Dedicated to mathematics for 80 years,and counting

As a young man,Shreeram Abhyankar would write love letters to his wife-to-be. Nothing unusual about that,except that his letters did not comprise regular words,mushy or otherwise they were written in theories.

As a young man,Shreeram Abhyankar would write love letters to his wife-to-be. Nothing unusual about that,except that his letters did not comprise regular words,mushy or otherwise they were written in theories.

He turned 80 on Friday and was felicitated by several mathematicians at the international conference on algebra and algebraic geometry at the University of Pune. The conference was attended by eminent mathematicians,such as M S Narasimhan and C S Seshadri,who are the recipients of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize.

Abhyankar was felicitated in a traditional way with a memento and a shawl. His passion for maths knows no bounds. I so was obsessed with theories in maths that I used to write love letters to my wife which spoke about the theories, said Abhyankar.

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Over the years,he has been passionately interested in the growth of mathematics in India. He has about 190 publications,including a dozens books,to his credit. Born in Ujjain,Madhya Pradesh,Abhyankar had an outstanding career and has obtained his Ph.D from Harvard University in 1955 under the supervision of Oscar Zariski,an algebraic geometer.

He has taught in some of the leading universities in the world such as Harvard,Cornell,Princeton,Johns Hopkins and many more. Abhyankar has guided several students for their PhDs.

Also present at the conference was his 29th student,J C Price. I heard him at a seminar at the Purdue University in 2004. Since then I decided that I would do my PhD under his supervision. Finally,I got my degree in 2009. He is a great mentor and I have never met a person of his calibre, he said

Abhyankar told Newsline he was happy to participate. He expressed concern about the dearth of good mathematicians in the city. Students must work hard to keep up with the standards and teachers must inspire students to take up a career in maths,he said.

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He added: Students are not to blame as they are burdened with umpteen exams. They dont find enough time for independent studies. They must be given time so that they can come up with their own theories,which is very necessary.

Along with the conference,which will be held till December 22,there will be an instructional workshop for M.Sc. student of maths. Abhyankar will conduct a short course on algebra and algebraic geometry for 27 students from all over India at the Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana,Pune,till January 5.

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Dedicated to mathematics for 80 years,and counting

As a young man,Shreeram Abhyankar would write love letters to his wife-to-be. Nothing unusual about that,except that his letters did not comprise regular words,mushy or otherwise  they were written in theories.

As a young man,Shreeram Abhyankar would write love letters to his wife-to-be. Nothing unusual about that,except that his letters did not comprise regular words,mushy or otherwise they were written in theories.