The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan

Janaki

Komalatammal began searching for a bride for Ramanujan. In 1908, while she was visiting Rajendram, a village some 60 miles from Kumbakonam, she noticed a nine-year-old girl named Janaki. Eventually, Komalatammal negotiated with the girl’s family, and the wedding was arranged. Though this kind of child bride arrangement was common practice in India at the time, the couple was not allowed to live together until the girl reached puberty. That left a period of time during which Ramanujan would need to find work and get his life sorted out. The wedding took place, and it was not a success. A fire broke out, which many saw as a bad omen.

Door-to-Door

Ramanujan, newly married, sought employment. At first, he believed he could make money as a tutor, but soon his reputation of teaching way over the heads of his pupils preceded him, and he did not have many interested students. Ramanujan was transient during this time of his life, visiting one place after the next in search of work. Indian society at the time was structured so that networking was an important factor for a person seeking a good job. Ramanujan did just this in hopes that eventually he would land something. His only self-marketing tools were his notebooks, which he carried around and used as evidence of his abilities. Even for eminent mathematicians, the contents of his notebooks were obscure, and nobody could decipher them properly. Finally, by networking with a friend of his named Rajagopalachari, Ramanujan was granted meetings with a powerful and influential man named Ramachandra Rao. After a series of three unsuccessful encounters with Ramachandra Rao, on the fourth, Ramanujan was finally able to convince the man that his math skills were bona fide.

“Leisure” in Madras

Kanigel begins the section by distinguishing contemporary connotations of the word leisure from what it meant during this period of Ramanujan’s life. In the early 1900s, it was not a time of recreation and relaxation; instead, it was a freedom to pursue opportunities, and for Ramanujan that meant time devoted exclusively to working on mathematics. In 1911, Ramanujan lived in the Madras area and received 25 rupees a month. Kanigel detours into a brief historical discussion of Madras, the third-largest city in India at the time, and the Indian caste system, and he mentions that it was in this year that the capital of India shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. The year 1911 was also when Ramanujan had his first paper published in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society.

Jacob Bernoulli and His Numbers

The founding of the Indian Mathematical Society is discussed as the section opens. The society was the brainchild of V. Ramaswami Iyer; Kanigel discusses its early days and some of the mathematical concepts that it delved into. He then breaks down one of the equations that was part of Ramanujan’s submission to the society’s journal, which can be summarized as an examination of nested square roots. More mathematical discussion follows, including Ramanujan’s interactions with the Bernoulli numbers. The section concludes with the official critique of Ramanujan’s paper, which, though it included some errors, was remarkably correct considering his lack of exposure and access to updated mathematical theories.

The Port Trust

Despite his entry into the professional realm of mathematics, Ramanujan was still poor, so much so that he could not afford to use paper to work out his equations until they were final. Since he needed work, he began searching and networking for employment that would lead to a better income. Kanigel introduces Sir Francis Spring, who was employed in 1904 to reorganize the troubled Port Trust in Madras, the organization charged with ensuring the smooth operation of the port city. Kanigel also introduces Narayana Iyer, a prominent and well-regarded Indian engineer. Both of these men would have a major positive impact on Ramanujan’s life. Ramanujan secured a position at the Port Trust and soon developed a relationship with Narayana Iyer, a skilled mathematician in his own right.

The British Raj

Once again, Kanigel detours from Ramanujan’s biography to provide historical context. In this case, he gives a brief history of British colonial control of India, beginning sometime in the early 1600s. India was formally annexed as part of the British Empire in 1876 and gained independence again in 1947, at least in part a result of the influence of anti-colonialist leader Mahatma Gandhi and Indian nationalist Jawaharlal Nehru. Kanigel describes how Indian society was structured within the colonial system: While there was some amicability between Indians and Brits, there were also significant rifts. Kanigel outlines how the British tended to view Indians as simultaneously intelligent and lazy and how this outlook would inform their view of Ramanujan as well.

The Letter

By late 1912, Ramanujan had gained a very favorable reputation with regard to his mathematical skills. He had also engendered support from highly esteemed members of society. However, because Ramanujan’s skills were so far beyond most people’s abilities, nobody would entirely vouch for him. Because people could not fully comprehend his skill level, they had no way of verifying if Ramanujan was the real thing or just an “idiot savant.” Ramanujan began writing letters to mathematicians at Cambridge, hoping to be formally accepted. After the first two attempts failed, his third attempt was accepted by G. H. Hardy.