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In 1913, a young, unschooled Indian clerk named Srinivasa Ramanujan wrote a letter to G. H. Hardy, begging that pre-eminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Hardy, realizing the letter was the work of a genius, arranged for Ramanujan to come to England. Thus began one of the most remarkable collaborations ever chronicled.
With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and teeming slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, "the Prince of Intuition," tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, "the Apostle of Proof." In time, Ramanujan's creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two, but left behind a magical and inspired legacy that today is still being plumbed for its secrets.
In 1913, a young, unschooled Indian clerk named Srinivasa Ramanujan wrote a letter to G. H. Hardy, begging that pre-eminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Hardy, realizing the letter was the work of a genius, arranged for Ramanujan to come to England. Thus began one of the most remarkable collaborations ever chronicled.
With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and teeming slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, "the Prince of Intuition," tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, "the Apostle of Proof." In time, Ramanujan's creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two, but left behind a magical and inspired legacy that today is still being plumbed for its secrets.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
About the Author-
Robert Kanigel, a professor of science writing at MIT, where he directs the graduate program in science writing, is a winner of the Grady-Stack Award for science writing. His book The Man Who Knew Infinity was a finalist for the 1991 Los Angeles Times Book Award in the science category. He lives in the Charles Village neighborhood of Baltimore.
Reviews-
Arithmetic equations in an audiobook? In Humphrey Bower's eloquent reading of this lauded 1991 biography of one of the world's most brilliant and mystifying mathematicians, spoken numbers manage not to confuse. Admittedly, being able to see them would be nice, but mathematically inclined listeners can write down the equations as Bower reads, and non-math listeners wouldn't really learn much from seeing the numbers anyway. They can join everyone else in appreciating the story of Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Bower reads with interest and command. He paces the math discussions to interest all listeners, and his command of British and Indian intonations adds color to the dialogue and quotations. Introduced with atmospheric music, this is a classy production. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
April 29, 1991 This moving and astonishing biography tells the improbable story of India-born Srinavasa Ramanujan Iyengar, self-taught mathematical prodigy. In 1913 Ramanujan, a 25-year-old clerk who had flunked out of two colleges, wrote a letter filled with startlingly original theorems to eminent English mathematician G. H. Hardy. Struck by the Indian's genius, Hardy, member of the Cambridge Apostles and an obsessive cricket aficionado, brought Ramanujan to England. Over the next five years, the vegetarian Brahmin who claimed his discoveries were revealed to him by a Hindu goddess turned out influential mathematical propositions. Cut off from his young Indian wife left at home and emotionally neglected by fatherly yet aloof Hardy, Ramanujan returned to India in 1919, depressed, sullen and quarrelsome; he died one year later of tuberculosis. Kanigel ( Apprentice to Genius ) gives nontechnical readers the flavor of how Ramanujan arrived at his mathematical ideas, which are used today in cosmology and computer science. BOMC featured alternate; QPB alternate.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
A brilliantly realized biography...Kanigel's particular interest in how primitive superstition, India's bureaucratic mind-set, English spiritual asceticism, and a Western war combined to destroy the miracle of Ramanujan's genius adds deeper dimensions to the already fascinating story of a difficult but astoundingly fruitful cross-cultural collaboration.
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Arithmetic equations in an audiobook? In Humphrey Bower's eloquent reading of this lauded 1991 biography of one of the world's most brilliant and mystifying mathematicians, spoken numbers manage not to confuse. Admittedly, being able to see them would be nice, but mathematically inclined listeners can write down the equations as Bower reads, and non-math listeners wouldn't really learn much from seeing the numbers anyway. They can join everyone else in appreciating the story of Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Bower reads with interest and command. He paces the math discussions to interest all listeners, and his command of British and Indian intonations adds color to the dialogue and quotations. Introduced with atmospheric music, this is a classy production. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
