G. Rajasekaran

Scientists from South India
 

• Srinivasa Ramanujan

• C V Raman

• Subramanyam Chandrasekhar

• K S Krishnan

• G N Ramakrishnan

• .Ananda Rao

• R Vaidhyanatha swamy

• S S Pillai

• T Vijayaraghavan

• .Rev Father Racine

• Meenakshisundaram

• K Chandrasekharan

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Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920)

 

Srinivasa Ramanujan was the greatest Indian Scientist of the twentieth century. He was born in Erode and grew up in Kumbakonam. His father was an accountant
in a shop. Family was poor. His mother was a strong support to him in his early life. But later she created a lot of difficulties for him and his wife.

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Ramanujan studied well in the school at Kumbakonam and won many scholarships. But his abilities shone very brightly only in mathematics. After school, he
joined in the government college at Kumbakonam, but his college education ended in disaster. Since all his attention was in mathematics only, he did
not pass in the other subjects. In Spite of many attempts, he failed to pass the F A examination (which was later named intermediate examination).

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When he was in the Kumbakonam College, he got hold of Carr's Synopsis which was a compendium of mathematical formulae. He got it from the college library.
He learnt all his mathematics from this book alone.

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Ramanujan was passionately involved in mathematics and was deeply engaged in mathematics research. Although he failed in college, he spent the next five
years in mathematics only. His needs were very few. So his family supported him in spite of poverty.

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In 1909, when he was 22, he was married. So it became necessary to seek a job. He thought that those who knew his proficiency in mathematics will help
him to get a job suited to mathematics. He succeeded in this.

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Ramachandra Rao, a mathematics-enthusiast gave financial support for one year. So Ramanujan could pursue mathematics, sitting at home in Madras. But he did
not like to continue to get this financial help. Therefore, with the support of Ramachandra Rao, he got a clerk's job in Madras Port Trust. At the same
time, Rao pointed out Ramanujan's interest in mathematics to the authorities of the Port Trust and asked them to encourage this. Sir Francis Spring who was
the Chief of the ports agreed and allowed Ramanujan to do his mathematics which had nothing to do with his clerical job! Another high officer in the
port trust, Narayana Iyer, became Ramanujan's friend and enjoyed learning the discoveries of his friend.

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When Gilbert Walker who was the Director General of Astronomical Observatories in India visited India, Sir Francis Spring told him about Ramanujan and asked
for his advice. Walker had learnt mathematics in Cambridge University and so recommended Ramanujan very strongly to Madras University to give him a 
scholarship to pursue his mathematics. Therefore, from 1913, Ramanujan became the first research scholar of Madras University.

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While still at the port trust job, Ramanujan had written to the famous mathematician G H Hardy in England requesting him to publish his research results and also
asked for his opinion about them. It was a great surprise to Hardy to see this brilliant light from India! Immediately he set about to bring Ramanujan 
to Cambridge. In the beginning of 1914, E H Neville who was a Trinity Scholar  came to give lectures at Madras University. Hardy made him his emissary to Madras University to persuade the University to make all the arrangements for Ramanujan to come to Cambridge and pursue mathematics with himself. Neville succeeded in this.

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Ramanujan reached Cambridge in 1914. In the next five years he discovered new results in mathematics that were the wonders of the world. Many of these were done in collaboration with Hardy. England honoured him with many awards such as the Trinity Scholar and Fellow of the Royal Society.

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But his life in England ended in disaster. The English weather and his orthodox food habits led to serious illness. So he returned to Madras. But the illness
became worse and he died on 26 April 1920. He was not yet 33! Even when he was suffering from illness, he was making fresh discoveries in mathematics.

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Most of Ramanujan's discoveries were in Number Theory. One of his discoveries was proved by the famous mathematician P Deligne only in 1974. His discoveries and what he had written in notebooks remain as challenges to mathematicians even today.

