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 testament to the fact that genius can emerge from unexpected places.
My work is a blend of art and science.
I have a deep reverence for the mysteries of the universe.
I am a seeker of mathematical truth.
My life is a journey of mathematical discovery.
I have a profound connection to the ancient mathematical traditions of India.
My work is a bridge between the finite and the infinite.
I am a living example of the power of the human mind.
My mathematical insights are a gift from the divine.
I have a unique perspective on the nature of reality.
My work is a testament to the universality of mathematical truth.
I am a pioneer in the field of number theory.
My mathematical journey is a spiritual quest.
An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.
No, it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as a sum of two cubes in two different ways.
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.
Sir, I am already a half starving man. To preserve my brains I want food and this is my first consideration. Any sympathetic letter from you will be helpful to me here to get a scholarship either from the university or from the government.
The Lord has shown me the way.
For myself, I would like to say that the kind of help I need most now is the help of books.
If I had been better educated, I would have been less original.
Contemporaries of Srinivasa Ramanujan
Other Mathematicss born within 50 years of Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920).