Srinivasa Ramanujam

Muny a gem of purest my serene,
The dark unfuthomed caves of ocean bear.
Many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air

(1) One day in March 1920, an elderly lady dictated from her memory a horoscope to G. V. Narayanaswamy Iyer, a teacher in the Hindu High School, Triplicane. He told the lady that the native would enjoy a high reputation, but die at the peak of his reputation. The lady was in tears, for the native was none other than her son, Srinivasa Ramanujam, the mathematical prodigy.

(2) Ramanujam was born on December 22, 1887 at Erode. His father Srinivas Ayyangar was a petty clerk in a clothshop in Kumbakonam. Right from his school days Ramanujam was engrossed in Mathematics. After passing the Matriculation examination, he secured a scholarship to join the Intermediate class in the Government college, Kumbakonam. Mathematics was his first love and he neglected the other subjects. He failed in the college annual examination and lost his scholarship. He discontinued his studies for a time and later joined Pachiappa’s College, Madras, where he drew the attention of P. Singaravelu Mudaliar, Professor of Mathematics. Mudaliar and Ramanujam jointly solved difficult problems. One day he came to the Sanskrit class without his cap, as wearing a cap to cover his tuft was part of the dress regulation. Ramanujan pleaded that he was too poor to buy a new cap.

(3) Though Ramanujam lived in the shadow of poverty, he lived in a world of his own where mathematics was his only interest. He sought not recognition or reward, but only climate in which he could lose himself in his soul absorbing and, soul satisfying discipline. But for people like Professor Seshu Iyer of Presidency College, V. Ramaswamy Iyer, Founder of the Indian Mathematical Society, and R. Ramachnndra Rao, Collector of Nellore and President of the Indian Mathematical Society, Ramanujan would have been “a flower born to blush unseen” and condemned to clerical drudgery at the Madras Port Trust, which he joined on a monthly salary of Rs. 25/- in March 1912.

(4) If Ramanujam had been alive today, academic rules and regulations would have stood in the way of the recognition of his genius. But there-were sympathetic people to encourage him. Thanks to the interest and intervention of Sir Francis Spring, Chairman of the Port Trust, and its Manager, Narayana Iyer, the rule insisting on a Master’s Degree as a qualification for research work was waived, as Ramanujam’s capacity for original research was demonstrated beyond doubt. He was admitted as a research scholar in the Madras University in 1913 on a monthly stipend of Rs. 75/-. He was assured of a steady income, and more than that, adequate facilities for independent academic work.

(5) Those who were responsible for the discovery and development of Ramanujam’s genius were keen on sending him to Cambridge to work with G. H. Hardy, the Mathematician. According to C. P. Snow, one morning early in 1913, Hardy found among the letters “an untidy envelope decorated with Indian stamps.” Opening it, he found sheets of paper with line after line of symbols. They left him cold initially. He put them aside and went about his day’s routine. In the midst of his day’s activities, he could not take his mind off the letter from “an unknown Indian” who sought his opinion on “these mathematical discoveries.” Hardy showed the papers to Professor Littlewood and was convinced that the papers he had received were by an original mind. Hardy was quick to recognise Ramanujam’s potential and lost no time in arranging for Ramanujam’s travel and outfit.

(6) The orthodox opposition to crossing the sea was overcome. Ramanujam left for England in March 1914. Vegetarian food was made available to him during the voyage. At Cambridge he cooked his own food. Though the climate did not agree with him, he found the academic atmosphere stimulating. All Hardy’s major work, says C.P. Snow, was done in collaboration with two mathematicians - Littlewood and Ramanujam. “Hardy decided that it would be wrong to ask Ramanujam to submit to systematic instruction. He felt that such a course would break the spell of his inspiration. At the same time, it was impossible to allow Ramanujam to remain ignorant of his own mistakes. He therefore tried to work with him in a participative way, involving reciprocal learning” (S. R. Ranganathan).

(7) The strain, physical as well as mental, of living in a foreign land told on him. During the summer of 1917 he underwent treatment for a disease which was confirmed to be consumption. Even as he was struggling with death, he lived, moved and had his being in mathematics. Hardy visited him in the hospital and by way of starting the conversation said “the number of my taxi-cab was 1729”. It seemed to be a rather dull number. To which Ramanujam replied “No Hardy! No Hardy! It is a very interesting number, it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways”. (C. P. Snow - Variety of Men) The best medical attention provided by a host of his admirers and well wishers was of no avail, and he passed away on April 26, 1920 at Chetput, Madras. ­

(8) Honours came his way unsought. The honorary B.A Degree of the Cambridge University was conferred on him in 1916. In 1918 he was admitted Fellow of the Royal Society. In the same year he was made Fellow of the Trinity College, Cambridge, he being the first Indian to enjoy this distinction. The Ramanujam prize instituted at the University of Madras for outstanding contribution to mathematics, the Ramanujam Institute, the postage stamp issued on his 75th birthday and the publication of Ramanujam’s Collected Papers are but a few ways in which Ramanujam’s memory has been immortalized.

