Partitions, 246–52, 280, 290, 291, 301–6, 311, 323, 337, 339, 340, 343, 348, 350, 370
Passage to India, A (Forster), 138
Pavlov, Ivan, 291
Peasants’ Revolt, 121
Pembroke College, Cambridge, 126
Pennsylvania State University, 252
Pentland, Lord, 193, 315
Pepys, Samuel, 126
Peterhouse College, Cambridge, 126
Phillips, Samuel Mandeville, 311
Physiology for Beginners (Foster and Shore), 54
Pi, 208–10, 349
Piaget, Jean, 372
Picasso, Pablo, 157
Picture Post (magazine), 368
Plan Seventeen, 212
Plastics, 348
Plato, 143
Platonic Conception of Immortality and Its Connexion with the Theory of Ideas (Gaye), 139
Pollard, S., 231
Polya, George, 204, 253, 254
Power series, 248
Presidency College (Madras), 52, 53, 73, 74, 77, 78, 84, 94, 101, 102, 175, 178–87, 195, 256, 315, 329, 330, 332
Prime numbers, 46, 61, 173–74, 250, 252, 338, 343
theory of, 160–61, 177, 216–23, 285
Princeton University, 278, 346, 364
Principia Ethica (Moore), 137, 147
Principia Mathematica (Newton), 150, 151
Principles of Mathematics (Russell), 152, 291
Principles and Practice of Medicine (Osler), 268
Probabilistic number theory, 338
Probability, 209
Professor Srinivasa Ramanujan International Memorial Committee, 353
Proofs, 92, 221–22
of Carr’s equations, 41–44, 92
and Indian mathematics, 86
of Ramanujan’s theorems, 163, 167, 168, 173–74, 177, 181, 183, 184, 204, 219, 221–26, 255, 303, 305, 343–44, 346, 358–59
Pryce, Maurice, 278
Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field, The (Hadamard), 285
Pure mathematics, 60, 146–48, 346–51, 365, 366
number theory and, 246
Pyrometry, 348
Quadratic equations, 60
Quarterly Journal of Mathematics, 145, 176, 208
Quatrième Congrès des Mathématiciens Scandinaves, 252
Rademacher, Hans, 252
Radhakrishna Iyer, R., 32, 74, 78, 264, 281, 321
Radicals, nested, 87
Raghavan, S., 343
Raghunathan, N., 76, 195
Railroads, Indian, 48–49
Rajagopalachari, C. V., 78–79, 171, 329
Rajagopolan, T. K., 281
Ram, Balak, 347
Ram, Dr., 290, 298
Ramachandra Rao, R., 78–82, 84, 92–94, 96, 97, 102, 171, 174, 187, 188, 194, 199, 211, 230, 264, 279, 311, 315–17, 322, 328, 329, 331, 334, 356, 357
Ramakrishna, T., 185
Ramakrishnan, S., 354
Ramalingam, A. S., 200, 290, 296–300
Raman, C. V., 336, 351, 355
Ramanujachariar, N., 53
Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on Subjects Suggested By His Life and Work (Hardy), 372
Ramanujan, Srinivasa
arrangements for trip to England, 187–94
arrival in London, 199–200
B.A. granted to, 234
on Bernoulli numbers, 89–92, 105
birth of, 11, 17, 36
and British India, 101–6
bust of, 352
at Cambridge, 1–4, 6, 66, 198, 200–207, 210–15, 219–20, 228–31, 233–35, 237–46, 252–59, 289–91, 315, 330, 351, 357
Carr’s influence on, 39–45
caste of, 21–23, 112
and Cauvery River, 9–10
centennial of birth of, 340, 351–53, 356, 358
childhood of, 11–20, 24
collaborative papers with Hardy, 248–52, 276, 301, 338, 340, 368
Collected Papers of, 333, 337–41, 371
and conflicts between Janaki and Komalatammal, 272–76, 318–20, 327
correspondence with Hardy, 159–79, 181, 183–84, 187, 191, 198, 209, 216, 218–19, 222, 229, 248, 255, 323–24, 328, 337, 341
and cult of uselessness, 148
death of, 327–34, 336, 361–63
disappearances of, 48–49, 238, 298
documentary film about, 4–5
early education of, 13–14, 19, 25
formalism of, 205–6
and Great War, 212, 213, 229, 234
at Government College (Kumbakonam), 45–47, 49, 51, 53, 54, 90, 101
Hardy’s writings about, 151, 372
in high school, 25–28, 101
illnesses of, 72, 74, 254, 263–72, 290, 295–300, 310–12, 318, 320–22, 325–27
importance to Hardy of, 369–73
in Indian Mathematical Society Journal, 86–87, 90–93
