National Mathematics Day
December 22nd is National Mathematics Day, the birth anniversary of India’s famous Mathematician
Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Ramanujan’s genius has been considered
by mathematicians since the 18th and 19th centuries to be
on par with Euler and Jacobi.
His work in number theory is
considered special.
Since 2012, India’s National Day has
been marked every year on December 22 with numerous educational programmes
organised in schools and universities across the country.
In 2017, the significance of the day
increased with the inauguration of the Ramanujan Math Udyan at Kuppam in
Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh.
Ramanujan was born in 1887 in Erode,
Tamil Nadu.
At the age of 12, despite no formal
education, he mastered trigonometry and developed several theorems for himself.
Living in extreme poverty, Ramanujan
did independent research in Mathematics.
In 1912, Ramaswamy Iyer, the founder
of the Indian Mathematical Society, helped him get a clerkship in the Madras
Port Trust.
His breakthrough came in 1913 when
Ramanujan’s theorems were impressed by Cambridge-based GH Hardy and invited him
to London. He died in 1920 at the age of 32.
However his achievements in the field
of Mathematics are still regarded worldwide.
In 2012, former Prime Minister of
India Manmohan Singh announced that December 22, Ramanujan’s birthday would be
celebrated as National Mathematics Day across the country.