(9) Ramanujam had his own philosophy of wealth. In 1918-19, he enjoyed a steady and sufficient income from the University of Madras and Cambridge. In 1919, he sent a letter in Hardy’s hand to the University of Madras suggesting that the amount left over after paying his parents and his own expenses should be utilized to meet the cost of educating poor students.

To

The Registrar,
University of Madras,

Sir,

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter and gratefully accept the very generous help which the University offers me.

I feel however, that after my return to India, the total amount of money to which I shall be entitled will be much more than I shall require. I should hope that, after my expenses in England have been paid, £ 50 per year will be paid to my parents and that the surplus, after my necessary expenses are met, should be used for some educational purpose, such in particular as the reduction of school-fees for poor boys and orphans and provision of books in schools.

I beg to remain, Sir,
Your most obedient servant

(S. Ramanujam)

(10) One way to honour Ramanujam’s memory seems to be to face the following questions and answer them ourselves honestly “Compared with the times in which Ramanujam lived, are we not in heaven, in the sense that we get opportunities and facilities in every form? Are we putting them to the right use? Are we justified in complaining?” Shy, modest and uncomplaining and free from any trace of vanity and deeply concerned about the poor - Ramanujam was made of rich stuff. Ramanujam, the mathematician is of interest to the specialist, but the man, Ramanujam, is bound to touch every heart.

(Based on S. R. Ranganathan’s Biography of Ramanujam and C.P. Snow’s Biography
of G.G. Hardy in Variety of Men)

Extracts from the Biography of
Ramanujam by S.R. Ranganatham

“Ramanujam is a phenomenon” ­Prof. Pittendrig, Christian College.

Year 1910. Interview with Ramaswami Iyer, Deputy Collector and Founder of the Indian Mathematical Society.

Ramanujam: I am interested in Mathematics. This notebook contains some of the theorems and results got by me.

Ramaswami Iyer: Pass it on to me….My goodness! I find it to be a mine of theorems and formulae, What a feast! Where are you working?

Ramanujam: I am unemployed.

Ramaswami Iyer: I hope you have sufficient ancestral property.

Ramanujam : No Sir, my family is poor. My father is a petty clerk in a cloth merchant’s shop in Kumbakonam. Sir, be pleased to give me a clerk’s post either in your office or in the Taluk Board Office.

Ramaswami Iyer: If you become a clerk in anyone of these offices, your mathematical abilities will soon disappear. I do not want to sin that way.

Ramanujam: Who else will help me?

Ramaswami Iyer: You will get some real help. Go and meet Prof. Seshu Ayyar of the Presidency College and give him this letter. Do you know him at all?

Ramanujam: Yes, sir. I was his student in the Govt. College, Kumbakonam.

“In the plenitude of my mathematical wisdom, I condescended to permit Ramanujam to walk into my presence. A short uncouth figure, stout, unshaved, not over-clean, with one conspicuous feature - shining eyes - walked in with a frayed, Notebook under his arm. He was miserably poor. He had run away from Kumbakonam to get leisure in Madras to pursue his studies. He never cared for any distinction. He wanted leisure, in other words, that simple food should be provided for him without exertion on his part and that he should be allowed to dream on.” ­R. Ramachandra Rao, Collector of Nellore and President of the India Mathematical Society.

* * * *

K. S. Srinivasan, popularly called “Sandow”, had known Ramanujam intimately at Kumbakonam. He called on Ramanujam one evening (Feb 1912).

Sandow: Ramanju, they all call you a genius.

Ramanujam: Me a genius! Look at my elbow, it will tell you the story.

Sandow : What is all this, Ramanju? Why is it so rough and black?

Ramanujam: My elbow has become rough and black in making a genius of me! Night and day I do my calculation on slate. I wipe the slate every few minutes with my elbow.

Sandow: Why not use paper?

Ramanujam: When food itself is a problem, how can I find money for paper? I may require four reams of paper every month.

Sandow: Tell me honestly, what do you do for your food? Do you work anywhere?

Ramanujam: Our Prof. Seshu Iyer introduced me to R. Ramachandra Rao, the Collector of Nellore. That great man has been providing me with money every month.

Sandow: Then why do you worry yourself?

Ramanujam: How long am I to depend on others? The humiliation of it has gone deep, into me. Therefore I did not take the money from last month.

Sandow: What a rash thing to do! What are you going to do now?

Ramanujam: I joined the Madras Port Trust Office as a clerk on the 9th of this month. Pay Rs. 25 a month.

“By nature he was simple, free from affectation, with no trace whatever of his being self-conscious of his abilities. He was a man full of humour and a good conversationalist” - Mr. K Ananda Rao, formerly Professor ofMathematics, Presidency College.