Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan (13 November 1920 – 10 May 1992) was an Indian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

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, "Ma ...

. His contributions are also to the general development of mathematical research and teaching in India.

K. G. Ramanathan's early life and his family

K. G. Ramanathan was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

in South India. He completed his B.A. and M.A. in mathematics at

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate public state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad in 1918 , He released a farman to establish OSMANIA UNIVERSITY on the day of 28 August 1918. ...

and the

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 ...

respectively before going to

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

to earn his Ph.D; his advisor was

Emil Artin Emil Artin (; March 3, 1898 – December 20, 1962) was an Austrian mathematician of Armenian descent. Artin was one of the leading mathematicians of the twentieth century. He is best known for his work on algebraic number theory, contributing l ...

. At Princeton, Ramanathan also worked with

Hermann Weyl Hermann Klaus Hugo Weyl, (; 9 November 1885 – 8 December 1955) was a German mathematician, theoretical physicist and philosopher. Although much of his working life was spent in Zürich, Switzerland, and then Princeton, New Jersey, he is asso ...

and Carl Siegel. Thereafter he returned to India to team up with K. S. Chandrasekharan at 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) at

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbh ...

in 1951. At Princeton, for about two years, Ramanathan's neighbour was

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

, the legendary physicist. He used to sing Carnatic songs of

Tyagaraja Thyagaraja (Telugu: త్యాగరాజ) (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Thyāgayya and in full as Kakarla Thyagabrahmam, was a composer and vocalist of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his ...

to Einstein for entertainment. Ramanathan was married to Jayalakshmi Ramanathan. He had two sons. His father's name was Kollagunta Gopal Iyer, and his mother's name was Ananthalaxmi. His mother died at an early age. He had two sisters and one brother.

Career

At TIFR, he built up the number theory group of young mathematicians from India. For several years, he took interest to study Ramanujan's unpublished and published work. He was an Editorial board member of

Acta Arithmetica ''Acta Arithmetica'' is a scientific journal of mathematics publishing papers on number theory. It was established in 1935 by Salomon Lubelski and Arnold Walfisz. The journal is published by the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sc ...

for over 30 years. He retired from TIFR in 1985.

Awards

Ramanathan was given numerous achievements during his more than 30 years service at TIFR. *

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

, 1983 * Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, 1965 * Fellow of

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

* Fellow of

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Acade ...

* Honorary fellow of TIFR.

Selected publications

* On Ramanujan’s continued fraction, KG Ramanathan - Acta Arith, 1984 * Some applications of Kronecker’s limit formula, KG Ramanathan - J. Indian Math. Soc, 1987

References

External links

*
Obituary, reproduced from ''Acta Arithmetica''
Author: S. Raghavan
K. G. R's Photo This is reproduced from Acta Arithmetica 64 (1993) 1-6

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramanathan, Kollagunta Gopalaiyer 1920 births 1992 deaths Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Indian number theorists Presidents of the Indian Mathematical Society University of Madras alumni Osmania University alumni Scientists from Hyderabad, India 20th-century Indian mathematicians Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Mathematical Science