influence on mathematics of, 330, 334, 337–51
job hunting by, 73–76
intuition of, 215–16, 220, 223–27, 252
letters to British mathematicians, 106–7, 145, 170
in Madras, 81–85
at Madras Port Trust, 94, 96–98
marriage of, 19, 68–73, 75, 96–98, 198, 255
at Namakkal, 188–90
nature of relationship with Hardy, 271–72, 275–80, 289
notebooks of, 56–64, 75–78, 80, 87, 88, 90, 92, 93, 182, 187, 192, 203–7, 219, 222, 224–25, 232, 280, 312, 313, 326, 337, 341–42, 344–46, 350–52, 370
at Pachaiyappa’s College, 52–55, 57, 65, 70
papers by, 207–10, 229–32, 245, 291, 301–6, 343
personality of, 76–77
physical description of, 67
at Presidency College, 178–87
psychology of, 50–52
Ramachandra Rao and, 78–82, 92–94
refusal to go to England, 174, 185–86, 242
return to India, 307, 309–18, 321
as Royal Society Fellow, 291–96, 300, 301, 309, 310, 315
spirituality of, 7, 19–20, 28–34, 36–37, 65–67, 189–90, 280–89, 335
suicide attempt by, 272, 294–96, 300, 310, 355
as svayambhu, 357–59
as symbol of India, 353–57
as tutor, 55–56, 73, 74
vegetarianism of, 22–23. 54, 191, 194, 229, 240–41, 244, 258–59, 263, 266, 268, 298–99
on voyage to England, 195–99
Westernization of, 194–95, 244
Ramanujan Institute, 355
Ramanujan Mathematical Society, 351
Ramanujan’s Master Theorem, 182
Rama Rao Sahib, C. S., 328
Ramaseshan, S., 341, 348
Ramaswami Iyer, N., 93
Ramaswami Iyer, V., 77–78, 81, 85, 86, 171, 188, 189, 357
Ramayana, 12, 20, 29
Rangammal (Ramanujan’s grandmother), 19, 36, 97
Rangaswami, T. V., 353
Rangaswamy, (Janaki’s father), 70–71
Ranjitsinjhi, 171
Rankin, Robert, 344–46
Rational numbers, 59, 154
Rayleigh (mathematician), 150
Richardson, George (“Dick”), 124
Richardson, Sarah, 122
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard, 147
Riemann zeta function, 219–20, 348
Riesz, Marcel, 365, 367
Rigor, 151–54, 224–26, 366
Robbins, Lionel Charles, 144, 254
Rogers, Leonard James, 168, 305–6, 323
Rogers-Ramanujan identities, 306, 313, 349
Rook, Graham, A. W., 268
Rose, Jasper, 361
Ross, Edward B., 74–75, 101, 182
Routh, E. J., 132
Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 339
Royal Artillery, 250
Royal College of Physicians, 258
Royal Garrison Artillery, 228
Royal Geographic Society, 114
Royal Irish Lancers, 193
Royal Society, 106, 111, 134, 145, 17
0, 174, 215, 250, 321, 344, 353
Hardy elected to, 145
Hardy honored by, 366, 369
Proceedings of, 271
Ramanujan elected to, 291–96, 300, 309, 315
Royal Society of Medicine, Proceedings of, 146
Rudra, Ila, 237–38
Rugby School, 112, 120
Ruskin, John, 124
Russell, Bertrand, 2, 132, 137, 138, 141, 149, 152, 157, 224, 245, 262, 277, 290, 291, 361, 367
Russell, Dora, 262, 264
Russia
Academy of Sciences of, 366
in Great War, 214, 306
Russian Ballet, 157
Ruth, Babe, 364
Rutherford, Ernest, 2
Sacre du Printemps, Le (Stravinsky), 157
Sadagopan (Ramanujan’s brother), 12
St. Aubyn, Alan, 124–25, 172
St. Catherine’s School, 115, 117
St. John’s College, Cambridge, 116, 119, 126, 142, 250
St. Joseph’s College (Trichinopoly), 95
St. Matthew Passion (Bach), 344
St. Paul’s School, 163
Saldhana, Professor, 79, 80
Salie (mathematician), 344
Sandhurst, 193
Sarangapani Iyengar, K., 50, 74, 321
Sarangapani temple, 28–29
Satthianadhan, S., 256–57
Satyapriya Rao, 66
Schelling, Freidrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 287
Schlieffen Plan, 212
Science, 146
Scotland Yard, 294
Selberg, Atle, 252, 338–39, 350
Sepoy Mutiny, 99
Series, 145
convergent, 88
divergent, 80, 174, 203
hypergeometric, 57, 80, 167, 204
power, 248
summation of, 182
theorems on, 161
See also Infinite series
Seshan (Ramanujan’s brother), 12
