.
- A year later, on April 26, he breathed his last owing to deteriorating health. He was just 32 years old. His biography ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ by Robert Kanigel depicts his life and journey to fame.
- Ramanujan his own theorems and independently compiled 3900 results.
- In 2012, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared December 22 as National Mathematics Day to honor Srinivas Ramanujan.
- A film of the same name was released in 2015 in which Dev Patel played Ramanujan. The film shed light on Ramanujan’s childhood in India, his career in Britain, and his journey to becoming a great mathematician.
