Bibhutibhushan Datta (also Bibhuti Bhusan Datta;

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

: বিভূতিভূষণ দত্ত, Bibhūtibhūṣaṇ Datta) (28 June 1888 – 6 October 1958) was a historian of Indian mathematics. Datta came from a poor Bengali family. He was a student of

Ganesh Prasad Ganesh Prasad (15 November 1876 – 9 March 1935) was an Indian mathematician who specialised in the theory of potentials, theory of functions of a real variable, Fourier series and the theory of surfaces. He was trained at the Universities ...

, studied at

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...

and secured the master's degree in mathematics in 1914 and doctorate degree in 1920 in applied mathematics. He taught at Calcutta University where he was lecturer at University Science College, and during 1924–1929 he was Rhashbehari Ghosh Professor of Applied Mathematics. During the 1920s and 1930s he created a reputation as an authority on the history of Indian mathematics. He was also deeply interested in Indian philosophy and religion. In 1929 he retired from his professorship and left the university in 1933, and became a '' sannyasin'' (an ascetic, a person who has renounced worldly pleasures) in 1938 under the name Swami Vidyaranya. ''History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book'', written by him jointly with Avadhesh Narayan Singh (1901–1954) became a standard reference in the history of Indian mathematics. He also wrote a monograph on the

Shulba Sutras The ''Shulva Sutras'' or ''Śulbasūtras'' (Sanskrit: शुल्बसूत्र; ': "string, cord, rope") are sutra texts belonging to the Śrauta ritual and containing geometry related to fire-altar construction. Purpose and origins The ...

. He published more than 70 research papers mostly related to history of Indian mathematics. In the last years of his life, as Swami Vidyaranya, he lived mainly at

Pushkar Pushkar is a city and headquarters of Pushkar tehsil in the Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated about northwest of Ajmer and about southwest of Jaipur.History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book''

External links

Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Datta, Bibhutibhushan Historians of mathematics Bengali mathematicians 1888 births 1958 deaths