Remembering a wizard

Ramanujan has inspired generations of Maths lovers. And now, Chennaiites can see a host of the genius' original works and memorabilia at the museum dedicated to him. K.R.SRINIVASA RAO recaps Ramanujan's life and achievements on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

CHENNAI HAS always taken the opportunity to honour and propogate the great mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan whose birth anniversary falls tomorrow. The Year 2000 being the International Year of Mathematics, several institutions and lovers of mathematics have organised special lectures, seminars and conferences to commemorate this and recall Ramanujan's relevance in the new millennium.

Ever since Ramanujan's untimely demise in 1921, there have been periodic echoes of the phenomenal reach and depth of his genius world over in institutes of mathematical studies.

Chennai has always taken special pride to present the maze of the mathematical concepts Ramanujan had probed and expounded into a rich and useful experience.

In 1962, on the occasion of Ramanujan's 75th birth anniversary, Mr. P. K. Srinivasan, an ardent Mathematics teacher, then at the Muthialpet High School in Madras, started an effort, with courage, conviction, enthusiasm and earnestness, which culminated in the release, in 1968, of "Ramanujan: Letters and Reminiscences""Ramanujan: an Inspiration", two memorial volumes, containing the first ever collection on Ramanujan.

At an International Conference in Chennai, on the occasion of the birth centenary celebrations of Ramanujan, on Dec. 22, 1987, a facsimile edition of the "Lost Notebook" of Ramanujam was released by the then Prime Minister of India, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. This "Lost Notebook" is the discovery of some 600 theorems noted in loose sheets of paper during the last year of his life. This led to a resurgence of interest in the life and works of Ramanujan.

A Ramanujan Museum was created in 1993 in the premises of the Avvai Academy in Royapuram by the dedicated mathematics teacher Mr. P. K. Srinivasan with the help of Mr. A.T.B. Bose.

The Prime Minister inaugurated the 86th Indian Science Congress at Anna University, Chennai, on Jan 3,1999. The exhibition featured a pi Pavilion, highlighting briefly the contributions of the Indian mathematicians, Euler, Gauss, Jacobi, the several formulae of Ramanujan including his 17 infinite series representations for pi - along with a replica of the aforesaid Museum in Royapuram. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, on that occasion stated: "Steps have been taken to establish a Ramanujan Museum, in the name of the mathematics wizard of Chennai, jointly by the University of Madras and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences here." He also appealed to the Prime Minister to consider "making the museum a National asset" (The Hindu, Jan. 4, 1999).

The original passport of Ramanujan, now with the foster son of Janakiammal (1900 - 1994), wife of Ramanujan, was exhibited for the first time to the public. Among the distinguished visitors to the exhibition were Abdul Kalam, R. Chidambaram, V. S. Ramamurthy, M. Anandakrishnan. Subsequently, steps were taken to house the exhibits with some modifications in the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre, Chennai, and opened for the public on Feb. 28, 1999. With additional funds from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, a Ramanujan Photo Gallery was added in June 1999, in the TNSTC (see photo). The motto of the pi Pavilion is:

Never say, pi = 22/7, Never again!. Students, in the impressionable age, would know all facts about the James Bond movie ``Never say, Never again'', but they may not know all about pi. (Note: pi is only approximately equal to 22/7 = 3.142857 142857... For, the actual value of pi is 3.141592 65380... The digits appear to be truly random and pi has been computed to more than 50 billion digits!)

Ramanujan's story in brief is that after successful completion of his schooling, in 1903, he failed to pass the F.A. degree of the University of Madras. In his search for a benefactor, he approached all the well-known mathematicians in the city. The mathematics professors at Presidency College, Madras, the crown jewel of the South Indian educational system at the beginning of this century, had a major role to play in encouraging him during this period. It is commendable that the University of Madras rose on many occasions to nurture Ramanujan's insatiable interest in mathematics by offering him a scholarship to go to Trinity College, Cambridge, along with an adequate allowance for his passage by ship and initial outfit; extending this scholarship until his return to India in March 1919; and continuing it, due to his meteoric rise to fame through his publications (23 research papers during his five year stay in England), until his death.

The Department of Mathematics, Anna University, has organised a seminar on ``Mathematics in the new millennium'' to mark the Ramanujan endowment meeting to be held at Anna University, on December 22 and 23.

It is heartening to note that through a new initiative of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Madras, the Ramanujan Institute and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences are planning an appropriate Museum to house the original notebooks of Ramanujan and a few of the memorabilia - his passport, his slate and such sundry items.

This Museum, when it comes up in Chennai, is expected to stimulate the interest of generations of mathematicians, students and the public to the life and work of Ramanujan in the years to come. For, in the words of late Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, Astrophysicist and Nobel Laureate: "As long as people do mathematics, the work of Ramanujan will continue to be appreciated."

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