C. Brandon Ogbunu in Undark Magazine:
The stage play “A Disappearing Number,” conceived by Simon McBurney, focuses on the relationship between the mathematicians Srinivasa Ramanujan and G. H. Hardy. Ramanujan is famous for producing thousands of original results and pioneering new ideas in intricate areas of mathematics. His accomplishments are especially notable because he grew up at the turn of the 20th century in the region of southern India that is now Tamil Nadu. His prodigious talent seemingly arose from nowhere — that is, it developed in an environment disconnected from the university structures that existed in Europe and other parts of the world.
After attending a showing at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2014, I debriefed with a mathematician about the play and its two main characters. He spoke about the differences between the largely self-taught Ramanujan and Hardy, the latter of whom was British and formally educated at the University of Cambridge. Ramanujan, he described, worked through huge numbers of problems with endless vigor and through repetition; Hardy, on the other hand, was more formal in his approach.
More here.
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