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Although Ramanujan's life ended in tragedy, all the people appearing in his life-story are good characters. All those who supported him and Madras University
deserve our gratitude. Madras University not only gave a research scholarship to one who had failed in the university examination, but sent him abroad for research!

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C V Raman (1888-1970)

Raman's ancestors were agriculturists with landed property in Thanjavur district. Raman was born in Thiruvanaikkaval, on 7 November in 1888. His father Chandrasekhara Iyer was a teacher in AVN College at Visakapatnam.

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Raman passed the matriculation examination when he was 11(!) getting first marks and joined in the AVN College in the intermediate class. In 1902, he got a scholarship to join in the BA class in the Presidency College, Madras. His age was 14; nobody had joined the College at such a young age so far. In 1904, he passed the BA examination as the top student in the University and got gold medals in English and Physics.

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His teachers advised him to go to England for higher studies. But the civil surgeon of Madras Province prevented his going to England because of his weak body and the climate of England. (In view of what happened to Ramanujan, one must thank the civil surgeon.) 

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Raman joined in the MA (Physics) class of Presidency College. Prof R E Llwellyn Jones who was the Professor of Physics saw Raman's passion for Science and gave him full freedom in the College. He did not have to sit in any class! He began to do experiments in the laboratory using all the instruments available there. He was attracted to acoustics. He tried to answer all his questions through experiments. He had discovered the basis of scientific research! This became his hallmark throughout his life.

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He learnt the research articles of Herman von Helmholtz and Lord Raleigh's famous book "Theory of Sound". No research journals were available in Presidency College and so he cycled to Connemara Library to read them.

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With the experimental apparatus available in the college and the freedom given by Llwellyn Smith, Raman did many experiments and published the results in four
papers in the journals The Journal of Indian Mathematical Club, Philosophical Magazine and a few other scientific journals.

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In the Presidency College, sofar nobody had done any scientific research. It was a teaching institution only. Everybody was surprised that Raman who was only 16
had done such experiments before he completed MA! Famous scientists such as R W Wood and Lord Rayleigh corresponded with Raman on his research results, not knowing he was still a student!

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Raman became a Currency Officer in Rangoon, which was a very high post in British India. But soon he left it to take up scientific research where the income was not high. He started his research in the Association for the Cultivation of Science founded by Mahendralal Sircar, Sir Tarakanath Palit and Sir Asutosh Mukherji in Calcutta. He discovered Raman Effect in 1928 for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. 

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He returned to South India as Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore And transformed that institution into a front-ranking Physics institute. He founded his own Raman Research Institute and continued research until the last days of his life.  

 

Subramanyam Chandrasekhar (1910-1995)

Subramanyam Chandrasekhar was born in 1910 in Lahore which is in Pakistan now. When he was six, the family shifted to Lucknow. After his father C S Iyer shifted to Madras as Assistant Accountant general, the family stayed in Madras permanently.

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Chandra was educated at his home in Madras along with his 5 brothers and 5 sisters. His education proceeded in a very strict and regular manner. His father noticed Chandra's brilliance and so appointed very good teachers. Chandra went to School only when he was eleven. He was admitted into the third form (equivalent to the eighth grade) in the Triplicane Hindu School which was regarded the best school in Madras.

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His education at home avoided bookish learning that was an impediment to real education and opened his mind. All that changed at the school and he did not like it. But in the fourth form, he could learn Algebra and Geometry which increased his enthusiasm. In the summer holidays, he started learning these subjects on his own. He learnt much more than what was taught at school. In the next three summer vacations, he learnt Conic Sections, Analytical Geometry, Calculus, Differential Equations, Permutations and Combinations and Solutions of Cubic Equations. All this, he learnt in his school years.
Later on, he was praised as next only to Lord Rayleigh who was considered as the greatest mathematical physicist. The foundation for that was already laid during Chandra's school years. 

