Srinivasa Ramanujan

Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan (Tamil: ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ ஐயங்கார் ராமானுஜன்) (December 22, 1887 – April 26, 1920) was a groundbreaking Indian mathematician. A child prodigy, he was largely self-taught in mathematics. Ramanujan is considered one of the world's greatest-ever mathematicians, proving over 3,000 theorems. Ramanujan mainly worked in analytical number theory and is famous for many summation formulas involving constants such as π, prime numbers and the partition function. Often, his formulae were stated without proof and were only later proven to be true. His results inspired a large amount of later research and mathematical papers. In 1997 the Ramanujan Journal was launched to publish work "in areas of mathematics influenced by Ramanujan".

References

• An overview of Ramanujan's notebooks by Bruce C. Berndt, in Charlemagne and His Heritage: 1200 Years of Civilization and Science in Europe, Volume 2: Mathematical Arts, P. L. Butzer, H. Th. Jongen, and W. Oberschelp, editors, Brepols, Turnhout, 1998, pp. 119-146, (22 pg. pdf file)
• Modern Mathematicians, Harry Henderson, Facts on File Inc., 1996