The Great Mentor in my life

Hidden Genius

In the popular movie Good Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, one of the best universities in America, solves a complicated math problem that was written on a board by a professor.

The Janitor, Will Hunting, had been studying mathematics on his own.

The professor, Gerald Lambeau, realizes that Will has a very special talent.

In the following scene, he explains the situation to another professor, Sean.

Lambeau : Have you ever heard of a man named Ramanujan?

Sean : (nodding his head) Yeah.

Lambeau : So this Ramanujan lived in a tiny hut in India.

No formal education, no access to other works.

But he came across an old math book and from this basic text he was able to discover theories that had confused mathematicians for years.

Sean : And he mailed them to Hardy....

Lambeau : That's right, Sean. He mailed them to a professor at Cambridge, who immediately recognized the brilliance in his work and brought Ramanujan to England.

Sean : Where he stuffed from pneumonia and died at a young age...

Lambeau : They worked together for the remainder of their lives,

producing some of the most exciting math theories ever written.

Ramanujan's genius was unparalleled, Sean.

This boy is like that.

But he's very defensive and I need someone who can get through to him.

Truly Brilliant Beyond Hollywood

Although Good Will Hunting is a fictional film, Srinivasa Ramanuja was a real person.

He was a young, uneducated man from India who turned out to be one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century.

Ramanujan was born into a poor family living near the city of Madras in 1887.

Although his family was of high caste, they didn't have enough money to send him to school.

Despite this, he began to study mathematics on his own.

When he was 15, he read a book that was a collection of mathematical theorems.

Ramanuan's detailed understanding of the complicated ideas in this book provided the first hint of his true genius.

He was given a full scholarship to a university, but spent all of his time studying mathematics.

Because he neglected his other classes, his scholarship was not extended for the following year.

He took an accounting job to earn money and began to have some of his work published in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society.

Although he was unable to finish his university education, he didn't lose his passion for mathematics.

Recognizing Genius

Encouraged, Ramanujan wrote a letter to G. H. Hardy, and honored 35-year-old mathematician at the University of Cambridge.

In it, he introduced himself and described his work.

Dear Sir,

...I have had no university education but I have undergone the ordinary school course.

Since leaving school, I have been using the spare time at my disposal to work at mathematics.

I have not gone through the conventional regular course which is followed in a university, but I am seeking a new path for myself.

I have made a special investigation of divergent series, and the results I have are termed by the local mathematicians as "amazing."

What caught Hardy's attention was a mathematical formula in the letter that didn't seem to make sense at first.

Upon further inspection, however, Hardy realized that it was a version of the Riemann zeta function, an extremely complex mathematical concept.

Hardy had never seen anything like it before, and quickly concluded that he was dealing with a mathematical genius.

From India to England

Hardy invited Ramanujan to come to England, where they could work together.

Over the next years, Hardy served as Ramanujan's personal mentor.

Although the two men had very different personalities, they worked well together.

Under Hardy's guidance, Ramanujan's genius was finally allowed to fully develop.

He received a degree in mathematics from Cambridge and became a Fellow of the Royal Society, only the second Indian to do so.

His work is still widely used today in statistical dynamics, computer science, and code breaking.

Ramanujan was a genius with a mind that worked more mathematically than most.

There is one story about a conversation that took place when Hardy was visiting Ramanujan in the hospital.

After inquiring about Ramanujan's poor health, Hardy causally mentioned that his taxi's number had been 1729, a number with on special meaning.

After thinking for a moment, however, Ramanujan disagreed, "No." he said, "the number 1729 is very special.

It is the sum of the cubes of 9 and 10."

He went on to explain that it is also the sum of the cubes of 1 and 12, as well as the first number that can be divided by the sum of the cubes of two different numbers.

Hardy was so stunned that he could not even reply.

Gone too soon

As a vegetarian, Ramanujan had trouble getting the proper nutrition due to the lack of food during World WarⅠ, and it was not long before he had health problems,

In 1919, he returned to India to recover his health, but he passed away soon afterwards at the age of 32.

Despite dying young, Srinivasa Ramanujan had an enormous impact on the world of mathematics.

Yet, had it not been for G. H. Hardy, his genius might never have been recognized.

Have you ever met someone who saw something special in you?

Everyone has a special gift, but many people live and die without ever discovering theirs.

You may feel like you don't have one, but it just means you haven't found it yet.

Perhaps one day you'll have a mentor who will recognize our hidden abilities and help you develop them.