DU celebrates maths genius Ramanujan’s 125th birthday

The celebration of the 125th birth anniversary of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was kicked off at Delhi University on Monday. The university is holding a six-day international conference — The Legacy of Srinivasa Ramanujan — which will see a number of renowned mathematicians give lectures on Ramanujan and his work.

Ramanujan was a prodigious Indian mathematician who, despite having no formal training in advanced mathematical concepts, mastered trigonometry at the age of 12 and went on to make great contributions to mathematical concepts such as number theory, infinite series and continued fractions. 

The conference was inaugurated by the Minister of Human Resource Development, MM Pallam Raju, and the first day saw lectures on the life and notebook of Ramanujan along with those on topics such as Quantum Modular Forms and Holomorphic Projection.

The university is also holding a competition on encryption for its undergraduate students. The winning teams will get to visit those places where Ramanujan worked in Chennai and Trinity College, Cambridge. The last day of the conference will also see the conferment of the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize, an annual prize that is given to a mathematician under the age of 32 who has contributed in a field influences by Ramanujan.