# Srinivasa Ramanujan: Failed College Twice. Then Cambridge Called. A two-minute illustrated biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan, mathematician (1887–1920). One Life. Mahachi Academy. - Years: 1887–1920 - Place on the map: Kumbakonam, India - Film: 1:54, coming soon - Web page: https://mahachi.org/academy/srinivasa-ramanujan/ - In other languages: [Español](https://mahachi.org/academy/es/srinivasa-ramanujan/index.md), [Português](https://mahachi.org/academy/pt/srinivasa-ramanujan/index.md), [العربية](https://mahachi.org/academy/ar/srinivasa-ramanujan/index.md), [हिन्दी](https://mahachi.org/academy/hi/srinivasa-ramanujan/index.md) A clerk who had failed college twice mailed nine pages of formulas to Cambridge. G. H. Hardy decided the strangest of them had to be true, because no one could have invented them. ## The story in brief Srinivasa Ramanujan grew up poor in Kumbakonam, a south Indian temple town. At 15 he taught himself from a book of thousands of formulas with few proofs. Ignoring every other subject, he failed college twice. Patrons helped him, and in 1913, now a clerk in Madras, he mailed nine pages of formulas to G. H. Hardy at Cambridge. Hardy decided the strangest of them had to be true, since no one could have invented them, and wanted him in England. His strict Hindu community forbade crossing the sea, so he refused. Then, as his friends told it, his mother dreamed the family goddess told her not to stand in his way. In 1914 he sailed. Hardy taught him proof, and said Ramanujan taught him far more. Some results were wrong; most were right. He fell gravely ill in wartime England in 1917. In 1918, at 30, he was elected to the Royal Society. Very ill, he went home in 1919. His last letter to Hardy, in January 1920, introduced “mock theta functions”. He worked until about four days before he died in Madras on 26 April 1920, aged 32. In 2012 functions like those turned up in the mathematics of black holes. Mathematicians needed ten volumes, finished in 2018, to check his notebooks. ## In his own words > 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. First letter to G. H. Hardy, from Madras, 16 January 1913 [1] > I have found a friend in you who views my labours sympathetically. … To preserve my brains I want food and this is now my first consideration. Second letter to G. H. Hardy, 27 February 1913 [2] > No, it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as a sum of two cubes in two different ways. From his sickbed, when Hardy called taxi number 1729 dull, as Hardy recalled [1] ## Sources 1. G. H. Hardy, obituary of Ramanujan, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society (1921), printing his first letter in full 2. P. V. Seshu Aiyar and R. Ramachandra Rao, “Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920)”, in Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan (1927) 3. G. H. Hardy, Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on Subjects Suggested by His Life and Work (1940) 4. B. C. Berndt, Ramanujan’s Notebooks, five parts (1985–1998), and G. Andrews and B. C. Berndt, Ramanujan’s Lost Notebook, five parts (2005–2018) 5. K. Srinivasa Rao, “Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920): life and work of the mathemagician” (arXiv), and his Ramanujan pages at IMSc, Chennai https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0003184 6. A. Dabholkar, S. Murthy and D. Zagier, “Quantum Black Holes, Wall Crossing, and Mock Modular Forms” (2012) https://arxiv.org/abs/1208.4074 7. Royal Society, “Revisiting Ramanujan” (2018) ## Transcript A clerk who failed college twice mailed 9 pages of maths to Cambridge. A leading Cambridge mathematician decided the strangest formulas had to be true: no one could have made them up. So Cambridge sent for Srinivasa Ramanujan. He had 7 years to live. His real teacher was a book. At 15, he found one full of formulas that rarely showed why they worked. Too poor to waste paper, he worked on a slate, and filled notebooks with answers. He ignored every other subject, and failed college twice. Now a clerk, he wrote to a Cambridge stranger, G. H. Hardy: "I am striking out a new path for myself." Hardy wanted him in England. He refused: his strict Hindu community forbade crossing the sea. His mother then dreamed, as his friends told it, that their goddess told her not to stand in his way. At 26, he sailed. Hardy taught him to prove his answers, and said Ramanujan taught him far more. Some of his answers were wrong. Most were right, and astonishing. Far from home, in wartime England, he fell gravely ill. At 30, the clerk from Madras was elected to Isaac Newton's old academy, the Royal Society. Hardy recalled calling his taxi's number dull: 1729. From his sickbed, Ramanujan said no: it's the smallest sum of two cubes, two different ways. That number was already in his notebook from India. Very ill, he went home to India, and sent Hardy one last letter of strange new formulas. He worked until about 4 days before he died, at 32. 92 years later, formulas like those in his last letter turned up in the mathematics of black holes. Mathematicians needed 10 volumes, and nearly a century, to check everything in his notebooks. ## Next, somewhere else - [Lee Kuan Yew: Too Small to Survive. Richer Than Britain.](https://mahachi.org/academy/lee-kuan-yew/index.md): In 1965 he wept because he thought Singapore could not survive alone. It grew richer per person than Britain. 2,900 km east, in Singapore - [The Wright Brothers: They Said a Million Years. It Took 69 Days.](https://mahachi.org/academy/wright-brothers/index.md): Two bicycle makers without diplomas beat a newspaper’s million-year guess, and then much of the world doubted them for almost five years. 14,200 km north-west, in the United States - [Nelson Mandela: They Offered Him Freedom. He Said No.](https://mahachi.org/academy/nelson-mandela/index.md): Offered his freedom after twenty-two years in prison, he said no, and nine years later he led the country that jailed him. 6,900 km south-west, in South Africa Mahachi Academy is a Mahachi Family Foundation project. https://mahachi.org/academy/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mahachiacademy TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mahachiacademy