Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics

Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (RIASM) is the name by which the Department of Mathematics of University of Madras is known since 1967.

History

The University of Madras was incorporated in 1857 and the Department of Mathematics was an integral part of the University from its very beginning. The Department developed from its early years to become a center of research in mathematics with the appointment of R. Vaidyanathaswamy as a Reader in Mathematics in 1927.

The seeds of what is presently known as Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics was sown when an institution by name "Ramanujan Institute of Mathematics" was established by Alagappa Chettiar on 26 January 1950 as a memorial to the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. It was one of the educational institutions governed by the Asoka Charitable Trust, Karaikudi, and was located at Krishna Vilas, Vepery, Chennai. The Ramanujan Institute of Mathematics was formally inaugurated by A. Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar the then Vice Chancellor of University of Madras with T. Vijayaraghavan, a student of G.H. Hardy, as Director of the Institute. The institute faced a financial crisis when, in 1956, Asoka Charitable Trust expressed its inability to run Institute. However due to an initiative taken by Jawaharlal Nehru the management of the Institute came to be vested with the University of Madras and the Institute was taken over by the University of Madras in May 1957. During the short period of existence, the Institute was fortunate to have a string of very prominent mathematicians as visitors. These include S.S. Pillai, noted number theorist, V. Ganapathy Iyer, analyst and Norbert Wiener. After the demise of T. Vijayaraghavan in 1955, C.T. Rajagopal took over as the Director of the Institute.

During the period 1957-1966, the Department of Mathematics and the Ramanujan Institute of Mathematics were functioning as two independent bodies under the University of Madras.

In 1967 the University Grants Commission (India) came up with a proposal for making the Department of Mathematics of the University of Madras into one of its Centers of Advanced Study. In the same year these two institutions were amalgamated to form a UGC Centre for Advanced Study in Mathematics and named the center as the "Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics" (RIASM). C.T. Rajagopal was appointed the first Director of the Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, and when he retired in 1969, the reins were taken over by T.S. Bhanumurthy.

Ramanujan Museum

Utilising a grant of Rs. 1 lakh received as UGC Special Assistance for Equipment and with the help of the Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre, Ahmedabad a Mathematical Laboratory was established in the Institute. About 65 mathematical models were acquired under the scheme. These models were exhibited

• for the participants of several Refresher Courses conducted through the Academic Staff College of the University of Madras,
• at the Silver Jubiliee conference of the Association of Mathematics Teachers of India held at Madras during January 10-13, 1991 and the Science Exhibition held at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli during July 10-14,1991, and
• are being lent to be exhibited by several schools in and around Chennai.

Later the Institute received an amount of Rs. 2 lakh from the National Board for Higher Mathematics, Rs. 1 lakh from the The Hindu newspaper and Rs. 9 lakh from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Government of India, and a matching grant of Rs. 9 lakh from the University of Madras. The amount was utilized to establish the Ramanujan Museum in the premises of the Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics. A grant of Rs. one crore was later sanctioned by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, towards the establishment of Ramanujan Museum and Research Centre.

Directors

• C.T. Rajagopal (1967 - 1969)
• T.S. Bhanumurthy (1969 - 1975)
• V.K. Balachandran (1975 - 1977)
• K.S. Padmanabhan (1977 - 1980)
• T.S. Bhanumurthy (1980 - 1986)
• V.K. Balachandran (1986 - 1987)
• K.S. Padmanabhan (1987 - 1990)
• Iqbalunnisa (Jul 1990 - Dec 1990)
• P.S. Rema (1990 - 1996)
• M.S. Rangachari (1996 - 1998)
• S. Sribala (1998 - 2002)
• S. Parvathy (2002 - )
• V. Thangaraj ( - date)