India has been home to some of the biggest scientists, physicists, and mathematicians in the world who have contributed immensely to the field of science. Be it C.V. Raman, Meghnad Saha, or Mathematics wizard Shakuntala Devi, the country has produced gems in various fields. One such name that impressed generations of mathematicians not only in India but across the world is Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Every year National Mathematics Day is observed on December 22 which is the birth anniversary of the eminent Indian mathematician. Born in Erode in Tamil Nadu in 1887, Ramanujan belonged to a very humble Brahmin family of Iyengar. His father’s name was Kuppuswamy Srinivasa Iyengar and his mother’s name was Komalatamma.
Kuppuswamy worked as a clerk at a saree shop whereas his mother was a housewife.
A self-taught mathematician
Ramanujan did not have a high-class academic background but he had a keen interest in Mathematics since childhood. He is known as a self-taught mathematician, one of the greatest mathematicians of all times produced by India. His special interest was working on theorems that many found impossible to solve.
Working on such difficult tasks gave his life a new meaning. He is well recognized for his work on Continued fractions, Riemann series, elliptic integrals, hypergeometric series, and functional equations that belonged to the zeta function.
When was the National Mathematics Day introduced?
Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was part of a function in Chennai held to commemorate the birth anniversary of the eminent mathematician. As a tribute to this great genius, Dr. Singh declared December 22 as the National Mathematics Day in 2012 at this event. Since then the country has remembered this great mathematician every year on his birth anniversary and various programs are held in different educational institutions across the country on this day.
As a tribute to Ramanujan, the postal department of India also came out with his stamps in 2012. In 2017 on December 22, the Ramanujan Math Park was inaugurated in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh.