Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Journal of Young Scientist", Vol. 8
Written by Andreea-Denisa LAZĂR, Daniel Andrei POPA
The Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920) was one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of science. He was born in a poor family and had no formal education in mathematics, being mostly self-taught, but he made important contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions, including the solutions to some open mathematical problems. Some of his work even has applications in nowadays top science domains, such as cosmology and string theory. Back then, paper was very expensive and Ramanujan did most of his calculations with chalk on the ground floor of a local temple and then recorded them in his notebooks, mostly without the proofs, just like in the book “A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics” by G. S. Carr, which influenced him deeply. He said that his formulas were revealed to him in his dreams by some Indian gods, especially by the goddess Namagiri. In his short life he found more than 3900 results (mostly identities and equations), many of them completely novel and very unconventional, which opened new directions in science and were inspiring for later scientists.
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