National Mathematics Day (NMD) is annually celebrated across India on 22 December to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was born on 22 December 1887 in Erode, Madras Presidency, British India (now Tamil Nadu, India)
- This day is celebrated to raise awareness about the importance of mathematics for the growth of humanity and to recognise the contributions made by Ramanujan, to mathematics.
22 December 2023 marks the 136th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Background:
i.In December 2011, the Government of India declared that 22nd December, birth anniversay of Srinivasa Ramanujan, of every year as “National Mathematics Day” and the year 2012 as “National Mathematics Year” as a tribute to Srinivasa Ramanujan.
- This was announced by then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during the event organised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
ii.The first-ever NMD was observed on 22 December 2012, the 125th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
About Srinivasa Ramanujan:
i.Srinivasa Ramanujan started developing his theories in mathematics and published his first paper in 1911.
ii.He was mentored at Cambridge University, London, the United Kingdom by Godfrey Harold Hardy(GH Hardy), a well-known British mathematician.
iii.In 1918, Ramanujan became the 2nd Indian to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, UK after Ardaseer Cursetjee, a naval engineer, in 1841.
iv.He was the 1st Indian to be elected as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge (UK).
v.His contribution extends to mathematical fields such as complex analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions.
vi.He passed away on 26 April 1920 at the age of 32 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu.
Biography:
Robert Kanigel, an American Biographer, authored the biography of Ramanujan titled “Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan” in 1991.
- “Man Who Knew Infinity”, a british biopic film, based on the book of the same title was released in 2015 starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons.
Ramanujan’s Major Contributions to Mathematics:
i.Infinite series for pi: In 1914, he found a formula for infinite series for pi, which forms the basis of many algorithms used today.
ii.Ramanujan Number: 1729 is known as the Ramanujan number which is the sum of the cubes of two numbers 10 and 9.
iii.Mock Theta Function: He elaborated on the mock theta function, a concept in the field of modular forms of mathematics.
iv.Theta Function: Ramanujan’s theta function is used to determine the critical dimensions in Bosonic string theory, superstring theory, and M-theory.
- He discovered his theorems and independently compiled nearly 3900 results (mostly identities and equations).
SASTRA-Ramanujan Award for 2023:
i.The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for 2023 was awarded to Ruixiang Zhang, Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America (USA).
ii.The Award was instituted by the Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA) in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu in 2005.
iii.The award includes a cash prize of USD 10,000 and it is presented annually to individuals aged 32 and below, who made an outstanding contribution to the field of mathematics.
