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December 22: National Mathematics Day
In 2012, former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh declared December 22, the birth anniversary of Ramanujan, National Mathematics Day to be celebrated across the country.

by Pragti Sharma / 22 Dec 2022 14:15 PM IST / 0 Comment(s) / 340

December 22, Mathematics Day, marks the birth anniversary of India’s renowned mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. Ramanujan’s intellectual has been considered by mathematicians to be on the same level as Euler & Jacobi from the 18th and 19th centuries. Ramanujan's work in the number theory is particularly regarded and made advancements in the partition function.



Since 2012, India celebrates Mathematics Day annually on December 22 with multiple educational events carried out at schools and universities throughout the nation.



In 2017, the significance of Mathematics Day was enhanced by the opening of the Ramanujan Math Park in Kuppam, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh.



Mathematics Day History



Srinivasa Ramanujan is the intelligent mathematician behind the inspiration for Mathematics Day in India, whose creations impacted many across the country and the globe. Srinivasa Ramanujan was born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, to an Iyengar Brahmin family. At age 12, despite lacking a proper education, he excelled at trigonometry and invented many theorems for himself.



After completing secondary school education in 1904, Ramanujan became suitable for a scholarship to study at the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam, but could not reserve it since he did not excel in other subjects.



At age 14, Ramanujan got away from home and registered at Pachaiyappa’s College in Madras, where he too exclusively excelled in mathematics without managing the same in other subjects and was unable to complete a Fellow of Arts degree. Living in threatening poverty, Ramanujan instead followed independent research in mathematics.



Soon, the developing mathematician was witnessed in Chennai’s mathematics circles.



In 1912, the founder of the Indian Mathematical Society, Ramaswamy Iyer, helped him get a clerk job at the Madras Port Trust. Ramanujan then started sending his work to British mathematicians, acquiring a breakthrough in 1913 when GH Hardy Cambridge-based called him to London after being impressed by theorems developed by Ramanujan.



Ramanujan earned his way to Britain in 1914, where GH Hardy got him into Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1917, Ramanujan was well on his way to victory after being selected to be a member of the London Mathematical Society and also became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918 — one of the youngest to gain the esteemed position.



Ramanujan returned to India in 1919 because he could not get used to the diet in Britain. His health resumed to corrupt, and he died in 1920 at 32. However, his accomplishments in the field of mathematics are still highly regarded across the world.



Ramanujan left behind three notebooks with pages having unpublished results, which mathematicians resumed work on for years to come. So much so that in 2012, former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh declared December 22, the birth anniversary of Ramanujan, National Mathematics Day to be celebrated across the country.


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