The Man Who Knew Infinity
I watched this last night:
It was good stuff, especially because I didn’t catch them doing any Hollywood absurdities (a la John Nash explaining the exact opposite of a Nash equilibrium in the bar scene in A Beautiful Mind).
What was interesting is that Ramanujan said, “An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.”
There was also an interesting tension for Ramanujan in concentrating on producing more results–what we would call “conjectures”–versus providing a rigorous “English-style” proof of the results he had already recorded in his famous notebooks. You can understand why his mentor G.H. Hardy (played by Jeremy Irons) stressed the importance of Ramanujan showing the profession that his claims were correct, but given Ramanujan’s early death, who can say? Obviously he needed to prove enough to make sure everybody else realized it was worthwhile giving serious thought to his conjectures, but one could plausibly argue that it would have been better for him to keep praying / meditating / cranking out notebooks while leaving it to others to fill in the missing steps in the subsequent decades.
“What was interesting is that Ramanujan said, “An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.””
Romans 1:19 says, “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” Ramanujan stumbled across a truth, but he still rejected the source of that truth by believing in Hindu deities.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” Romans 1:20-22
Sad to see such a brilliant mind wasted.Looks like a good movie, though. I’ll probably watch it.
“Romans 1:19 says, “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” Ramanujan stumbled across a truth, but he still rejected the source of that truth by believing in Hindu deities.”
Oh criminy: I am a Christian, but it floors me to see Christians so simple-mindedly oblivious. Try reading some CS Lewis or JRR Tolkein or Thomas Merton, for Christ’s sake!
I’m curious, what point did Lewis, Tolkien, and Merton make that you’re referencing him?
By the way, for what it’s worth Ramanujan explicitly claimed that a Hindu goddess appeared and taught him “his” results.
For those interested, Srinivasa Ramanujan claims to have received all his mathematical results from Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. (Lakshmi bestows all kinds of wealth including the wealth of knowledge.) Lakshmi is the wife of Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation.
Ramanujan actually belonged to the same sect of Hinduism that I belong to, known as the Sri Vaishnava sect. Sri Vaishnavas are devotees of Vishnu (and by extension Vishnu’s wife Lakshmi).
Interesting conjecture at the end, kind of a relative advantage argument. Which makes a lot of sense, his talent being so unusual and idiosyncratic.