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Chandra studied in the intermediate class in Presidency College during 1925-27. Since his mathematical proficiency was very high, he passed out with the highest marks in the class. He got distinction in mathematics, physics and chemistry. He was attracted towards BA(Hons) Mathematics. His father wanted him to do BA(Hons) Physics, pass ICS and join Government service. But Chandra had other plans. Since he was also interested in Physics, he joined BA(Hons) Physics.

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He read Arnold Sommerfeld's Atomic Structure and Spectral Lines which was regarded as the Bible of Old Quantum Theory. The years 1927-30 that he spent in Presidency College saw two important events, the visits of Sommerfeld and Heisenberg. Sommerfeld was the teacher of many famous scientists. Heisenberg was a creator of Quantum Mechanics. How Chandra encountered these two giants is described in another essay of mine.

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The first three research papers of Chandrasekhar were published in Indian Journal of Physics, Journal of Royal Society and Philosophical Magazine during 1928-30 even when he was a student of Presidency College. His uncle C V Raman's history was repeated!

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His very successful academic career was brought to the attention of the Madras Government. The British Government awarded a scholarship to him for studying in Cambridge. His Professors in Presidency College, especially Prof Parameswaran and Principal Fyson helped him towards this. He sailed for Cambridge in July 1930.

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Chandrasekhar received Nobel Prize in 1983. Let me describe that discovery briefly.

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Stars tend to contract due to gravitation. But due to the degeneracy pressure of the electrons that contraction is balanced. This was discovered by the Cambridge
scientist William Fowler. But Chandrasekhar calculated the relativistic degeneracy of the star and showed that if the mass of the star is above a certain limit, then
gravitation wins over relativistic degeneracy. This limit, called "Chandrasekhar Limit", is about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. Chandrasekhar was awarded Nobel Prize for this discovery. But why was it given after 50 years? That interesting story is described in my longer essay on Chandrasekhar.

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The basic principle behind Chandra's famous discovery was formed in his mind soon after his encounter with Sommerfeld when he was still in the BA(Hons) class of Presidency College.

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Stars with mass above the Chandrasekar limit shrink and become neutron stars and if the mass is a little above, shrink further and become black holes. Thus it was Chandra's discovery which paved the way for the discovery of neutron stars and black holes.

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Chandra joined Chicago University in 1937 as Assistant Professor, became full Professor in 1947 and Morton D Hull Distinguished Professor in 1952. He continued in that capacity for 38 years until 1990. He also worked at Yerkes Observatory at the same time.

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KS Krishnan

Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan was born in 1898 in a village called Villupunoor in Ramanathapuram District as the son of a school teacher. He completed his school education in Watrairuppu and Srivilliputhur and did his intermediate in American College, Madurai. Then he joined as a BA student in Madras Christian College. 
      
Rev Alexander Moffat was the Professor of Physics and he was a good scholar. Krishnan became the favorite student of Moffat. Moffat, on seeing Krishnan's knowledge and abilities, did not want to lose him. So he recommended Krishnan's name for a job in the college itself.  In 1918, Krishnan joined as a temporary demonstrator in the chemistry department.

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Krishnan liked the work in the chemistry laboratory. Especially the discussions with the students gave him a lot of enthusiasm. However he was looking for an opportunity for full-time research.

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There was a job vacancy in the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory. Moffat recommended Krishnan's name for that. Guilbert T Walker who was the Director General of the Astronomical Observatories appointed Krishnan. Krishnan knew that the famous astronomer Evershed was working in the Kodaikanal Observatory and wanted to work there.

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But Krishnan did not get that job, since somebody who was working in the Madras Meteorological Station was appointed instead. Krishnan was given the job at the meteorological station. 

Krishnan did not like that since there was no research at the meteorological station. CV Raman's physics research and lectures at Calcutta were already famous. Krishnan joined there for MSc Physics and through his merit became a close associate of Raman. Raman Effect was infact the joint discovery of Raman and Krishnan.

