2024 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize|| Ramanujan|| UPSC Current Affairs

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Context

The 2024 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize will be awarded to Alexander Dunn of the Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.

This is being given to Mr. Dunn, who has achieved several breakthroughs in the study of modular forms, half-integral weight forms, metaplectic forms and their connections to prime numbers and integer partitions.

About the award

Topic	Details
*SASTRA Ramanujan Prize*	The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize was established by the Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA) in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of mathematics.
*Inspiration*	The prize is named after the famous Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, to honor his contributions and encourage young mathematicians to pursue high-level research.
*Eligibility*	The award is open to mathematicians worldwide under the age of 32, symbolizing the age at which Ramanujan passed away.
*Prize Components*	The prize includes a citation and a cash award of USD 10,000, presented during an annual international conference at SASTRA University.
*Criteria for Selection*	Recipients are chosen based on their significant contributions to mathematics in fields influenced by Ramanujan’s work, such as number theory, combinatorics, and analysis.
*Notable Recipients*	Noteworthy recipients include Manjul Bhargava (Fields Medalist), Akshay Venkatesh, and the 2023 awardee Ruixiang Zhang, recognized for his work in analytic number theory, combinatorics, and harmonic analysis.

DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize

The DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries is a mathematics prize awarded annually by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy. The prize is named after the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. It was founded in 2004, and was first awarded in 2005.

The prize is awarded to a researcher from a developing country less than 45 years of age who has conducted outstanding research in a developing country. The prize is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (India) and Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters through the Abel Fund, with the cooperation of the International Mathematical Union.

The International Centre for Theoretical Physics and the International Mathematical Union have awarded the 2024 Ramanujan Prize for young mathematicians from developing countries to Ruochuan Liu of Peking University, China.

It has been awarded for his fundamental contributions to p-adic Hodge theory, especially his foundational study of relative p-adic Hodge theory and his remarkable work on rigidity and the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence for p-adic local systems

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Aspect	Details
*Birth and Early Life*	Born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, Ramanujan displayed an extraordinary aptitude for mathematics from an early age, despite limited formal training.
*Mathematical Contributions*	Ramanujan made significant contributions to fields such as number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. His work on partition functions, modular forms, and mock theta functions has greatly impacted modern mathematics.
*Collaboration with G. H. Hardy*	In 1913, Ramanujan began correspondence with the British mathematician G.H. Hardy, who recognized his brilliance and invited him to Cambridge. Their collaboration led to profound discoveries in number theory.
*Recognition*	Ramanujan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918 and became a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
*Final Years and Legacy*	Due to health issues, Ramanujan returned to India in 1919 and passed away in 1920 at the age of 32. His posthumous work, including his "lost notebook," has continued to influence modern mathematics.

Sources: ICTP

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q:Consider the following statements in reference to Fields Medal:

1. The award is open to mathematicians worldwide under the age of 32.

2. The name of the award honours the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields.

Select the correct statements using the codes given below:

a) 1 only

b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: b

Explanation:

Statement 1 is incorrect: The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years.

Statement 2 is correct: The name of the award honours the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields. The Fields Medal is regarded as one of the highest honors a mathematician can receive, and has been described as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics. The prize includes a monetary award which, since 2006, has been CA$15,000.