Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar FRS (22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician and autodidact who lived during the British Raj. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. Ramanujan initially developed his own mathematical research in isolation; it was quickly recognized by Indian mathematicians. When his skills became obvious and known to the wider mathematical community, centred in Europe at the time, he began a partnership with the English mathematician G. H. Hardy. The Cambridge professor realized that Ramanujan had produced new theorems in addition to rediscovering previously known ones.
During his short life, Ramanujan independently compiled nearly 3,900 results (mostly identities and equations). Nearly all his claims have now been proven correct.His original and highly unconventional results, such as the Ramanujan prime and the Ramanujan theta function, have inspired a vast amount of further research.The Ramanujan Journal, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, was established to publish work in all areas of mathematics influenced by Ramanujan.
Ramanujan’s home state of Tamil Nadu celebrates 22 December (Ramanujan’s birthday) as ‘State IT Day’. A stamp picturing Ramanujan was released by the Government of India in 1962 – the 75th anniversary of Ramanujan’s birth – commemorating his achievements in the field of number theory,and a new design was issued on 26 December 2011, by the India Post.
Since Ramanujan’s centennial year, his birthday, 22 December, has been annually celebrated as Ramanujan Day by the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam where he studied and at the IIT Madras in Chennai. A prize for young mathematicians from developing countries has been created in Ramanujan’s name by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in cooperation with the International Mathematical Union, which nominate members of the prize committee. The SASTRA University, based in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India, has instituted the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize of US$10,000 to be given annually to a mathematician not exceeding the age of 32 for outstanding contributions in an area of mathematics influenced by Ramanujan. Vasavi College of Engineering named its Department of Computer Science and Information Technology “Ramanujan Block”.
In 2011, on the 125th anniversary of his birth, the Indian Government declared that 22 December will be celebrated every year as National Mathematics Day.Then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also declared that the year 2012 would be celebrated as the National Mathematics Year.
(Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan & www.thehindu.com)