In
the words of C.P. Snow: “Hardy was not the first eminent
mathematician to be sent the Ramanujan manuscripts. There have
been two before him, both English, both of the highest professional
standard. They had each returned the manuscripts without comment.
I don’t think history relates what they said, if anything,
when Ramanujan became famous”. As for their identity, Snow
adds that: “out of chivalry Hardy concealed this in all
that he said or wrote about Ramanujan”. ( p.33 in his Foreword
to G.H. Hardy’s: “A Mathematician’s Apology”,
Cambridge University Press (1976) ). However, the names are given
by A.Nandy (in “Alternative Sciences”. Allied Publishers.
New Delhi. 1980) who claims the two to be H.F. Baker and E.W.
Hobson. (also see B.C. Berndt's: "Ramunajan Notebooks”,
in 5 Parts, Springer-Verlag, Part I, 1985, p.3).
