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Srinivasa Ramanujan, a largely self-taught mathematician working as a clerk in Madras, sent the Cambridge mathematician G. H. Hardy a letter full of new results in 1913. A year later he travelled to England to work with Hardy.

History of mathematics

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Mathematicians in Madras had already recognised his gift and helped him publish and find support before he left India. At Cambridge, working closely with Hardy, Ramanujan produced striking results in number theory, the study of whole numbers, and in infinite series. Hardy later called their collaboration the one romantic incident in his life. Ramanujan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918. His health broke down in England, and he returned to India in 1919; he died the following year, aged 32. His notebooks, full of results written down without proof, kept mathematicians busy for decades, and some of his ideas are still being applied today.

Türkçe oku
Srinivasa Ramanujan, Madras'ta kâtip olarak çalışan ve matematiği büyük ölçüde kendi kendine öğrenmiş bir gençti. 1913'te Cambridge'deki matematikçi G. H. Hardy'ye kendi bulduğu sonuçlarla dolu bir mektup yolladı; bir yıl sonra da Hardy'yle çalışmak için İngiltere'ye gitti.

Madras'taki matematikçiler onun yeteneğini daha önce fark etmiş, Hindistan'dan ayrılmadan önce yazılarını yayımlamasına ve destek bulmasına yardım etmişti. Cambridge'de Hardy'yle yakın çalışan Ramanujan, tam sayıları inceleyen sayılar kuramında ve sonsuz serilerde çarpıcı sonuçlar elde etti. Hardy bu ortaklığı sonradan hayatının tek romantik olayı diye anlattı. Ramanujan 1918'de Royal Society üyeliğine seçildi. İngiltere'de sağlığı bozuldu; 1919'da Hindistan'a döndü ve ertesi yıl, 32 yaşında öldü. Kanıtsız yazılmış sonuçlarla dolu defterleri matematikçileri onlarca yıl uğraştırdı; bazı fikirleri bugün hâlâ kullanılıyor.

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