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Krishnan was appointed as the Director of National Physical Laboratory, Delhi and made many discoveries in Physics. He was a pioneer in the new field of Solid State Physics.
 

GN Ramachandran (1922-2001)

Gopalasamudram Narayana Ramachandran (GNR) completed BSc (Hons) in St Joseph College, Trichy and in 1942 joined as a student in the electrical engineering department of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. But his interest was in Physics. During that time the physics department there was headed by CV Raman. Raman told the head of the electrical engineering department: "I am transfering Ramachandran to my physics department. His merit is much higher than what is needed in your department" and took him in the physics department!

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Ramachandran completed a MSc thesis in Optics at Bangalore and then a PhD thesis on X-ray Crystallography in 1947. He went to Cambridge and worked with WA Wooster for two years and returned to Bangalore. At Indian Institute of Science, GNR established a laboratory for X-ray crystallography.

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Madras University wanted to start a new department and invited GNR to head the department. Actually the Vice-Chancellor A Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar invited Raman. But Raman recommended GNR's name for that job.

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GNR joined Madras University when he was 30 and started research at an extraordinary level. With the support of AL Mudaliar, GNR's research proceeded well.

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In 1952, the famous scientist JD Bernal came to Madras. GNR learnt from him that the structure of the molecule Collagen was not known.

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Central Leather Research Institute was near GNR's department. Through them GNR got Collagen sample extracted from the tail of Kangaroo. GNR, with the help of a post-doc research associate, Gopinath Kartha, took X-ray scattering photos of Collagen. By studying them, he showed that Collagen is in the form of a Triple Helix. In 1954-55, he published this important discovery in two papers.

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But Francis Crick who was the famous discoverer of the structure of DNA and Alexander Rich wrote papers claiming that there were many shortcomings in the Madras discovery of the Triple Helix.

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From this controversy was born GNR's most important discovery in structural biology. GNR, C Ramakrishnan and V Sasisekaran jointly discovered the foundation for the conformational analysis of polypeptide chains. The paper which they published in 1963 contains the two-dimensional plot known as Ramachandran Map. This now stands as a pillar for stereochemistry and structural biology. The same map is used in revealing protein folding also.

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GNR's department became a Mecca for Molecular Biology and X-ray Crystallography. GNR brought unprecedented fame and name to Madras University. But all this was brought to an end unfortunately. For, those who came to administer the University after AL Mudaliar did not consider merit as important. There was something else that was considered more important.(I will talk about it in my next essay). GNR was driven away from Madras University. He went o Bangalore and established Biophysics department. That became a great centre for research.

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GNR's 20 year period was the golden age of Madras University. He proved that in our Universities world-class research can be done.  
  
Ananda Rao (1893-1966)

Ananda Rao who was a contemporary of Ramanujan paved the way for the growth of Mathematics in Madras. Since he was from a well-to-do family, he did BA Mathematics in Madras University and got PhD as Hardy's student in Cambridge. He then returned to India and became Professor of Mathematics at Presidency College. After the passing away of Ramanujan in 1920, it was Ananda Rao who became the leader of mathematics research in Madras. He was a first rate mathematician. He was a good teacher for many students. Many of them became famous mathematicians. All of them had great respect for Ananda Rao. He retired after India got independence.

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K Vaidyanathaswamy (1894-1960)
 

In 1926, Madras University started a department for mathematics research and appointed Vaidyanathaswamy as Reader and Head of the Department. Vaidyanathaswamy had obtained his PhD in England and did research in many subjects in mathematics. With Ananda Rao, he developed mathematics research in the university. He earned the respect of all scholars. He served as the editor of the journal of the Indian Mathematical Society for more than 10 years.  He retired in 1952.

