The Indian Clerk

When mathematician G. H. Hardy received a letter from the young Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan in January, 1913, it was the day his life changed. Hardy immediately recognized Ramanujan's extraordinary, albeit untutored, brilliance. He replied with comments, requesting proofs for some of the discoveries, and began to make plans to bring Ramanujan to Cambridge. When Ramanujan finally arrived, Hardy took him under his wing as his mentor. The two became close collaborators, and...
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When mathematician G. H. Hardy received a letter from the young Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan in January, 1913, it was the day his life changed. Hardy immediately recognized Ramanujan's extraordinary, albeit untutored, brilliance. He replied with comments, requesting proofs for some of the discoveries, and began to make plans to bring Ramanujan to Cambridge. When Ramanujan finally arrived, Hardy took him under his wing as his mentor. The two became close collaborators, and close friends. When asked in an interview what his greatest contribution to maths was, Hardy unhesitatingly replied that it was the discovery of Ramanujan - 'the one romantic incident in my life'. As the story of this unlikely companionship unfolds, David Leavitt evokes the furtive, claustrophobic world of pre-war Cambridge. Together with Russell, Wittgenstein and Strachey, Hardy was part of the elitist secret society, The Cambridge Apostles. The public achievements of these famous academics are well-known, but in The Indian Clerk, we see them as men of esprit and passion, with their shortcomings and frailties. Sophisticated, intelligent and elegantly written, The Indian Clerk is an absorbing portrait of a prodigiously talented group of men.