Research Schools on Number Theory in India

This book is an attempt to describe the gradual development of the major schools of research on number theory in South India, Punjab, Mumbai, Bengal, and Bihar—including the establishment of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, a landmark event in the history of research of number theory in India. Research on number theory in India during modern times started with the advent of the iconic genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, inspiring mathematicians around the world. This book discusses the national and international impact of the research made by Indian number theorists. It also includes a carefully compiled, comprehensive bibliography of major 20th century Indian number theorists making this book important from the standpoint of historic documentation and a valuable resource for researchers of the field for their literature survey. This book also briefly discusses the importance of number theory in the modern world of mathematics, including applications of the results developed by indigenous number theorists in practical fields. Since the book is written from the viewpoint of the history of science, technical jargon and mathematical expressions have been avoided as much as possible.

PURABI MUKHERJI has been a counsellor in mathematics at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Kolkata, India, since 1994. Earlier, she served the Department of Mathematics, Gokhale Memorial Girls’ College, Kolkata, from 1994 to 2014. She had taught Mathematics in the 'Post-Graduate Class' of 'The Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata' for several years. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in 1987, and has received two national best paper awards by the Indian Society for Earthquake Technology of the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, for her work on mathematical modelling in geophysics. Since 2010, Dr. Mukherji has been pursuing research in areas associated with the history of science and has successfully completed three projects funded by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi, India. She has published over 40 research papers in reputed national and international journals and over 20 scientific articles in popular Bengali scientific magazines. She is a life member of renowned Indian societies, including the Indian Science Congress Association, Calcutta Mathematical Society, the Indian Society of History of Mathematics, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and Indian Society of Nonlinear Analysts. She is also on editorial board of the journal Indian Science Cruiser published by the Institute of Science, Education and Culture (ISEC), Kolkata, India. As a senior author (in collaboration with Prof. Atri Mukhopadhyay), she has published the book titled History of the Calcutta School of Physical Sciences [Springer, 2018]. She has published two more books: one in English titled Pioneer Mathematicians of Calcutta University by the Calcutta University and one in Bengali titled Vigyan Sadhak Sir Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan by the Vigyan Prasar (DST, Government of India). She is also alife member of National Society of Radiation Physics (NSRP) and Mathematics Consortium. The Society is called The Mathematics Consortium (TMC). It consists of the SAARC countries and has close contacts with the American Mathematical Society and the European Mathematical Societies. She has been a Life Member of TMC since 2016.