R.H. Dalitz with Bust of Ramanujan
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The
renowned Physicist, Prof. R.H. Dalitz (Oxford University), on
his visit to the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai,
in February 1996, spent some time with Prof. K. Srinivasa Rao
discussing various aspects concerning Raman and Ramanujan the
two giants of Indian science, and Chandra who was a personal friend
of Prof. Dalitz and in an e-mail (to Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao), dated
29 March 1996, Prof. Dalitz wrote:
I
did not succeed in finding Ramanujan's signature in the Royal
Society book. The book is indexed, so it is just not there.
The reason undoubtedly is that he was ill in that period and
could not go to the Royal Society to sign it. There are other
examples of well-known FRS's who somehow didn't get their signature
into the book. That means that he did not ever attend any meeting
of the Royal Society; if he had, they would have brought out
the book and not let him go until he had signed. Of course,
it was also wartime, which meant that there were as few meetings
as possible.
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