Seshu Iyer, P. V., 47, 77–78, 81, 82, 106, 188, 210, 279, 295, 310, 325, 327, 334, 336
Sexual Inversion (Ellis and Symonds), 140
Shaivism, 34
Shakespeare, William, 148, 351
Shame syndrome, 50–51
Shastras, 31
Shaw, George Bernard, 300
Shaw, Harold Batty, 270
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 350
Shore, Lewis E., 54
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 128
Singaravelu Mudaliar, P., 53, 74, 106, 315
Singular module, 57
Snow, C. P., 109, 111–12, 114, 116, 119, 123, 135, 144, 151, 152, 161, 162, 165, 171–72, 184, 207, 253, 279, 283, 291–92, 361, 363–65, 367–69, 372
Snow, Philip, 369
Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, 365
Sofia, University of, 366
Some Early Impressions (Stephen), 142
South Africa, 341
South Indian Railways, 49, 95
Spring, Sir Francis, 95–98, 101–4, 106, 174–76, 193–95, 233, 317, 326
Square roots, nesting of, 86–87
Squaring the circle, 209
Sravanam ceremony, 320
Srinivasa (Ramanujan’s father), 11, 17–18, 36, 47, 55, 65, 68, 70, 275, 329, 331, 332
Srinivasacharya, T., 93
Srinivasa Iyengar, 195
Srinivasa Iyengar, R., 275, 316, 322, 327
Srinivasan, K. S., 92
Srinivasan, P. K., 335, 342–43
Srinivasan, R., 282
Srinivasa Raghavan, S., 332
Srinivasa Ramanujan Trust, 352
Statistical mechanics, 348–49
Stephen, J. T., 136
Stephen, Leslie, 142
Stone, J. H., 196
Strachey, Lytton, 109, 111, 136–39, 141, 157
Strand magazine, 214, 224
Stravinsky, Igor, 157
String theory, 348, 349
Stolz (mathematician), 153
Study of British Genius, A (Ellis), 126
Symonds, John Addington, 140, 143
Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics, A (Carr), 39–46, 57, 58, 90, 173, 203, 356
Subbanarayanan, N., 195–96
Subbier, Ganapathi, 27
Subramanian, S. M., 55, 190, 224–25, 230, 259, 264, 271
Sudras, 20, 21
Sundram Iyer, P. R., 178
Sykes, Christopher, 5
Tagore, Rabindranath, 330
Tamarisk Tree, The (Russell), 262
Tamil language, 13, 14, 16, 24, 25, 33
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 341, 343
Tau conjecture, 343–44
Teachers’ College, 78
Telugu language, 14, 25
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 2, 137, 239
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 2, 64, 81, 239
Thambuswami, Mudaliar, 25
Theory of Functions (Forsyth), 150
Theory of Infinite Series (Brownwich), 104
Theosophical Society, 314
Theta functions, 168, 248, 323–25, 336, 345, 348
Thomas the Apostle, St., 82–83
Thomson, J. J., 130, 131, 150, 292, 361
Thomson, William, 131
Thorwaldsen (sculptor), 345
Time Machine, The (Wells), 291
Time magazine, 373
Times Literary Supplement, 152
Times of London, 130, 157, 161, 262, 363
Tirunarayanan (Ramanujan’s brother), 12, 332, 342
Titchmarsh, E. C., 151
Todhunter (mathematician), 153
Topology, 366
Treatise on the Mathematical Theory of Elasticity (Love), 134
Trench warfare, 212, 260
Trevelyan, G. M., 135, 311
Trigonometry, 27, 44, 46, 50, 53, 86, 119, 161, 205
infinite series in, 88–89
pi in, 208
Trilling, Lionel, 141
Trinity College, Cambridge, 2, 6, 109, 111, 112, 123, 127–28, 136, 139, 141, 145, 151, 164, 169, 174, 183–84, 192, 198, 243, 264, 295, 329, 345, 352, 361, 362, 368
Apostles from, 138
during Great War, 212–13, 227, 259–61, 263, 276–77
meals at, 239–41
Neville at, 186
novel about, 124–25, 172
Ramanujan at, 198, 233, 239, 290, 294, 299–301, 309–11, 315
retirement policy of, 365
scholarships to, 125–26
Sunday Essay Society, 245
Tripos system, 39–40, 124, 128–36, 149, 150, 155–56, 162, 170, 172, 186, 214, 228, 233, 260, 305, 370
Tuberculosis, 258, 265–71, 290, 297, 321, 325, 327–28
Tuchman, Barbara, 212
Turing, Alan, 139, 278
