The 86th Indian Science Congress and Ramanujan
The ISC'99 was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, as is the tradition of the annual Science Congress meetings, on Jan. 3, 1999, at the Anna University Campus, Chennai. On this occasion, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in his speech stated:


Steps have been taken to establish a "Ramanujan Museum" - in the name of the mathematics wizard of Chennai jointly by the University of Madras and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences here.

Mr. Karunanidhi appealed to the Prime Minister to consider "making the museum into a national asset."
(The Hindu, Jan.4, 1999).

Indian Science Congress Exhibition (ISCE'99):
Exhibitions have been an addition to the annual Indian Science Congress meetings for the past few years and have been a source of major attraction to the public. There were in all about 100 Exhibitions in five Drawing Halls of the Anna University's main building, including the following:
  • ie Pavilion and Pilot CD on Ramanujan (Hall No. 13).
  • Ramanujan Museum (Replica of the one at Royapuram) (Hall No. 13).
ie Pavilion and Pilot CD on Ramanujan


The idea of having a -Room, like the one in Paris, in a Museum to house the original Notebooks of Srinivasa Ramanujan was mooted by Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao on April 26, 1998, at a function in the Avvai Academy, when Dr. V.S. Ramamurthy suggested that a ie-Room may be created at the ISCE'99. This is the origin for the
ie Pavilion, a project approved by the Department of Science and Technology for the ISCE'99.

The project had Drs. K. Srinivasa Rao and R. Jagannathan as its coordinators. A 12 ft. diameter, 2 ft. deep, wooden, cylindrical structure was designed to display on its inside surface about 404 digits of the transcendental number . The cylinder made was erected on four wooden pillars at Hall No. 13 of the Anna University in time for the 6th National Children's Science Congress which preceded the ISC'99. About 40 posters were designed, enlarged and laminated. The largest was a poster which depicted the first 2000 digits of the transcendental number e. The story of p and e, related through the equation: ei + 1 = 0 and a brief history of , i and e was traced in the posters. The contributions of the Indian mathematicians, Euler, Gauss, Jacobi and the several formulae of Ramanujan including his 17 infinite series representations were highlighted. Two posters of the Gateway Arch of St. Louis exemplified the catenary. The punch line of the Pavilion was:

Never Say, = 22/7, Never Again!
The coordinators were assisted by the Library staff, in particular, and Dr. G. Subramoniam of the Institute. Two students: K. Madhu and Santhosh Kumar of IMSc helped in the making of a few posters. Volunteers to explain to the teeming visitors were organized by Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao and they were students of Anna University and teachers of Kavi Bharathi Vidyalaya.
The Pilot CD on Srinivasa Ramanujan was a multimedia presentation of a brief history of the life of Ramanujan, with some of the available pictures. The story of the taxi cab number and animated presentation of the nested roots formula for the number 3, were added to the interactive narration of the life of the mathematical genius. The preparation of the text for this from chapter 1 of the book of K. Srinivasa Rao was first made in html files and the former mathematics student I. Suresh of the Institute helped in this project. The final multimedia presentation for the CD was made with the help of a team of professionals at NIIT, Delhi, coordinated by Dr. S.N. Uma of NIIT, Chennai.
Ramanujan Museum (Replica)
A Ramanujan Museum was created in 1993 in the premises of the Avvai Academy by the dedicated Mathematics Teacher Mr. P.K. Srinivasan. The idea of making a replica of this Museum was included as a part of the DST Project by Drs. K. Srinivasa Rao and R. Jagannathan. The posters depict mostly the number patterns observed/discovered by Ramanujan and contained in his famous Notebooks. The Replica recreates these posters as laminated photo enlargements of the originals. Thanks to Mr. W. Narayanan - foster
son of the late Mrs. Janakiammal Ramanujan - a copy of the bronze bust of Ramanujan made by the renowned sculptor Paul Granlund presented in 1984 to Mrs. Ramanujanj and the original Passport of Ramanujan were displayed, in specially made display cabinets, along with the Notebooks (facsimile editions) of Ramanujan.

The enthusiastic and whole-hearted cooperation of Mr. P.K. Srinivasan, as a Resource Person and a volunteer to the NCSC'98 and the ISCE'99 contributed to the success of the whole project. Mr. A. T .B. Bose, Secretary of the Avvai Academy, organised the prepartion and erection of the banners for the ISCE'99.

Visitors to the ie Pavilion, Pilot CD on Ramanujan and the Ramanujan Mu- seum (Replica) which were juxtaposed to each other in the Hall No. 13 included: Dr. R. Chidambaram (Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission), Dr. Ab- dul Kalam (Advisor to the Raksha Mantri), Dr. V.S. Ramamurthy (Secretary, Department of Science and Technology), dignitaries from the State (Education Minister), Directors of (IMSc, lIT, MSSRF, NCSTC) Science and Technology Institutions, Vice Chancellors of Madras and Anna Universities and an esti- mated 50,000 people.

Since then the Mathematical Genius Ramanujan Gallery - consisting of the ie Pavilion and a replica of the Ramanujan Museum at Royapuram - the exhibitions at the Indian Science Congress were remodeled and housed in the Periyar Science and Technology Center in Kotturpuram, Chennai. These exhibitions, funded (Rs. 1,85,800/-) by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, with Prof. K. Srinivasa Rao of the Institute of
Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, as the Principal Investigator, were dedicated c: to the public on Feb. 28, 1999.
In April 1999, the Department of Science and Technology while assessing the success of the exhibitions, offered further financial support (Rs. 50,000/-) for the setting up of a Ramanujan Photo Gallery, adjacent to the Ramanujan Gallery and this has been completed and awaits dedication to the public soon (this June 1999).

For this 'mathemagical' genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan, there still exists no fitting Museum to house in its sanctum sanctorum the following:

  • The invaluable original Notebooks of Ramanujan now with the University of Madras.
  • The passport of Ramanujan, issued in 1919, in England, now with the foster son of Smt. Janakiammal.
  • The large sized slate used by Ramanujan now with the son of late Mr. S. N arayna Iyer.
  • The brass vessel and a coffee grinder used by Janakiammal during the last year (March 1919 - April 1920) of the life of Ramanujan, now with the family of the foster son of Smt. Janakiammal.
  • Besides these, there are some original letters of Ramanujan with the Ramanujan Museum in Royapuram. There are several interesting manuscripts connected with the life and times of Ramanujan in the National Archives and the Tamil Nadu Archives.

Dr. S. Chandrasekhar the Nobel Laureate and renowned Astrophysicist ob- served that: "As long as people do mathematics, the work of Ramanu- jan will continue to be appreciated."