Infosys Co-Founder Kris Gopalakrishnan to Support Study of the History of Indian Mathematics at IIT Gandhinagar
Gandhinagar: IIT Gandhinagar announces the launch of a major project on the history of Indian mathematics with the support of a major grant by Infosys Co-founder Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan.
As part of the project, IIT Gandhinagar will develop programmes and support research scholars, conferences, publications, etc. and broaden global awareness and understanding of the wide-ranging and seminal Indian contributions to number systems, geometry, algebra, trigonometry and algorithmic methods.
IIT Gandhinagar Director Sudhir K Jain said: “India has made major contributions to many of the foundations of modern mathematics, which is not deeply studied or widely known. We are grateful to Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan for this support, which will enable us to undertake a systematic study of the history of Indian mathematics and to disseminate those contributions both within India and globally.”
Mr Gopalakrishnan said: “I am delighted to support this project to better understand and create wider awareness of the significant contributions that Indians have made from the 8th century BC to the 20th century in the development of mathematics. I am confident that IITGN will do exceptional work in this area.”
About the Project: Among the world’s ancient civilizations, India made innovative, wide-ranging and seminal contributions to mathematics. From the Shulbasutras of the eighth to sixth century BCE to Sankara Varma’s Sadratnamala of the 19th century, Indian mathematics boasts a long, continuous and cumulative intellectual tradition, with illustrious names such as Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya or Madhava, but also a host of lesser-known yet brilliant scholars from almost every part of the subcontinent. Through its advances in number systems, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and algorithmic methods, India contributed to some of the foundations of modern mathematics. In the twentieth century, this production continued on a new foundation. While S. Ramanujan now stands out among the world’s greatest mathematicians, others, such as Syamadas Mukhopadhyay, S.S. Abhyankar, K.S. Chandrasekharan, Raj Chandra Bose, S.S. Shrikhande, Harish-Chandra and many more, made significant contributions to various branches of mathematics.
About the Donor: Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan is co-founder and former CEO of Infosys and chairman of the startup accelerator Axilor Ventures. He was elected president of the Confederation of Indian Industries in 2013-2014 and served as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honor, in 2011. Mr Gopalakrishnan is chairman of IITGN’s Research Park Advisory Board and Innovation and Entreprenurship Center.