List of Indian mathematicians

Last updated

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan - OPC - 1.jpg
Srinivasa Ramanujan

Indian mathematicians have made a number of contributions to mathematics that have significantly influenced scientists and mathematicians in the modern era. Hindu-Arabic numerals predominantly used today and likely into the future.

Contents

Ancient (Before 320 CE)

Classical (320 CE–520 CE)

Early Medieval Period (521 CE–1206 CE)

Late Medieval Period (1206–1526)

13th Century

14th century

Kerala School of Mathematics and Astronomy

15th century

Kerala School of Mathematics and Astronomy

Early Modern Period (1527– 1800)

16th Century

Kerala School of Mathematics and Astronomy

Golagrama school of astronomy

17th Century

Golagrama school of astronomy

18th Century

Kerala School of Mathematics and Astronomy

Modern (1800–Present)

19th century

Indian mathematician Komaravolu Chandrasekhar in Vienna, 1987 Komaravolu Chandrasekharan MFO 1987.jpg
Indian mathematician Komaravolu Chandrasekhar in Vienna, 1987

20th century

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aryabhata</span> Indian mathematician-astronomer

Aryabhata or Aryabhata I was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works include the Āryabhaṭīya and the Arya-siddhanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhāskara II</span> Indian mathematician and astronomer (c.1114–1185)

Bhāskara II, also known as Bhāskarāchārya, and as Bhāskara II to avoid confusion with Bhāskara I, was an Indian mathematician, astronomer and inventor. From verses in his main work, Siddhāṁta Śiromaṇī (सिद्धांतशिरोमणी), it can be inferred that he was born in 1114 in Vijjadavida (Vijjalavida) and living in the Satpuda mountain ranges of Western Ghats, believed to be the town of Patana in Chalisgaon, located in present-day Khandesh region of Maharashtra by scholars. He is the only ancient mathematician who has been immortalized on a monument. In a temple in Maharashtra, an inscription supposedly created by his grandson Changadeva, lists Bhaskaracharya's ancestral lineage for several generations before him as well as two generations after him. Colebrooke who was the first European to translate (1817) Bhaskaracharya II's mathematical classics refers to the family as Maharashtrian Brahmins residing on the banks of the Godavari.

Keļallur Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji, also referred to as Keļallur Comatiri, was a major mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. One of his most influential works was the comprehensive astronomical treatise Tantrasamgraha completed in 1501. He had also composed an elaborate commentary on Aryabhatiya called the Aryabhatiya Bhasya. In this Bhasya, Nilakantha had discussed infinite series expansions of trigonometric functions and problems of algebra and spherical geometry. Grahapariksakrama is a manual on making observations in astronomy based on instruments of the time.

Bhāskara was a 7th-century Indian mathematician and astronomer who was the first to write numbers in the Hindu–Arabic decimal system with a circle for the zero, and who gave a unique and remarkable rational approximation of the sine function in his commentary on Aryabhata's work. This commentary, Āryabhaṭīyabhāṣya, written in 629 CE, is among the oldest known prose works in Sanskrit on mathematics and astronomy. He also wrote two astronomical works in the line of Aryabhata's school: the Mahābhāskarīya and the Laghubhāskarīya.

Vatasseri Parameshvara Nambudiri was a major Indian mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama. He was also an astrologer. Parameshvara was a proponent of observational astronomy in medieval India and he himself had made a series of eclipse observations to verify the accuracy of the computational methods then in use. Based on his eclipse observations, Parameshvara proposed several corrections to the astronomical parameters which had been in use since the times of Aryabhata. The computational scheme based on the revised set of parameters has come to be known as the Drgganita or Drig system. Parameshvara was also a prolific writer on matters relating to astronomy. At least 25 manuscripts have been identified as being authored by Parameshvara.

Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BCE until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics, important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, and Varāhamihira. The decimal number system in use today was first recorded in Indian mathematics. Indian mathematicians made early contributions to the study of the concept of zero as a number, negative numbers, arithmetic, and algebra. In addition, trigonometry was further advanced in India, and, in particular, the modern definitions of sine and cosine were developed there. These mathematical concepts were transmitted to the Middle East, China, and Europe and led to further developments that now form the foundations of many areas of mathematics.

