The Ramanujan Prize for 2015 has been won by mathematician Amalendu Krishna of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. The prize is awarded jointly by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and the International Mathematical Union (IMU) to a person under 45 working in a developing country.
Dr. Krishna has been recognised for outstanding contributions in the area of algebraic K-theory, algebraic cycles and the theory of motives. “I feel happy that this prize will motivate more young Indians to pursue science and do well in that. It means a lot … to see my family feeling proud of my work,” he said.
M.S. Raghunathan, a member of the selection committee and Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, said Dr. Krishna was among the top mathematicians under 45 in the country. “His work in algebraic geometry (more specifically about cycles and motives) has attracted considerable attention. He has been attacking some hard problems and has come up with some very original ideas that constitute significant progress on them,” he said.
The website of the Ramanujan Prize says the selection committee will, in particular, favour those candidates who have overcome adversity. Can the word “adversity” apply to working in places like India or China? Professor Raghunathan said: “People have raised the issue … eventually the IMU and the ICTP decided that while there are institutions in these countries where the conditions are good, a large majority of researchers still work in difficult conditions compared with their Western counterparts. This is an issue over which the Abel Foundation [which funded the prize originally] withdrew its support for the prize, and the Department of Science and Technology stepped in with the necessary funding.”
Dr. Krishna is from Bihar and did his schooling and early college education there. “[Born into a middle class family and] growing in the conditions of disadvantage, it was very difficult to motivate oneself to take up science as a profession. There was not much happening around to help students orient themselves. I was then lucky to join the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata … I worked hard and eventually survived,” he said.
The pure and challenging nature of maths keeps him hooked. “This subject is often so complex that most of the problems I try to solve, I land up not able to solve. That keeps me always grounded,” he said.
Instituted in 2005, the Ramanujan Prize carries a citation and a cash of $15,000. The winner is invited to give a talk at the ICTP.
This is the second time it is being awarded to an Indian, with Sujatha Ramadorai having won it in 2006.
