Ramanujan: Essays and Surveys(History of Mathematics)

This book contains essays on Ramanujan and his work that were written especially for this volume. It also includes important survey articles in areas influenced by Ramanujan's mathematics. Most of the articles in the book are nontechnical, but even those that are more technical contain substantial sections that will engage the general reader. The book opens with the only four existing photographs of Ramanujan, presenting historical accounts of them and information about other people in the photos. This section includes an account of a cryptic family history written by his younger brother, S. Lakshmi Narasimhan. Following are articles on Ramanujan's illness by R. A. Rankin, the British physician D. A. B. Young, and Nobel laureate S. Chandrasekhar. They present a study of his symptoms, a convincing diagnosis of the cause of his death, and a thorough exposition of Ramanujan's life as a patient in English sanitariums and nursing homes. Following this are biographies of S. Janaki (Mrs. Ramanujan) and S. Narayana Iyer, Chief Accountant of the Madras Port Trust Office, who first communicated Ramanujan's work to the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society. The last half of the book begins with a section on "Ramanujan's Manuscripts and Notebooks". Included is an important article by G. E. Andrews on Ramanujan's lost notebook. The final two sections feature both nontechnical articles, such as Jonathan and Peter Borwein's "Ramanujan and pi", and more technical articles by Freeman Dyson, Atle Selberg, Richard Askey, and G. N. Watson. This volume complements the book Ramanujan: Letters and Commentary, Volume 9, in the AMS series, History of Mathematics. For more on Ramanujan, see these AMS publications Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on Subjects Suggested by His Life and Work, Volume 136.H, and Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan, Volume 159.H, in the AMS Chelsea Publishing series.

Table of Contents:
Commentary (by R. A. R.) by R. A. Rankin The life of Ramanujan: The four photographs of Ramanujan The books studied by Ramanujan in India The influence of Carr's synopsis on Ramanujan The notebooks of Srinivasa Ramanujan A recently discovered letter giving Ramanujan's examination scores On Ramanujan The Ramanujan family record Ramanujan's illness: Ramanujan as a patient Ramanujan's illness An incident in the life of S. Ramanujan, F.R.S.: Conversations with G. H. Hardy, F.R.S. and J. E. Littlewood, F.R.S. and their sequel S. Janaki: S. Janaki Ammal (Mrs. Ramanujan) Conversation ""I didn't understand his work, but I knew his worth"" S. Narayana Iyer: A short biography of S. Narayana Iyer The distribution of primes Some theorems in summation E. H. Neville: Srinivasa Ramanujan University lectures in Madras Ramanujan's manuscripts and notebooks: Ramanujan's manuscripts and notebooks Ramanujan's manuscripts and notebooks, II An overview of Ramanujan's notebooks An introduction to Ramanujan's ""lost"" notebook Nontechnical articles on Ramanujan's work: Ramanujan and pi $\pi$ related developments since 1988 Reflections around the Ramanujan centenary The problems submitted by Ramanujan to the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society Somewhat more technical articles on Ramanujan's work: A walk through Ramanujan's garden Ramanujan and hypergeometric and basic hypergeometric series The final problem: An account of the mock theta functions.