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Ramanujan was elected, Fellow of the Royal Society on February 28, 1918. He was the youngest Indian to receive this distinguished fellowship. In October that year he became the first Indian to be elected Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. His achievements at Cambridge include the Hardy-Ramanujan-Littlewood circle method in number theory, Roger-Ramanujan’s identities in partition of integers, a long list of the highest composite numbers, besides work on the number theory and the algebra of inequalities. In algebra his work on continued fractions is considered to be equal in importance to that of great mathematicians like Leonard Euler and Jacobi.
While Ramanujan continued his research work, Tuberculosis, then an incurable disease, was devouring him. Ramanujan was sent back to India and when he disembarked, his friends found him pale, exhausted and emaciated. To forget the agonising pain, he continued to play with numbers even on his death bed.
Besides being a mathematician, Ramanujan was an astrologer of repute and a good speaker. He used to give lectures on subjects like “God, Zero and Infinity”.
Explanation:
Ramanujan was the best research candidate in Cambridge, that he was awarded a fellowship of the Royal Society. This fellowship is usually awarded only for scientists, physicists and mathematicians who have done the best research work. The university pays them to complete their research as it is a huge contribution to society. In October, he became the first Indian to be elected Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. It was very rare that non-natives get a fellowship. But Ramanujan's work was highly appreciated by everyone. He worked with other scientists and colleagues like Hardy and Littlewood. They formed learning groups and worked on number theories and composite numbers. He and Roger worked on a list of the highest composite numbers. Composite numbers are numbers that are divisible by other numbers. For example, the number \(8\) is divisible by \(2\) and \(4\), as \(2×4\) is \(8\), and vice versa. He even contributed in the field of Algebra, equally in comparison to the godfathers of algebra Leonard Euler and Jacobi.
Ramanujan was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Back in the day, it was a very incurable disease like cancer. It could also be because of the cold climate in Britain. It affects the lungs of a person. He was sent back to India. But the disease had spread so much that he looked pale and tired when he reached. But rather than leaving behind everything, he still resorted to Maths as a medicine. He used to work on Maths, to ignore the pain and forget everything. He even played with numbers in his death bed. That was how much he loved Maths.
He worked on Maths in spite of being sick
Since Maths is related to astrology in a way, he used to give lectures regarding that. He gave lectures on topics such as “God, Zero and Infinity". He connected how God and infinity is the same, an unknown presence in everyone's lives.
Words with Difficult Meaning:
| S.No | Words | Meaning |
1 | Distinguished | Very respected |
2 | Tuberculosis | A disease that affects the lungs |
3 | Emaciated | Extremely thin |
4 | Agonising | Painful |
Reference:
State Council of Educational Research and Training (2019). Term-2 English Standard-9. From Zero to Infinity (pp. 81-93). Published by the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation.
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