Ramanujan and Cambridge University
Srinivasa Ramanujan is remembered as one of the greatest mathematical geniuses of all time. His association with Cambridge University, especially Trinity College, played a decisive role in bringing his extraordinary talent to the attention of the world. The collaboration between Ramanujan and G. H. Hardy remains one of the most remarkable partnerships in the history of mathematics.
Ramanujan Before Cambridge
Before arriving at Cambridge, Ramanujan lived in India with little formal mathematical training. He worked largely in isolation and recorded thousands of results in notebooks. Despite his brilliance, he struggled financially and academically due to his unconventional approach and lack of formal proofs.
These notebooks later became legendary, containing deep results in number theory, infinite series, continued fractions, and q-series.
The Historic Letter to G. H. Hardy (1913)
In January 1913, Ramanujan sent a letter to Professor G. H. Hardy of Trinity College, Cambridge. The letter contained more than 100 mathematical formulae, many of which were entirely new.
After examining the results with J. E. Littlewood, Hardy realized that Ramanujan was a mathematician of extraordinary originality. This letter changed the course of Ramanujan’s life.
Arrival at Cambridge University (1914)
With Hardy’s support, Ramanujan traveled to England in 1914 and joined Trinity College, Cambridge University as a research scholar.
This transition was extremely challenging:
- Unfamiliar climate and food
- Cultural and religious differences
- Isolation during World War I
Despite these difficulties, Cambridge provided Ramanujan with the academic environment needed to develop his ideas rigorously.
The Hardy–Ramanujan Collaboration
At Cambridge, Ramanujan worked closely with G. H. Hardy. Their collaboration combined Ramanujan’s extraordinary intuition with Hardy’s logical rigor.
Together, they made groundbreaking contributions to:
- The partition function and its asymptotic formula
- Highly composite numbers
- Modular forms and theta functions
- Infinite series and continued fractions
Hardy later described Ramanujan as his greatest mathematical discovery.
Major Achievements at Cambridge
Research Publications
Between 1914 and 1919, Ramanujan published more than 30 research papers, many in collaboration with Hardy.
Fellow of the Royal Society (1918)
In 1918, Ramanujan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He was one of the youngest scientists ever elected and the first Indian mathematician to receive this honor.
Fellow of Trinity College
In the same year, Ramanujan was elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, a rare distinction for a foreign scholar at that time.
Illness and Struggles in England
Ramanujan’s health deteriorated during his stay in England due to illness, wartime food shortages, and mental stress. Despite this, he continued working on deep mathematical ideas, including his mysterious mock theta functions.
Return to India and Final Years
In 1919, Ramanujan returned to India due to worsening health. Although seriously ill, he continued to produce original mathematical results until his death in 1920 at the age of just 32.
Cambridge University and Ramanujan’s Legacy
Cambridge University played a vital role in preserving and promoting Ramanujan’s work. His notebooks and papers are still studied worldwide, and his ideas continue to influence modern number theory and mathematical physics.
Hardy famously wrote:
“Ramanujan was my one romantic incident in mathematics.”
Conclusion
The association between Srinivasa Ramanujan and Cambridge University is a powerful example of how talent, when recognized and supported, can transform human knowledge. Ramanujan’s Cambridge years remain a golden chapter in the history of mathematics.
0 Comments