I am reading a book ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ – A life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel. The book has been described as ‘Fascinating.exciting and thoughtful’ by the INDEPENDENT.
I was very much peeved by the statement that the South as educated North Indians see it was backward and superstitious lacking the enlightened rationality of Bombay and Calcutta. Nalanda University could be the oldest university in India, but we had southern centres of learning where Keralese mathematician Madhava operated from. Then of course the Guindy college of Engineering started way back in 1794 as a surveying camp followed by the Madras Christian College 1837, the Presidency College and the University of Madras in 1857 along with the Universities of Bombay, Calcutta. I think educationally the south might have been quite forward even in Ramanujan’s days but about ‘intelligent rationality’, I am not aware of.
Then he warms up to South India after spending 5 weeks in and around the place where Ramanujan operated. He calls the people warm and friendly.
Another statement that peeved me was that South Indians were gentle people unlike the brutish westerners(that is OK). But he continues that South Indians make excellent servants.
Otherwise the book is worth reading for the amount of historical background work done on it. It could be listed as a historical work except for the short doses of mathematics that Kanigel brings in. It is supposed to be meant for a wider spectrum of the readers. I think I should be able to digest the criticism, being an Iyengar myself.
Kudos to Ramanujan, Kudos to Hardy and the great Hardy-Ramanujan collaboration. The book in the end delves on the far reaching application of Ramanujan’s work, which I really liked. It has been applied to the theory of pyrometry to develop better blast furnaces. Ramanujan’s work on mock theta functions, modular equations and in other realms are being studied for their posssible application in atomic research. Then of course crystallography, polymer chemistry, his work on partitions are being used in how to splice telephone cables, Oncology has started using his Mock-Theta functions to fight cancer, String theory uses his mathematics to understand the universe better, and the rise of computer algebra significantly acknowledges his contributions. The later half of the book significantly brings out Srinivasa Ramanujan’s contributions.