Ramanujan's work has inspired generations of Mathematicians. The fact that there are three journals named after him - Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society, The Hardy-Ramanujan Journal, and the Ramanujan Journal - and hundreds of papers have appeared and continue to appear based on Ramanujan's work, reveal the enduring nature of his contributions. The Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan, originally published in 1927 and Ramanujan: Tweleve lectures on subjects suggested by his life and work, by Hardy first published in 1940, have both been reprinted in 1999 by the American Mathematical Society. This clearly shows the relevance and importance of the original papers of Ramanujan even today.

The main objectives of this project are: to spread awareness among students and public of the life and work of Srinivasa Ramanujan; to preserve in digitized form the Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan and the work contained in the Notebooks of Ramanujan. Given below is the list of items that will be included in the CD-ROMs:

· Biographical Story.

· Collection of rare photographs.

· Pictures and Video clips of the places relating to Ramanujan. . Important correspondence.

· Simple, selected Mathematical examples.

· Interviews of experts on the work of Ramanujan.

· Highlights of the achievements of Ramanujan.

· Collected Papers of Ramanujan.

· Hardy's Ramanujan.

The source material for the CD consists of the following:

· Collected Papers by Srinivasa Ramanujan, edited by G.H.Hardy, P. V .Seshu Aiyar and B.M. Wilson, first published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge(1927).

· Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on subjects suggested by his life and work, G.H.Hardy, Chelsea, New York, 1940.

· Srinivasa Ramanujan: a Mathematical Genius, K.Srinivasa Rao, East West Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd.(1998).

· Original Notebooks of Srinivasa Ramanujan, with the University of Madras and or Notebooks of Srinivasa Ramanujan (facsimile edition) 2 Volumes, brought out by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, 1957 and also by Narosa, New Delhi, 1987. (Phase - II of the project).

These books would provide the biographical material on Ramanujan. The CD-ROMs would be of international class with a biographical and a historical part, in which visuals, audio and video parts, will be integrated with the text. The visuals would be mostly photographs and the video clippings would be of places and personalities interviewed exclusively for the CD.

Biographies were written in the form of articles by Prof. G.H. Hardy, Prof. P. V. Seshu Iyer and Mr. B. Ramachandra Row and these appeared in the Preface to the Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan, edited by Professors G.H. Hardy, P. V. Seshu Iyer and B.M. Wilson (1927).

The American Mathematical Society reprinted the 1927 (first) edition of Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan and the 1940 (first) edition of G.H.Hardy's Ramanujan: Twelve lectures suggested by his life and work, in 1999. The NBHM has also brought out in March 2000, an edition of the Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan, (Prism Publications, Mysore).

Prof. Bruce C. Berndt of the University of Illinois, has devoted all his time, since 1976 till now, to the study of the more than 3000 entries in the Notebooks of Ramanujan. He has published scores of papers and brought out in a series of five volumes entitled Ramanujan's Notebooks, published by Springer Verlag between 1977 and 1997, a detailed study of every entry Ramanujan made in his original Notebooks. He was awarded the Steele Medal for this excellent work. This is unparalleled in the History of Science. In Phase - II of this project, the aforesaid work of Prof. Bruce Berndt will be included in one or more CD-ROMs.

The project is to preserve for posterity the invaluable Life and Work of Ramanujan (in Phase - I) and the original Notebooks of Ramanujan, now in the possession of the University of Madras, and the work of Prof. Bruce Berndt referred above on these Notebooks (in Phase - II).

A pilot CD-ROM on the Life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, was brought out by Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao, on the occasion for the Indian Science Congress Exhibition in Jan. 1999. The pilot CD-ROM received critical acclaim by the public and academics including: Drs. R. Chidambaram (Chairman, DAE), Abdul Kalam (Scientific Advisor, Government of India), V.S. Ramamurthy (Secretary, DST), Prof. Bruce C. Berndt (University of Illinois), Editor of Ramanujan's Notebooks.

Biographies were written by Indian authors - S.R. Ranganathan (1957);
P.K. Srinivasan (1968) and K. Srinivasa Rao (1998).

The proposed project is to produce an Encyclopaedic version of the Life and work of Srinivasa Ramanujan in, at least, 2 CD-ROMs, in a phased manner.

Phase I: Will include the material outlined above and the Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan and Hardy's Ramanujan: Twelve lectures suggested by his life and work will also be included.

Phase II: This will contain predominantly the stupendous work of Ramanujan contained in his Notebooks and their editing by Bruce Berndt in his five volume publication entitled: Ramanujan Notebooks.

Needless to say, the original Notebooks of Ramanujan, with the University of Madras, is a National treasure and a part of the heritage of the country. The stature and achievements of Srinivasa Ramanujan, hailed as one of the greatest Mathematicians of the 20th Century, should be an eternal source of inspiration for generations of students of mathematical sciences of this country. This can best be achieved through the creation of digitized CD-ROMs that highlight his life and work.

Professor K. Srinivasa Rao, of IMSc, the domain expert will be responsible for providing all the contents for the project. C-DAC has set up the National Multimedia Resource Centre (NMRC) sponsored by the Department of Electronics, Govt. of India with the objective of developing Low Cost Multimedia Solutions in the Indian context. The centre has created state-of-art infrastructure facilities and developed the expert teams for implementation of multimedia projects. It is also engaged in developing of tools and templates for multimedia authoring with due regard to Indian language, art and culture. C-DAC will extend its technical capabilities for developing the CD-ROMs on Ramanujan.