Why is this article at the top of the page ? As so many people have pointed out - he is neither an unknown nor has there been any recent incident/discovery which would require a re-iteration of his "geniusness".
Srinivasa Ramanujan
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#22Ramanujan was also mentioned in "Good Will Hunting". However I do agree that Indians have done a bad in terms of Marketing our selves. Our brand image over some time has been: Some time Back: Snake Charmers and Kings Now: Bangalore(Outsourcing) & Spicy Food
"Snake Charmers" is not a brand image "We" wanted nor created. It is the product of ignorant western minds. Compared to other eastern cultures (chinese and japanese at least) India has suffered from mis-understanding and underwhelming understanding for a long time. You only have to read English literature on India from 18 and 19th century to realize the extent of misinformation generated by the British to legitimise…
Of ignorance - the article mentions "dying of illness, malnutrition and possibly liver infection in 1920 at the age of 32." ...
I smell some ignorance on our part - we don't have much goodwill to take care of geniuses. The current state of higher education (with major emphasis on mugging, apart from minute number of good colleges) is killing many more geniuses.
I find a 1st year Computer Science student very keen in maths and physics, to the extent that he goes on to prove things that go above our heads. I asked him, "So why didn't you go for a Bsc in Physics/maths?" , his answer - "I need to get a job first, and anyhow I can't go against wills of my father".
Now look at that, neither does government not parents do enough to sustain such geniuses in our nation. Another quote from the article - "He received a scholarship to study at Government College in Kumbakonam, but lost it when he failed his non-mathematical coursework." Even this is pretty much observable here, the lack of quality higher education institution does force us to leave our passion and do the way the system dictates us to.
There are many geniuses, but if things continue like this, they would never be filtered out and brought to limelight, to places where their genius can be of worth. ... nothing more to say.
"It is the product of ignorant western minds." --> That's such a poor generalization. (We+our gov) have been ignorant at many other important things (higher education, infrastructure, ...) than an 'Image' projected on world.
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#23Ramanujan was also mentioned in "Good Will Hunting". However I do agree that Indians have done a bad in terms of Marketing our selves. Our brand image over some time has been: Some time Back: Snake Charmers and Kings Now: Bangalore(Outsourcing) & Spicy Food
However I do agree that Indians have done a bad in terms of Marketing our selves. What is this "we", and since when are people brands? Bit parochial and jingoist eh? Nations are an illusion, and better image "betterment" can be done by caring for one's immediate neighbor. Don't succumb to regionalist propaganda that serve none other than the ruling classes; all earth is yours, and all (wo)men your kin.
[deleted]
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#24If you count him as unknown then you might as well count just about every other Mathematician other than Newton as an unknown as well.
I've discovered that John Nash ("that beautiful mind guy") is probably about as well known as Newton. So is "that Numbers guy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numb3rs).
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#25Why is this article at the top of the page ? As so many people have pointed out - he is neither an unknown nor has there been any recent incident/discovery which would require a re-iteration of his "geniusness".
White guilt.
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#26I probably should pipe up on this thread :)
The most amazing thing about Ramanujan is that there are literally multiple Springer Volumes devoted solely to the task of proving the results in his notebooks.
See for example:
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#27Ramanujan is well known.
I think I first read about him in a Martin Gardner book as a kid. So yeah, not that unknown.
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#28Ramanujan was also mentioned in "Good Will Hunting". However I do agree that Indians have done a bad in terms of Marketing our selves. Our brand image over some time has been: Some time Back: Snake Charmers and Kings Now: Bangalore(Outsourcing) & Spicy Food
However I do agree that Indians have done a bad in terms of Marketing our selves. What is this "we", and since when are people brands? Bit parochial and jingoist eh? Nations are an illusion, and better image "betterment" can be done by caring for one's immediate neighbor. Don't succumb to regionalist propaganda that serve none other than the ruling classes; all earth is yours, and all (wo)men your kin.
Tell that to the Chinese.
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#29Ramanujan was also mentioned in "Good Will Hunting". However I do agree that Indians have done a bad in terms of Marketing our selves. Our brand image over some time has been: Some time Back: Snake Charmers and Kings Now: Bangalore(Outsourcing) & Spicy Food
However I do agree that Indians have done a bad in terms of Marketing our selves. What is this "we", and since when are people brands? Bit parochial and jingoist eh? Nations are an illusion, and better image "betterment" can be done by caring for one's immediate neighbor. Don't succumb to regionalist propaganda that serve none other than the ruling classes; all earth is yours, and all (wo)men your kin.
I would upvote this a million times if possible
Re: Srinivasa Ramanujan
#30If you count him as unknown then you might as well count just about every other Mathematician other than Newton as an unknown as well.
And some of the Greeks.