

Srinivasa Ramanujan - vinutheraj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

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travisjeffery
If you count him as unknown then you might as well count just about every
other Mathematician other than Newton as an unknown as well.

~~~
yummyfajitas
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>).

~~~
travisjeffery
No. People don't call Newton: "That gravity guy", people know Newton's name.
Every time I go to talk to a non-Mathematician about John Nash and say his
name they go: "Who?", me: "The Mathematician from A Beautiful Mind." them:
"Oh." Newton is Newton and in terms of popularity, John Nash; "The Beautiful
Mind guy" isn't even in his league.

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Chirag
Ramanujan 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

~~~
mahmud
_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.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Oh lighten up. Americans have a lovely variety of stereotypical images - fat
McDonalds consumers, Texan bullies, imperialists, the Japanese apparently
think we "all smell like butter" or some such. Its kidding, and when done by
friends is supposed to be answered good-naturedly.

~~~
mahmud
I am not objecting to the existence of national stereotypes, I object to the
existence of nations.

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ypavan
I loved reading Robert Kanigel's biography - "The Man Who Knew Infinity: A
Life of the Genius Ramanujan." Recommended for people who want to know more
about the genius mathematician.

~~~
mwerty
My intro to him was <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051838/>

God bless the bbc.

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ivenkys
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".

~~~
TheElder
White guilt.

~~~
lucifer
For what? For recognizing his genius and rescuing him from the squalor of his
native condition and landing him in the heart of the empire?

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ramanujan
I 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:

<http://bit.ly/iWIQP>

~~~
pchristensen
Long url:
[http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&client=firefox-a...](http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&hs=D2T&q=ramanujan%27s+notebooks&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=J4LpSrrDJab4tgOk6pwI&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCEQrQQwBA)

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chubbard
One of my coworkers used to talk about Ramanujan. He remarked Ramanujan called
every prime number a close personal friend. He sort of had this deep
relationship with numbers.

Then I saw a documentary on people who could do complex math without the aide
of a calculator (e.g. given any large number and tell if it was prime in their
head). I thought there might be a parallel between people like this and
Ramanujan. The documentary focused on a couple of people who were not savants,
but by all accounts normal people. They followed a young British kid. He
described how he saw and felt about numbers, and each number had a distinct
personality. I found it remarkably similar to the description about how
Ramanujan felt about numbers.

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zaph0d
[...]Hardy contacted the Indian Office to plan for Ramanujan's trip to
Cambridge. Secretary Arthur Davies of the Advisory Committee for Indian
Students met with Ramanujan to discuss the overseas trip. In accordance with
his Brahmin upbringing, Ramanujan refused to leave his country to "go to a
foreign land."

So much for being a Math genius.

Disclaimer: I am an Indian.

~~~
keeptrying
Newton was supposed to have been an absolute coward.

As a member of parliament the only thing he mentioned, during any session, was
a request to open the window.

Feynman was a womanizer who was known to sleep with wives of colleagues. His
biography "Genius" is a pretty good read by the way.

Genius doesnt mean "adventurous" or "virtuous" or "worldly". Its just one
facet of a human.

~~~
eru
And Newton was also heavy into alchemy and astrology. (Leibniz seemed much
saner. But he was probably closer to Feynman in his worldly orientation.)

~~~
kleevr
Netwon also spent a great deal of time attempting to decipher codes in the
bible...

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wglb
How can you say that the inventor of taxicab numbers is unknown? Most people I
know know who he is.

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coliveira
This guy was huge, and he is very well known.

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ilkhd2
Ramanujan is well known.

~~~
adamc
I think I first read about him in a Martin Gardner book as a kid. So yeah, not
that unknown.

~~~
hernan7
Kind of same here -- I think I first read about him on the Argentinian
magazine "Humor y Juegos" (Humor and Games) some time in the late 70s/ early
80s. I guess most people with any interest in recreational mathematics/
puzzles will know of Ramanujan.

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sanitybit
But does he have his MCSE?

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capablanca
Well known. Now, do you know Slava Pestov?