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare), 136, 137, 139
Tyndall, John, 124
Union of Democratic Control, 228, 277
United States
in Great War, 307, 311
tuberculosis in, 267
University College (London), 104
Untouchables, 20, 21
Upanishads, 31
Uppiliapan Koil temple, 31
Uselessness, cult of, 146–48, 346
Vaishnavism, 21, 34, 179, 189, 317
Vaisyas, 20
Veblen, Oswald, 364
Vedas, 31
Vedic ceremonies, 85–86
Victoria, Queen of England, 5, 101, 113, 136
Vietnam War, 277
Vijayalakshmi, 70
Vijayathasami (opening day of school), 13
Vikramaditya legends, 20
Viswanatha Sastri, K. S., 56, 73–74, 199, 317
Vijayaraghavan, T., 330
Viswanathan, R., 354
Wakeford, E. K., 261
Walker, Gilbert, 174–76, 178
Wallis, John, 209
Ward, J. T., 119–20
War of the Worlds (Wells), 291
Watson, G. N., 168, 204, 324–25, 337, 344, 346, 350
Webb, R. R., 132
Weber (mathematician), 210
Weierstrass (mathematician), 150
Weinberg, Wilhelm, 146
Wells, H. G., 291–92
Whitehead, Alfred North, 137, 291
White Plague, The (Dubos), 270
Whittaker, J. M., 344–46
Wiener, Norbert, 151, 157, 246, 367
Wilde, Oscar, 140
William, Prince of Normandy, 133
Wilson, B. M., 4, 63, 204, 245, 337, 346
Wilson Library Bulletin, 356
Winchester School, 112, 120–26, 128, 133, 140, 142, 172, 261, 339, 362, 368
Wingfield, Dr., 266
Wisconsin, University of, 280, 344, 350
Woolf, Leonard, 111, 112, 136, 137, 139, 141, 157, 199, 311
Woolf, Virginia, 111, 136, 141, 300
Woolwich, 250
Wootton, Barbara, 261
Wordsworth, William, 101, 126
World War I, see Great War
World War II, 339–40, 368, 369
Wren, Christopher, 2, 212, 291, 345
Wright, E. M., 302, 339
Wurmser, Leon, 50–51
Wykeham, William of, 126, 362
Young, Laurence, 227, 243, 361, 365
Young, W. H., 361
Zero, 66, 85
Zeta function, 216–20, 227, 348
Ziman, John, 361
Washington Square Press
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Copyright © 1991 by Robert Kanigel
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All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Kanigel, Robert.
The man who new infinity: a life of the genius Ramanujan / Robert Kanigel.
p. cm.
Originally published: New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 0-671-75061-5
1. Ramanujan, Aiyangar Srinivasa, 1887–1920. 2. Hardy, G. H. (Godfrey Harold), 1877–1947. 3. Mathematicians—India—Biography. 4. Mathematicians—England—Biography. I. Title.
QA29.R3K36 1992
510’.92—dc20
[B]
91-37763
CIP
First Washington Square Press trade paperback edition June 1992
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ISBN: 978-1-4391-2186-3 (eBook)
The author gratefully acknowledges permission from the following sources to reprint material in their control: The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, for S. Ramanujan and G. H. Hardy documents residing in Trinity Library; St. Catherine’s School magazine, 1933, for G. E. Hardy poem; Reading University Archives for E. H. Neville manuscript; Freeman Dyson for his letter to C. P. Snow; Cambridge University Press for material from A Mathemetician’s Apology by G. H. Hardy, copyright 1940; The London Mathematical Society for G. H. Hardy documents residing in Trinity Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library for S. Ramanujan documents residing in Cambridge University Library. Author’s failure to obtain a necessary permission for the use of any other copyrighted material included in this work is inadvertent and will be corrected in future printings following notification in writing to the Publisher of such omission accompanied by appropriate documentation.
The Man Who Knew Infinity Page 58
