The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt

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On a January morning in 1913, G H Hardy - eccentric, charismatic and, at 37, already considered the greatest British mathematician of his age - receives a mysterious envelope cover ed with Indian stamps. Inside he finds a rambling letter from a self-professed mathematical genius who claims to be on the brink of solving the most important mathematical problem of his time. Some of his Cambridge colleagues dismiss the letter as a hoax, but Hardy becomes convinced that the Indian clerk who has written it - Srinivasa Ramanujan - deserves to be taken seriously. Aided by his collaborator, Littlewood, and a young don named Neville who is about to depart for Madras with his wife, Alice, he determines to learn more about the mysterious Ramanujan and, if possible, persuade him to come to Cambridge. It is a decision that will profoundly affect not only his own life, and that of his friends, but the entire history of mathematics. This 2007 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Paperback is in very good condition. ISBN: 9780747593706 SKU: 1061332 Note: Any image shown is from a stock photo and is not the actual book. Show more