The Man Who Knew Infinity
The movie A Man Who Knew Infinity was set in around World War I which categorized as biography, drama genre. It depicts the life of the Srinivasa Ramanujan, a brilliant mathematician from Madras, India who was the first Indian Fellow at University of Cambridge. He developed theories and formulae that continue to confound mathematicians a century later and are being used to research black holes and string theory even today.
Compare to Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton in brilliance, Ramanujan was born into a poor Brahmin family in South India, and he was later invited to Trinity College of Cambridge at the age of 27 by the famous mathematician and author G.H. Hardy. The Man Who Knew Infinity is undoubtedly about Ramanujan’s journey of facing hardships and prejudice in Britain, but more centrally, it is a film about his friendship with Hardy and the ways in which Hardy’s life was heavily influenced by the deeply spiritual Ramanujan.
South India, The City of Madras, Now Called Chennai.
Madras, acquired its name from Madraspattinam which is a fishing village situated to the north of Fort St. George.
Port Trust Office where where Ramanujan worked as a clerk in 1912–1914. At there he met Narayana Iyer, the Chief Accountant. He has a master’s degree in mathematics and frewquently doing mathematics after work with Ramanujan at his home. He was probably Ramanujan’s closest friend in India, He encouraged and supports Ramanujan’s mathematical research and help him to composed the letter to G.H Hardy who recognises his potential and invites him to the UK.
England
Having wider mathematical community, centred in Europe at the time.
Cambridge’s Trinity College
Ramanujan spend 5 years at to work with G.H Hardy
Place Setting
Atmosphere
Mathematics
In India, Ramanujan lacked such an education. At Cambridge, he had to catch up and fill in gaps.
mathematical clash of cultures he encountered – his notebooks full of equations lacked the rigorous proof demanded by Cambridge dons, and he struggled to understand why such arduous steps were necessary.
Racism and Health
Ramanujan accepts the offer from G.H Hardy, sorrowfully parting from his wife and exchanging the comforts of his home for the dreary campus of Trinity College, where war is on the horizon, nationalism is running high and racism is all the rage. He was being bullied by police and total ignorance by the professors. His health worsened with the weather and the lack of good vegetarian food by not being able to find vegetarian food in halls Ramanujan almost starves. All these contributed to his contraction of tuberculosis.
Background and Religion
Family Background
Ramanujan was born into a Tamil. His family was Hindu, high-caste but poor. His father and grandfather before him worked as clerks for cloth merchants.His mother, Komalatammal, was a housewife and also sang at a local temple and he has wife named Janaki whom he married when she was 10 years old.
Relligion
Ramanujan believed in Hindu gods all his life and lived as an observant Tamil Brahmin. He credited his acumen to his family goddess, Namagiri, and looked to her for inspiration in his work.
"An equation for me has no meaning, unless it represents a thought of God."
"An equation for me has no meaning, unless it represents a thought of God."
As a conclusion, the background and setting is very suitable in the movie. The story would seem to have quite the climax of life and I really enjoyed the movie, although I do notice it would be a sad film. I believe the relationship between Ramanujan and Hardy's mentor can said to be the core of the movie as it from Hardy being harsh and tamed to Ramanujan until he attempt to help Ramanujan. He even mentioned that meeting Ramanujan was the one romantic incident in his life.