 "Google honours Srinivasa Ramanujan with a doodle")
Today’s endearing doodle on Google.com is commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of the mathematical genius that was Srinivasa Ramanujan. Born on December 22,1887 in Erode, in the then Madras Presidency, Srinivasa Ramanujan’s name is held in high reverence for his contribution to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions.
Ramanujan is known to have lived in India totally disconnected with the buzzing mathematical community in Europe, which led him to do his own research. G.H. Hardy, another prolific English mathematician, considered Ramanujan to be a natural genius. Ramanujan was born in a poor Brahmin family and was introduced to formal mathematics at the age of 10. Little Ramanujan exhibited natural ability and mastered the books on advanced trigonometry authored by S.L. Loney by the age of 12. Ramanujan even discovered theorems of his own and re-discovered Euler’s identity independently. By the time he was 17, Ramanujan carried out his own mathematical research on Bernoulli numbers and the Euler–Mascheroni constant.
Ramanujan was invited by G.H.Hardy to Cambridge
He even received a scholarship to study at the Government College in Kumbaknonam, which he lost when he failed his non-mathematical coursework. He soon joined another college to continue his mathematical research, while also working as a clerk in the Accountant-General’s office at the Madras Port Trust Office to fund for himself.
During 1912-1913, Ramanujan sent the samples of his theorems to three academics at the University of Cambridge. His work was noticed by G.H.Hardy. Impressed, Hardy invited Ramanujan to visit and work with him at Cambridge. Ramanujan became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
He breathed his last at the age of 32 following illness and malnutrition; some even suspect liver infection.
The doodle in the memory of this genius is endearing, to say the least and best describes what Ramanujan lived for – his love for mathematics. The doodle shows a young lad, believably young Ramanujan, on his fours, writing the mathematical constant Pi, which is approximately equal to 3.14159. The word ‘Google’ has been thoughtfully etched out of the different formulaes and other mathematical depictions.
Such is his genius and so big his contribution to the field of mathematics that this day has been declared as the National Mathematics Day by Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. Singh made the announcement this year in February during the inaugural ceremony of the celebrations to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Google also recently commemorated the 142nd birth anniversary of Maria Montessori – better known for the philosophy of education that she pioneered. Maria Tecla Artemesia Montessori, or Maria Montessori, was born on August 31, 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy.
The doodle itself was rather colourful with elements key to the methods of Montessori education. The elements of Montessori education depicted in the doodle form the word – Google.
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