Rajan Srinivasan Mahadevan (born 1957) is an Indian
mnemonist.
Early life
Mahadevan was born in
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
in 1957 and moved to
Mangalore in 1959. He discovered his ability to memorize numbers at the age of 5 during a party hosted by his family. During the party, Rajan wandered to a parking lot and committed the license plate numbers of every guest's car for recitation later.
Education
In 1977, after losing interest in engineering, Mahadevan set to memorize substantial parts of
pi. On 5 July 1981, he recited from memory the first 31,811 digits of pi.
pi. This secured him a place in the 1984 ''
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'', and he has been featured on ''
Larry King Live'' and ''
Reader's Digest''.
Mahadevan received his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1984 and his master's degree in clinical psychology from the
University of Mysore in 1986 during his extended participation in memory study. Mahadevan's
digit span In psychology and neuroscience, memory span is the longest list of items that a person can repeat back in correct order immediately after presentation on 50% of all trials. Items may include words, numbers, or letters. The task is known as ''digit s ...
was found to be nearly ten times the average; it is estimated that, before the effects of practice, it was 15 digits.
Although Mahadevan is adept at remembering numbers, he nevertheless displays only an average memory when it comes to prose passages or geometric shapes.
[DAVID R. SHANKS, Science Spectra, 1999, Number 18]
Outstanding Performers: Created, Not Born? NEW RESULTS ON NATURE VS. NURTURE.
/ref>
Mahadevan holds the position of Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Tennessee, where he teaches courses in learning and thinking as well as cognitive psychology.
See also
* Ben Pridmore
Ben Pridmore (born October 14, 1976) is a former world memory champion, memory sport competitor and accountant.
Achievements
Pridmore is a three-time World Memory Champion winning the title 2004, 2008 and 2009. From Derby in the United Kingdom, ...
* Dominic O'Brien
* Sri Vyshnavi Yarlagadda
* Grand Master of Memory
* Mnemonic major system
References
Notes
* "Unexceptional spatial memory in an exceptional memorist", Biederman et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology Learn Mem Cogn, 1992 May;18(3):654-7
* "The Man With the Endless Memory;Rajan Mahadevan Is Trying to Memorize 100,000 Digits. For Him, It's Easy as Pi", Washington Post article 18 June 1989
* "Memory Search by a Memorist", Thompson et al. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.,New Jersey, 1993
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahadevan, Rajan
Living people
1957 births
Sportspeople from Chennai
University of Mysore alumni
Indian mnemonists
Nationality missing
Sportspeople from Mangalore