Today India and the world celebrates Mathematics Day. It also the 135th birth anniversary of Math Genius Ramanujam. The National Mathematics Day is celebrated on December 22 across the nation every year. This Day is marked to recognise and celebrate the works of Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to legendary mathematician S Ramanujan on his birth anniversary.
“A genius who made a monumental contribution to mathematics, I pay my tributes to the legendary S Ramanujan on his birth anniversary”, the Prime Minister said.
The purpose of this important day and its celebration is to raise awareness about the significance of mathematics for the advancement of humanity. The nation celebrates National Mathematics Day with a number of educational initiatives at schools and universities across the nation.
National Mathematics Day: India hosts student workshops, teacher training programs
From student workshops to teacher training programmes, institutions mark the day with a host of activities. The Ramanujan Math Park, a centre for practical mathematics learning, opened its doors on December 22 in 2017 in Kuppam, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh.
Srinivasa Ramanujan, the Indian mathematical genius, was born on this day in 1887. This year nation celebrates his 135th birth anniversary of Ramanujan. The main objective behind the celebration of National Mathematics Day is to make people aware of the development of mathematics and its importance in the growth of humanity.
Srinivasa Ramanujan was born in the city of Erode in Tamil Nadu in 1887. His interest in mathematics was discovered by one of his colleagues at the Madras Port Trust. Later, Ramanujan went to study mathematics at Cambridge University.
India Celebrates National Mathematics day, Pays tribute to Math Genius
Ramanujan graduated in 1916. Next year, he was chosen to join the London Mathematical Society. He was chosen as a fellow at the prestigious Royal Society in 1918 for his work on the theory of numbers and elliptic functions. He also became the first Indian to be elected as a Fellow of Trinity College. However, the mathematics genius had a short life. He died at the age of 32.
His contributions in relation to fractions, infinite series, number theory, mathematical analysis, etc. remain indispensable. His biography “The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan” by Robert Kanigel was published in 1991. The book provides a thorough account of Ramanujan’s childhood and achievements. Later, a feature film under the title was also made.
The day was announced on 26 February 2012 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (22 Dec 1887- 26 Apr 1920). 2012 was also observed as National Mathematics Year. Ramanujan had a wealth of ideas that have transformed and reshaped 20th-century mathematics. These ideas continue to shape the mathematics of the 21st century.