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Tamil Nadu
“Alladi Ramakrishnan made science accessible to children”
| He awed his students as he delivered lectures on Mathematics and Physics |
INTERACTING: Mathematics professor Mahadevan with students at a condolence meeting for Alladi Ramakrishnan organised by Srinivasa Ramanujan Academy of Maths Talent in Chennai on Sunday.
CHENNAI: The efforts of mathematician and theoretical physicist Alladi Ramakrishnan, who died in Florida recently, to make advanced science accessible to the common man were recalled by speakers at a condolence meeting here on Sunday.
A tireless teacher and innovator, Prof. Ramakrishnan tried to bring advanced science into school textbooks by pioneering what he called the “rod approach” to special relativity, said speakers at the meeting organised by the Srinivasa Ramanujan Academy of Maths Talent.
With simple and everyday ideas, Prof. Ramakrishnan argued, higher secondary students could be introduced to the beautiful world of physics. Prof. Ramakrishnan completed his bachelors’ in physics but chose to write his bar examinations, bagging a gold medal in the Hindu Law. However, after listening to a lecture by Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha, he returned to science and completed his PhD at the University of Manchester.
Though most students used to take five years to complete the requirements for a PhD, Prof. Ramakrishnan solved an important unsolved problem in just six months and obtained his PhD in two years.
Returning to India, he started the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (MATSCIENCE) in Chennai in 1962. From the time of its inauguration by Nobel Laureate S. Chandrasekhar, the MATSCIENCE has remained one of the premier institutions for mathematics research and education in India.
Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao, one of his earliest students, remembers vividly the passion with which Prof. Ramakrishnan nurtured the institute. “He started by lecturing students on a one-room ‘campus’ in the Presidency College in 1962. Now, because of his untiring work, and the Department of Atomic Energy’s generous grants, the MATSCIENCE hosts world-class faculty and one of the best mathematics libraries in the world,” he said.
Prof. Ramakrishnan’s erudition was legendary: he awed his students as he delivered lectures on many subjects in mathematics and physics, interspersing them with quotations from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. But he was always a benevolent teacher.
Dr. Geetha Srinivasa Rao remembers entering his office as a timid MSc graduate and asking him to be admitted into the institute in 1966. “The results had not come out yet, so he asked me to wait. But he allowed me to use the library for my research. When he saw I was serious about doing research in mathematics, he offered me a trainee position with Rs.125 each month until my results came out.”
Prof. Ramakrishnan was a connoisseur of Carnatic music , and he used to sit down and talk about the Telugu verses with students. He insisted on cultural involvements, Dr. Geetha said. This resulted in regular music and dance programmes being conducted at the institute, and even in conferences and seminars he attended.Music was a beautiful part of culture for Prof. Ramakrishnan just as mathematics was, and he encouraged his students to see the nuances in them.
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