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
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the ...
(TIFR). He is known for his work in
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Mat ...
and
summability
In mathematics, a divergent series is an infinite series that is not convergent, meaning that the infinite sequence of the partial sums of the series does not have a finite limit.
If a series converges, the individual terms of the series must ...
. He received the
Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
, the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-la ...
, and the
Ramanujan Medal, and he was an honorary fellow of TIFR. He was president of
the International Mathematical Union (IMU) from 1971 to 1974.
Biography
Chandrasekharan was born on 21 November 1920 in Machilipatnam,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
. Chandrasekharan completed his high school from Bapatla village in
Guntur from
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
. He completed M.A. in mathematics from the
Presidency College, Chennai
Presidency College is an art, commerce, and science college in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. On 16 October 1840, this school was established as the Madras Preparatory School before being repurposed as a high school, and then a gra ...
and a PhD from the Department of Mathematics,
University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...
in 1942, under the supervision of
K. Ananda Rau
K. Ananda Rau (21 September 1893 – 22 January 1966) was an eminent Indian mathematician and a contemporary of Ramanujan. Though Rau was six years junior to Ramanujan, his mathematical trajectory, unlike Ramanujan's, was very much a conventi ...
.
[
When Chandrasekharan was with the ]Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
, Princeton, US, Homi Bhabha invited Chandrashekharan to join the School of Mathematics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the ...
(TIFR). Chandrashekharan persuaded mathematicians L. Schwarz, C. L. Siegel
Carl Ludwig Siegel (31 December 1896 – 4 April 1981) was a German mathematician specialising in analytic number theory. He is known for, amongst other things, his contributions to the Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem in Diophantine approximation, ...
and others from all over the world to visit TIFR and deliver lectures. In 1965, Chandrasekharan left the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research to join the ETH Zurich, where he retired in 1988.
He was a fellow of the American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
.
Selected works
*with Salomon Bochner
Salomon Bochner (20 August 1899 – 2 May 1982) was an Austrian mathematician, known for work in mathematical analysis, probability theory and differential geometry.
Life
He was born into a Jewish family in Podgórze (near Kraków), then Aus ...
:
*with S. Minakshisundaram:
* reprinting 2012
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Notes
References
– India's who is who
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrashekhar, Komaravolu S.
20th-century Indian mathematicians
Telugu people
People from Andhra Pradesh
Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education
Indian number theorists
Mathematical analysts
Academic staff of ETH Zurich
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
1920 births
2017 deaths
University of Madras alumni
21st-century Indian mathematicians
People from Guntur district
Scientists from Andhra Pradesh
Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Mathematical Science
Indian emigrants to Switzerland
Presidents of the International Mathematical Union