K. G. Ramanathan

Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan (13 November 1920 – 10 May 1992) was an Indian mathematician known for his work in number theory. His contributions are also to the general development of mathematical research, and teaching in India.

K. G. Ramanathan's early life and his family K. G. Ramanathan was born in Hyderabad, South India, on 13 November 1920 to Sri Kollagunta Gopal Iyer and Smt. Anantalakshmi, and was one of three children in the family.

Ramanathan received his early education from Wesleyan Mission High School in Secunderabad. He further pursued his academic interests in mathematics and obtained a BA degree from Nizam College, Hyderabad, in 1940. Later, in 1942, he completed his master's degree in mathematics from Loyola College in Chennai (then known as Madras). Sources state that Ramanathan's academic journey was also influenced by mathematics teacher and Jesuit priest, Rev Fr. C Racine, who was a former student of the renowned French mathematician E Cartan. and is said to have sung Carnatic songs of Tyagaraja to the legendary physicist Albert Einstein, who was Ramanathan's neighbour at the university. Until 1951, along with Emil Artin, Siegel supervised Ramanathan in his PhD studies in mathematics.

Ramanathan was married to Jayalakshmi Ramanathan. He had two sons. His mother died at an early age.

Career At TIFR, he built up the number theory group of young mathematicians from India. For several years, he took interest to study Ramanujan's unpublished and published work. He was an editorial board member of Acta Arithmetica for over 30 years. He retired from TIFR in 1985.

Awards Ramanathan was given numerous achievements during his more than 30 years service at TIFR.

Padma Bhushan, 1983 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, 1965 Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences Fellow of Indian National Science Academy Honorary fellow of TIFR.

Selected publications On Ramanujan's continued fraction, KG Ramanathan – Acta Arith, 1984 Some applications of Kronecker’s limit formula, KG Ramanathan – J. Indian Math. Soc, 1987