Conjeevaram Srirangachari Seshadri (29 February 1932 – 17 July 2020) was an Indian mathematician. He was the founder and director-emeritus of the

Chennai Mathematical Institute Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) is a higher education and research institute in Chennai, India. It was founded in 1989 by the SPIC Science Foundation, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in physics, mathematics and compute ...

, and is known for his work in

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

. The

Seshadri constant In algebraic geometry, a Seshadri constant is an invariant of an ample line bundle ''L'' at a point ''P'' on an algebraic variety. It was introduced by Jean-Pierre Demailly, Demailly to measure a certain ''rate of growth'', of the tensor powers of ' ...

is named after him. He was also known for his collaboration with mathematician

M. S. Narasimhan Mudumbai Seshachalu Narasimhan (7 June 1932 – 15 May 2021) was an Indian mathematician. His focus areas included number theory, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and partial differential equations. He was a pioneer in the study of m ...

, for their proof of the Narasimhan–Seshadri theorem which proved the necessary conditions for stable vector bundles on a Riemann surface. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 2009, the third highest civilian honor in the country.

Degrees and posts

Seshadri was born into a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Brahmin family in

Kanchipuram Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...

, Tamil Nadu. He received his B.A. (Hons) degree in Mathematics from Madras University in 1953 and was mentored by the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest Fr. Charles Racine and S. Naryanan there. He completed his PhD from Bombay University in 1958 under the supervision of

K. S. Chandrasekharan Komaravolu Chandrasekharan (21 November 1920 – 13 April 2017) was a professor at ETH Zurich and a founding faculty member of School of Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). He is known for his work in number theory an ...

. He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1971. Seshadri worked in the School of Mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay from 1953 to 1984 starting as a Research Scholar and rising to a senior professor. From 1984 to 1989, he worked at the

Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) (sometimes also referred to as ''Matscience'') is a research centre located in Chennai, India.R. Jagannathan, ''The Institute of Mathematical Sciences'', Resonance (January 1999) vol. 4, no. 1, pp. ...

. From 1989 to 2010, he worked as the founding director of the

. After stepping down he continued to be the institute's Director-Emeritus till his death in 2020. He also served on the Mathematical Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2010 and 2011.

Visiting professorships

* University of Paris, France * Harvard University, Cambridge * UCLA * Brandeis University * University of Bonn, Bonn *

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...

, Kyoto, Japan He has given talks at the ICM.

Awards and fellowships

* Honorary degree, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris, 2013 * Honoris Causa, University of Hyderabad, India * Padma Bhushan * Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award * Srinivasa Ramanujan Medal from the Indian Academy of Sciences * Honorary D.Sc. from Banaras Hindu University * TWAS Science Award * Fellow of IAS, INSA and a Fellow of the Royal Society * Membership of the United States National Academy of Sciences * Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, 2012List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 18 July 2013.

Research work

Seshadri's main work was in

. His work with

M S Narasimhan Mudumbai Seshachalu Narasimhan (7 June 1932 – 15 May 2021) was an Indian mathematician. His focus areas included number theory, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and partial differential equations. He was a pioneer in the study of ...

on unitary vector bundles and the Narasimhan–Seshadri theorem has influenced the field. His work on Geometric Invariant Theory and on Schubert varieties, in particular his introduction of

standard monomial theory In algebraic geometry, standard monomial theory describes the sections of a line bundle over a generalized flag variety or Schubert variety of a reductive algebraic group by giving an explicit basis of elements called standard monomials. Many of th ...

, is widely recognized.

Publications

* * * * *

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seshadri, C.S. 1932 births 2020 deaths Algebraic geometers 20th-century Indian mathematicians Harvard University staff University of Madras alumni University of Mumbai alumni Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering Tamil scholars Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Tata Institute of Fundamental Research alumni 21st-century Indian mathematicians Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Mathematical Science Kanchipuram