National Mathematics Day 2022: Remembering Srinivasa Ramanujan, the math prodigy

• Image Credit: Internet

• Dec 22, 2022 | Kabir Chakraborty

The main goal of the celebration is to increase public awareness of how crucial mathematics is to the progress of humanity. 

Digital Desk: In honour of eminent mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, December 22 is commemorated as National Mathematics Day in India. At a ceremony in Chennai to mark Ramanujan's birth anniversary in 2012, former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh paid honour to the mathematician and proclaimed December 22 as National Mathematics Day.

The main goal of the celebration is to increase public awareness of how crucial mathematics is to the progress of humanity. National Mathematics Day is observed across the country with a variety of educational efforts at colleges and institutions all over the country.

Institutions celebrate the day with a variety of events, including student workshops and teacher training programmes. The Ramanujan Math Park, a centre for practical mathematics learning, opened its doors on December 22 in 2017 in Kuppam, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh.

Who was Srinivasa Ramanujan?

Srinivasa Ramanujan was born in the city of Erode in Tamil Nadu in 1887. One of his coworkers at the Madras Port Trust identified his interest in mathematics. Ramanujan later proceeded to Cambridge University to study mathematics.

Ramanujan earned his diploma in 1916. He was selected to join the London Mathematical Society the following year. In 1918, because of his contributions to the theory of numbers and elliptic functions, he was elected a fellow of the renowned Royal Society. He was also elected as the first Indian Fellow of Trinity College. The mathematical prodigy, however, lived a brief life. However, the mathematics genius had a short life. He died at the age of 32.

He made invaluable contributions to the fields of fractions, infinite series, number theory, mathematical analysis, etc. In 1991, Robert Kanigel's biography of him, "The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan," was released. The book gives a detailed overview of Ramanujan's early life and accomplishments. Later, a full-length movie with the same name was also produced.