National Mathematics Day(NMD), celebrated annually on December 22 to mark the birth anniversary of the Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan.
- 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 2024 marks the 137th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Note: National Science Day is celebrated every year on February 28 to commemorate the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’ and raise awareness about the importance of science and its role in improving the lives of people.
Background :
National Mathematics Day(NMD) was introduced by former Prime Minister(PM) Manmohan Singh on 26 December 2011 at Madras University, to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who was born on 22 December 1887.
- On this occasion former PM Manmohan Singh also announced that 2012 would be celebrated as the National Mathematics Year.
- The first NMD was celebrated on December 22, 2012.
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(UK) 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(TN).
Biography of Ramanujan:
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 Contributions to Mathematics
i.Infinite series for pi(π): 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).
Awards Named After Ramanujan
2024 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize:-
The 2024 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize was awarded to Dr. Alexander Dunn of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), the United States of America(USA). It has been awarded annually since 2005.
- This annual USD 10,000 prize is for outstanding contributions by individuals.
- The age limit of 32 honors Ramanujan’s remarkable achievements in his short 32 years.
- The prize was awarded at an International Conference in Number Theory during December 20–22, 2024, at the Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre of SASTRA University in Kumbakonam (Ramanujan’s hometown),TN.
Note:Ruixiang Zhang an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the USA receives SASTRA-Ramanujan Award for 2023.
DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing countries
Ruochuan Liu of Peking University, China, was awarded the 2024 DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize “for his fundamental contributions to p-adic Hodge theory.
- It is an annual award for mathematicians under 45 years old who have made outstanding contributions in a developing country.
- It was founded in 2004 and was first awarded in 2005. The prize amount is USD 15000.
- It was originally instituted by Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), the Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund, and the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The participation of the Abel Fund ended in 2012, while the Department of Science and Technology(DST) under Ministry of Science and Technology(MoS&T) of the Government of India(GoI) has funded the Prize for a 10 year period, from 2014 to 2023.
