Ramanujan

Srinivasa Ramanujan, born in 1887 in the town of Erode in Tamil Nadu, India, is a name etched in golden letters in the history of mathematics. With almost no formal training in mathematics, Ramanujan's innate genius led him to contribute groundbreaking results in areas such as number theory, mathematical analysis, and infinite series. His discoveries, many of which were scribbled in notebooks without proofs, have continued to inspire and baffle mathematicians well into the 21st century.

A self-taught prodigy, Ramanujan's work caught the attention of the renowned British mathematician G.H. Hardy, leading to an enriching collaboration between the two. Together, they delved deep into realms of numbers, producing results that would go on to influence various mathematical fields.

A brief look at some of Ramanujan's distinguished works includes:

Partition Function: Ramanujan developed a formula to determine the number of ways a given integer can be expressed as the sum of positive integers, disregarding the order.

Ramanujan's Prime Counting Function: He proposed an improved version of the prime counting function which approximates the number of prime numbers less than a given value.

Modular Forms and Elliptic Functions: Ramanujan's work in this area laid the groundwork for future discoveries, particularly in the theory of modular forms. His results and identities linked to elliptic functions are still a significant area of research.