Can still beat 'em every night on Jeopardy, however. That young man could change the world, if he gets a chance and science is still respected over the next few years.

now you see the pay off of teaching only to "the test" ((do i NEED the sarcasm tag) i realize he's probably some idiot-savant)

and he's not an idiot savant.

Does wonders to read the article.

Srīnivāsa Rāmānujan FRS About this sound pronunciation (help·info) (Tamil: ஸ்ரீநிவாச ராமானுஜன் (22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician and autodidact who, with almost no formal training in pure mathematics, made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions. Ramanujan was said to be a natural genius by the English mathematician G.H. Hardy, in the same league as mathematicians like Euler and Gauss.[1]

Born in a poor Brahmin family, Ramanujan's introduction to formal mathematics began at age 10. He demonstrated a natural ability, and was given books on advanced trigonometry written by S. L. Loney that he mastered them by age 12, and even discovered theorems of his own, including independently re-discovering Euler's identity.[2] He demonstrated unusual mathematical skills at school, winning accolades and awards. By 17, Ramanujan conducted his own mathematical research on Bernoulli numbers and the Euler–Mascheroni constant. Ramanujan received a scholarship to study at Government College in Kumbakonam, but lost it when he failed his non-mathematical coursework. He joined another college to pursue independent mathematical research, working as a clerk in the Accountant-General's office at the Madras Port Trust Office to support himself.[3] In 1912–1913, he sent samples of his theorems to three academics at the University of Cambridge. G. H. Hardy, recognizing the brilliance of his work, invited Ramanujan to visit and work with him at Cambridge. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, dying of illness, malnutrition and possibly liver infection in 1920 at the age of 32.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

I think he actually died of TB.

Curious properties sometimes lurk within seemingly undistinguished numbers. 1729 sparked one of maths most famous anecdotes: a young Indian, Srinivasa Ramanujan, lay dying of TB in a London hospital. G.H. Hardy, the leading mathematician in England, visited him there. 'I came over in cab number 1729,' Hardy told Ramanujan. 'That seems a rather dull number to me.'

'Oh, no!' Ramanujan exclaimed. '1729 is the smallest number you can write as the sum of two cubes, in two different ways.' Most of us would use a computer to figure out that 1³ + 12³ = 9³ + 10³ = 1729. Ramanujan did it from his sickbed without blinking.

Mathematicians have mined his theorems ever since. In the last in the current series Simon Singh examines their impact and how mathematicians have proved them and put them to use. Far more than just another number theory, 1729 is the first of the 'Ramanujan numbers' or taxicab numbers. Mathematicians are competing to search for more of them (with higher powers) and testing the strength of new computing technology. The search is seen as mathematics' current greatest challenge. Only recently, a lost bundle of Ramanujan's notebooks turned up in a Cambridge library setting maths off on a new voyage of discovery.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cxs94

He was late for class and didn't know the 2 problems on the blackboard where unsolved mathematical forumlas. He copied them,thinking they were homework and solved them.


http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp

South Asia seems to produce a lot of geniuses.