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S.S.Pillai (1901-1950)

Among Ananda Rao's students the first mathematician who got world fame was S S Pillai. But it is not possible to think of a more unlucky life than his. He was born in 1901. Next year his mother passed away. He lost his father when he was in the final year of school. With financial help from a teacher he completed his higher education and got B A from Maharaja's College, Thiruvananthapuram. Then he joined Madras University as research scholar and worked with Ananda Rao. He did outstanding research and got the doctorate degree very easily. His first job was in Annamalai University and there he made many discoveries. After that he
worked in Calcutta and Madras Universities. Because of his great discoveries, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA invited him. On his way his plane crashed while flying over Egypt. That was his first trip abroad!

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T Vijayaraghavan (1902-1955)

Vijayaraghavan was a student of Ananda Rao's BA (Hons) class in Presidency College. He started doing research with Ananda Rao even at that time. With the help of Ananda Rao and Hardy, he got scholarship to go to Oxford University. He had sent his published papers to Hardy. Hardy had joined Oxford University. He worked with Hardy and got PhD. Returning to India, he worked in Annamalai, Aligarh and Dacca Universities. He was appointed as Director of the Ramanujan Institute founded by Alagappa Chettiar. His discoveries in Number Theory are his outstanding creations.

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Rev Father Racine (1897-1976)

Since the time the French Jesuit Father Racine arrived at Loyola College,Madras in 1939,mathematics in Madras grew further. After he completed his war-time work during the First World War, he joined the Jesuit Order in Paris and was appointed as a priest. He then learnt mathematics and earned the doctorate degree. The Jesuit Order sent him to St Joseph College, Trichy, but later he was transferred to Loyola, Madras.

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Paris was top in Mathematics. Since Racine learnt Mathematics there, he became well-versed in Modern Mathematics. So, in Madras he created top students. He was highly regarded by Ananda Rao and Vaidyanathaswamy and he also had high regard for them.

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Meenakshisundaram (1913-1968)

It is no exaggeration to say that the first great result of Racine's mathematics was Meenakshisundaram. It was Meenakshisundaram who was the greatest mathematician after Ramanujan in the pre-1947 period. He was educated in Madras and got BA (Hons) degree in Loyola before the arrival of Racine. He joined the University as research scholar and worked with Ananda Rao for two years. After Racine's arrival, under Racine's influence, he discovered something new in Differential Equations and got DSc degree. Although he suffered a few days without job, he joined Andhra University as lecturer in 1940. His mathematical brilliance attracted the famous mathematician Marshell Stone who visited there. Stone recommended his name to the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. There he worked for two years. With a Swedish mathematician A Pleigil, he made a mathematical discovery that is learnt by students in all colleges. In 1966 he was appointed as Professor in the Institute for Advanced Study in Simla. But he passed away in two years.

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K Chandrasekharan (1920-2016)

Ananda Rao created many good students. Chandrasekharan was one among them. He became an expert in Number Theory and Analysis. But his greatest accomplishment was something else. That was the world-class school of mathematics that he created in the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bombay.

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Chandrasekharan was educated in Madras University and was under the influence of the three great mathematicians Ananda Rao, Vaidyanathaswamy and Father Racine. In his creation of the TIFR School of Mathematics, he was greatly helped by KG Ramanathan who was a student of Father Racine.

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The TIFR School produced many outstanding mathematicians among whom three CS Seshadri, MS Narasimhan and MS Raghunathan became Fellows of Royal Society (FRS).

The state of South Indian Society     

One fact will be clearly apparent from the above. All the stars that shone from South India - Ramanujan, Raman, Chandrasekhar, Krishnan and GNR were from the brahmin caste. All the famous mathematicians, except Father Racine and S S Pillai, also belonged to the same caste. What is the reason for this phenomenon? We shall study that in my next essay.

Reference

Subaltern Science in the South (1792-1947), MS Raghunathan and G Rajasekaran, in
Science and Modern India: An Institutional History (1784-1947), Vol XV, Part 4,
History of Science, Ed: Uma Das Gupta, Pearson Longman pp 664-717 (2010).