The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, Apr 26, 2016 - Biography & Autobiography - 464 pages
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JEREMY IRONS AND DEV PATEL!

A moving and enlightening look at the unbelievable true story of how gifted prodigy Ramanujan stunned the scholars of Cambridge University and revolutionized mathematics.

In 1913, a young unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G H Hardy, begging the preeminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Realizing the letter was the work of a genius, Hardy arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England.

Thus began one of the most improbable and productive collaborations ever chronicled. With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, "the Prince of Intuition," tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, "the Apostle of Proof."

In time, Ramanujan's creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two, but left behind a magical and inspired legacy that is still being plumbed for its secrets today.
 

Contents

Prologue
1
OneIN THE TEMPLES COOLNESS1887 to 1903
9
Sarangapani Sannidhi Street
11
A Brahmin Boyhood
20
Offscale
23
The Goddess of Namakkal
28
TwoRANGING WITH DELIGHT1903 to 1908
39
The Cambridge of South India
45
At the Dock
194
SixRAMANUJANS SPRING1914 to 1916
197
Together
203
The Flames of Louvain
211
The Zeroes of the Zeta Function
215
S Ramanujan B A
227
SevenTHE ENGLISH CHILL1916 to 1918
239
An Indian in England
241

Flight
48
Another Try
52
The Notebooks
57
A Thought of God
64
Enough is Enough
67
ThreeTHE SEARCH FOR PATRONS1908 to 1913
69
DoortoDoor
73
Leisure in Madras
81
Jacob Bernoulli and His Numbers
85
The Port Trust
92
The British Raj
99
The Letter
102
FourHARDYG H Hardy to 1913
109
Horseshoe Lane
112
Flint and Stone
120
A Fellow of Trinity
126
The Magic Air
136
The Hardy School
145
FiveI BEG TO INTRODUCE MYSELF 1913 to 1914
159
I Have Found in You a Friend
172
Does Ramanujan Know Polish?
179
A Dream at Namakkal
183
A Singularly Happy Collaboration
246
Deepening the Hole
254
All Us Big Steamers
259
The Danish Phenomenon
263
Trouble Back Home
272
The Nelson Monument
276
Ramanujan Mathematics and God
280
Singularities at X 1
289
Slipped from Memory
299
EightIN SOMEWHAT INDIFFERENT HEALTH From 1918
309
Return to the Cauvery
316
The Final Problem
322
A Son of India
329
Ramanujan Reborn
341
Better Blast Furnaces?
347
Svayambhu
353
Epilogue
361
Notes
375
Selected Bibliography
417
Authors Note and Acknowledgments
425
Index
429
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About the author (2016)

Robert Kanigel is the author of six previous books. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Grady-Stack Award for science writing. His book The Man Who Knew Infinity was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Harvard Magazine, and Psychology Today. He has just retired as Professor of Science Writing at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and now lives in Baltimore.