Godfrey H. Hardy was annoyed. The renowned Cambridge University mathematician had just received a letter from a strange Indian named Srinivasa Ramanujan, asking him for his opinion of 120 mathematical theorems that Ramanujan claimed he’d discovered. Hardy regularly got letters from cranks claiming to have solved all kinds of problems, and this one seemed no different. He glanced at it with distaste.
Many of the theorems made no sense. Of the others, one or two were already well-known. Ramanujan must be some kind of fraud, Hardy decided, and tossed the letter aside.
But all that day the letter kept nagging Hardy. Might there be something in those wild-looking theorems? That evening he summoned another brilliant Cambridge mathematician, J. E. Littlewood, and the two men set out to assess the Indian’s worth.
By midnight they knew the truth. Srinivasa Ramanujan was a genius. As Hardy explained later, many of those fantastic theorems had to be true because “no one would have had the imagination to invent them. Great mathematicians are commoner than thieves or humbugs of such incredible skill.”
That incident in January 1913 was a turning point in the history of mathematics. At the time, Ramanujan was an obscure Madras Port Trust clerk. A little more than a year later, he was at Cambridge University, and beginning to be recognized as one of the most amazing mathematicians the world has known. Though he died in 1920, much of his work was so far in advance of his time that only in recent years is it beginning to be properly understood. Indeed, his results are helping solve today’s problems in computer science and physics, problems that he’d had no inkling of.
FLOURISHING GENIUS
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Reader's Digest India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Reader's Digest India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi
Pushpesh Pant, one of India’s pre-eminent food writers, is back with a comprehensive food history of the capital.
Who Wants Coffee?
It’s bitter—but beloved around the world
Prevent The Pain Of Shingles
You don't have to suffer, as long as you take two important steps
The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart
Dozens of diets are touted as ‘best’, but it’s easy to lose track of the fact that healthy eating needs to be about overall wellness, not just weight loss.
ME & MY SHELF
Journalist Sopan Joshi has worked in a science and environment framework for nearly three decades. His book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (Aleph Book Company) synthesizes the sensory appeal of India's favourite fruit with its elaborate cultural roots and natural history. He writes in English and Hindi.
SWITCHED
In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.
ECHOES OF THE PAST
A VISIT TO THE ANCIENT BARABAR CAVES IN BIHAR REVEALS A SURPRISING CONNECTION TO A LITERARY CLASSIC
Fathers of the Bride
A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood
Fiction's Foresight
British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?
It Happens ONLY IN INDIA
The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.