Ramanujan in Convocation
Robes, 1916.

In spite of the raging war, which was raging, which deprived Ramanujan of the center stage, which he would have otherwise held with his brilliant research work in the midst of his peers, the confidence he kindled in Hardy was enough to win for him recognition and laurels. Ramanujan was awarded the B.A. degree by research in March 1916 for his work on Highly Composite Numbers and published in the Journal of the London Mathematical Society. Ramanujan's dissertation bore the same title and included six other papers. This work of Ramanujan, according to Hardy: "is a very peculiar one, standing somewhat apart from the main channels of mathematical research. But there can be no question as to the extraordinary insight and ingenuity which he has shown in treating it, nor any doubt that the memoir is one of the most remarkable published in England for many years".