UQ public lecture honours influential mathematician

The remarkable life and work of one of this century`s most influential mathematicians will be honoured at a free public lecture at The University of Queensland this week.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was born in southern India in 1887 and made a huge impact on mathematics research, even though he had only one year of college education and died at the age of 32.

Professor Bruce Berndt from the University of Illinois will discuss Ramanujan`s life and notebooks at the 2005 Mahler Lecture. It will be held at 6pm on Thursday October 20 in the Raybould Lecture Theatre, Hawken Engineering Building, UQ St Lucia Campus.

Most of Ramanujan`s mathematical discoveries were made in isolation and recorded without proofs in notebooks.

Professor Berndt will present a description and history of these notebooks, accompanied by overhead transparencies depicting Ramanujan, his home, his school, his notebooks, and the influential people in his life, including his mother and wife.

Professor Berndt is well known for his efforts in establishing the veracity or otherwise of numerous formulae first derived by Ramanujan. He has received many awards and distinguished professorships in recognition of the excellence and high standing of his work.

The Mahler Lectureship is awarded every two years to a distinguished mathematician, who works in an area of mathematics associated with the work of self-taught mathematician, Professor Kurt Mahler (1903-1988), who worked on the transcendence of numbers.

It is supported by both the Australian Mathematical Society and by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute.

Media: For further information contact Associate Professor Elizabeth Billington, UQ Mathematics, telephone 3365 2313, email ejb@maths.uq.edu.au.