Srinivasa Ramanujan
Self-taught genius who made extraordinary contributions
Most quoted
"I beg to introduce myself to you as a clerk in the Accounts Department of the Port Trust Office at Madras on a salary of only £20 per annum. I am now about 23 years of age. I have had no University education but I have undergone the ordinary school course. After leaving school I have been employing the spare time at my disposal to work at Mathematics. I have not trodden through the conventional regular course which is followed in a University course, but I am striking out a new path for myself. I have made a special investigation of divergent series in general and the results I get are termed by the local mathematicians as 'startling'."
— from First letter to G.H. Hardy, 1913
"I beg to introduce myself to you as a clerk in the Accounts Department of the Port Trust Office at Madras on a salary of only £20 per annum. I am now about 23 years of age. I have had no University education but I have undergone the ordinary school course. After leaving school I have been employing the spare time at my disposal to work at Mathematics."
— from Letter to G.H. Hardy, 1913
"I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavourable omen. 'No,' he replied, 'it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.'"
— from Recounted by G.H. Hardy, 1918
All quotes by Srinivasa Ramanujan (688)
I am a humble servant of God, and my work is his will.
The human spirit is boundless, capable of achieving the impossible.
Even in illness, my mind is filled with mathematical ideas.
The universe is ordered by divine laws, which can be understood through mathematics.
My work is a prayer to God.
The true nature of reality is mathematical.
I am grateful for the gift of mathematics, which allows me to glimpse the divine.
The human mind is a reflection of the divine mind.
My life is dedicated to the pursuit of mathematical truth.
The beauty of a mathematical proof is comparable to a work of art.
I believe in the power of intuition, which guides me in my mathematical discoveries.
The universe is a symphony of numbers.
My legacy will be my theorems, which will continue to inspire future generations.
The pursuit of knowledge is a spiritual journey.
Mathematics is the key to understanding the mysteries of existence.
The human mind is capable of grasping the infinite.
I can understand the meaning of a mathematical expression better than any other person.
To preserve my brains, I must think.
No, it is not a dream. It is a reality. I have seen it.
The Hindu goddess Namagiri inspired him with formulas in dreams.
Contemporaries of Srinivasa Ramanujan
Other Mathematicss born within 50 years of Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920).