Utpala, also known as Bhaṭṭotpala was an astronomer from Kashmir region of present-day India, who lived in the 10th century. He wrote several Sanskrit-language texts on astrology and astronomy, the best-known being his commentaries on the works of the 6th-century astrologer-astronomer Varāhamihira.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian astronomy</span> Astronomy on the Indian subcontinent

Indian astronomy refers to astronomy practiced in the Indian subcontinent. It has a long history stretching from pre-historic to modern times. Some of the earliest roots of Indian astronomy can be dated to the period of Indus Valley civilisation or earlier. Astronomy later developed as a discipline of Vedanga, or one of the "auxiliary disciplines" associated with the study of the Vedas dating 1500 BCE or older. The oldest known text is the Vedanga Jyotisha, dated to 1400–1200 BCE.

A yojana is a measure of distance that was used in ancient India, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. Various textual sources from ancient India defines Yojana as ranging from 3.5 to 15 km.

<i>Aryabhatiya</i> Sanskrit astronomical treatise by the 5th century Indian mathematician Aryabhata

Aryabhatiya or Aryabhatiyam, a Sanskrit astronomical treatise, is the magnum opus and only known surviving work of the 5th century Indian mathematician Aryabhata. Philosopher of astronomy Roger Billard estimates that the book was composed around 510 CE based on historical references it mentions.

Govindasvāmi was an Indian mathematical astronomer most famous for his Bhashya, a commentary on the Mahābhāskarīya of Bhāskara I, written around 830. The commentary contains many examples illustrating the use of a Sanskrit place-value system and the construction of a sine table.

Veṇvāroha is a work in Sanskrit composed by Mādhava of Sangamagrāma, the founder of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. It is a work in 74 verses describing methods for the computation of the true positions of the Moon at intervals of about half an hour for various days in an anomalistic cycle. This work is an elaboration of an earlier and shorter work of Mādhava himself titled Sphutacandrāpti. Veṇvāroha is the most popular astronomical work of Mādhava.

Golagrama is a village or region in India associated with several medieval Indian astronomers, astrologers and mathematicians. Presently there is no place bearing the name Golagrama anywhere in India. It is known that Golagrama was situated in Maharashtra State on the northern banks of river Godavari, was near Partha-puri (Pathari) in Maharashtra and was about 320 km away from Amravati town in Maharashtra. It is sometimes identified as a place named Golgam at latitude 18° N longitude 78° E. The name Golagrama considered as a word in Sanskrit could literally be translated as sphere-village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pathani Samanta</span>

Pathani Samanta better known as Mahamahopadhyaya Chandrasekhara Singha Harichandana Mahapatra Samanta, was an Indian astronomer, mathematician and scholar who measured the distance from the Earth to the Sun with a bamboo pipe, and traditional instruments. He was born on 13 December 1835 in Purnimanta Pousha Krishna Ashtami, and died on 11 June 1904 in Purnimanta Adhika Jyeshtha Krishna Trayodashi.

Timeline of Indian innovation encompasses key events in the history of technology in the subcontinent historically referred to as India and the modern Indian state.

Pancha-siddhantika is a 6th-century CE Sanskrit-language text written by astrologer-astronomer Varāhamihira in present-day Ujjain, India. It summarizes the contents of the treatises of the five contemporary schools of astronomy (siddhantas) prevalent in India.

Laghu-mānasa is a Sanskrit-language text on astronomy by the Indian astronomer Mañjula. It is a karana text containing simple rules for astronomical calculations, aimed at panchanga-makers. It remained highly popular across a vast region of present-day India for several years: the first pre-modern commentary on it was written in Kashmir in 958, and the last one was written in 1732 in Kerala.

References

  1. Eggeling, Julius (1896). Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office Part V. (see items 2857, 2858 in p.1017)
  2. Pingree, David Erwin (1970). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Volume 1. American Philosophical Society. pp.  21, 386. ISBN   978-0-87169-081-4.
  3. Eggeling, Julius (1896). Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office Part V. (see items 2890. 2891 in p.1026)