Author: Robert Kanigel
Publisher: ABACUS
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 438
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0349104522
Description
The Man Who Knew Infinity is a fascinating biography of the brilliant, self-taught Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. It is also a history of the astonishingly fruitful cross-cultural collaboration between this young, ill-educated mathematical genius and his mentor at Cambridge University, G H. Hardy-a relationship that turned the world of mathematics upside down before it withered and died through a combination of Indian bureaucratic short-sightedness, superstition, English spiritual asceticism and the First Word War.
REVIEWS
This first full biography is admirably judged to capture and sustain the wider public interest in Ramanujan…a fine example of a work of popularizing mathematics, and deserves a wide readership.
-New Scientist
Kanigel’s book provides the reader with perceptive insights into the two main protagonists, their cultural milieu and their interaction…should catch the imagination of any reader.
-Independent
Contents
PROLOGUE
ONE
In the Temple’s Coolness
TWO
Ranging with Delight
THREE
The Search for Patrons
FOUR
Hardy/G H Hardy
FIVE
I beg to introduce myself
SIX
Ramanujan’s Spring
SEVEN
The English Chill
EIGHT
In somewhat indifferent health
Epilogue
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
Index