In Search of Genius: The Ramanujan Project

Over a century ago, Srinivasa Ramanujan, the Indian self-taught mathematical genius, rose from poverty and disadvantage to worldwide acclaim and made lasting contributions to the field of mathematics. While working as a young accounting clerk, Ramanujan used his free time on mathematical research and corresponding with top mathematics professors at Cambridge University. Recognizing his genius, Professor G. H. Hardy at Cambridge brought him to England, and the rest, as they say, is history. During his storied career he made fundamental and pioneering discoveries in number theory, infinite series, Bernoulli's numbers among other areas of higher mathematics. These in turn have been critical to solving problems in diverse fields from particle physics and computer science, to cryptology, chemistry and medicine.

Fast forward to the present. This year, we launched Morph.org, a non-profit foundation focused on social change by executing innovative social ventures and projects in areas such as Education, Meritocracy, Healthcare and Infrastructure. As our inaugural initiative, using Srinivas Ramanujan as our inspiration, we launched The Ramanujan Project. Our vision for this initiative was to: 1) Identify the most gifted young mathematicians in India (eventually expanding to other emerging markets) 2) Create an educational opportunity for them to flourish, that they would otherwise likely never get exposure to 3) Create and join a lifelong distinguished alumni group with which they can grow, learn, share, and collaborate.

To make this happen, we partnered with two of the most respected pre-university mathematics summer programs in the United States, PROMYS and the Ross Program to fund fellowships for the top pre-university mathematical talent in India. Each program offers an intensive 6-week summer immersion in mathematics, with fellowship decisions based solely on mathematical ability through a rigorous math challenges and demonstrated need.

We are super excited to announce the four winners of the inaugural Ramanujan Project: Sabir Shaik, Shubham Aggarwal, Deepesh Singhal and Shravan Patankar! Our vision is to expand to additional emerging markets, finding the most talented young mathematicians where they live, and create an outstanding group of alumni who may become tomorrow's leaders of scientific research at the highest levels.

You can read more about the winners and the program here: https://morph.org/ramanujan.html