The discovery of Ramanujam

Late in his life, the renowned British mathematician G H Hardy was asked what he considered his biggest contribution to the field. Hard had certainly done enough in his own right to be able to give an answer that would reflect credit directly on himself, but his response belied this. ‘The discovery of Ramanujam,” he said immediately, a reference to the Madras-based clerk for whom he secured a Cambridge scholarship in 1913 and with whom he collaborated during the years of the Great War. “My association with Ramanujan was the single romantic incident in my life,” Hard wrote on another occasion.

While we look at the heritage of India, i think there is still some distance in giving due to some of the genuine talents that our country has produced. Giving them acknowledgement and recognition will create role-models for the youngsters to emulate. It really speaks poorly of a country's sensibilities, when it takes a foreigner to write a book to bring one of India's pride to people's memories (G H Hardy has written a book titled "An Indian Clerk"). And a one with just a passing reference at that. I guess he needed some excuse for reference to India. Since today anything with India on it seems to fly off the shelves.