Srinivasa Ramanujan

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Indian mathematician, one of the outstanding math minds of history who contributed to the theory of number, of partitions and the theory of continued fractions. Educated at the Government College at Kumbakonam, he obtained a scholarship for the University of Madras, but after his marriage in 1909, became a clerk in the Madras Port trust. The recognition of his genius began when he wrote to G.H. Hardy at Trinity 1/16/1913 and Hardy replied 2/08/1913. His correspondence with Hardy led to another scholarship from Madras and a grant from Trinity, Cambridge, England. He left India by boat 3/17/1913 and arrived in London 4/14/1913 in spite of great difficulties caused by his caste as a Braman. His diet and religious observations were compromised by the great difference in life style to which he had to adapt. Hardy helped him get into his original work, but the isolation of his life and difficulties in diet caused him great stress. He became ill in 1917, and in January 1918, tried to kill himself by throwing himself in front of a train. Rescued, he struggled on until he was able to return to India in 1919. Ramanujan's notebooks were published in 1957, and his "Collected Papers" published in 1927 and 1962. He died 4/26/1920, Kumbakonam. Link to Wikipedia biography