M. S. Raghunathan facts for kids

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, giving the Padma Bhushan Award to Dr. Madabusi Santanam Raghunathan in 2012.

Madabusi Santanam Raghunathan is a famous Indian mathematician. He is known for his important work in mathematics. He is currently a special professor of Mathematics in Mumbai, India. Before this, he led the National Centre for Mathematics. He was also a top professor at TIFR.

Professor Raghunathan earned his PhD in Mathematics from University of Mumbai. His teacher was M. S. Narasimhan. He is a member of many important science groups. These include the Royal Society and the American Mathematical Society. He also received the Padma Bhushan award. This is a high honor given by the Indian government.

Early Life and School

Madabusi Santanam Raghunathan was born on August 11, 1941. He was born in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India. His family lived in Chennai. His father had a timber business. He also loved science and talked about it often. This made science very interesting for young Raghunathan.

His mother's family had many academics. Her father was a respected English professor. He even wrote a book that was later reprinted in the United States.

Raghunathan went to school in Chennai. He studied at P.S. High School and Madras Christian College High School. In 1955, he took his final school exam. There is a funny story about this exam. After his Sanskrit paper, he accidentally took his answer sheet home! A friend caught him on the way. Luckily, his headmaster helped him avoid retaking the whole exam.

At that time, the University of Madras had a rule. Students had to be at least 14 and a half years old to join. So, Raghunathan studied at St. Joseph's College, Bangalore first. This was from 1955 to 1957. Then, he returned to Chennai. He joined Vivekananda College to study mathematics. This college had a very good reputation.

His Research Work

From 1960 to 1962, Raghunathan trained in mathematics. His professor, M.S. Narasimhan, gave him a research problem. It was about "Deformations of linear connections and Riemannian metrics." Raghunathan solved this problem by the summer of 1963.

He wrote his PhD paper under Professor Narasimhan. He received his degree in 1966. After his PhD, Raghunathan spent a year in Princeton, USA. Over the years, he has visited many universities. He has been to places in the US, Europe, and Japan. He has also spoken at many international math conferences. This includes a big meeting in Nice in 1970.

His main research focuses on "discrete subgroups of Lie groups." These are special groups in mathematics. He has made important discoveries about how these groups behave.

Contributions to Mathematics

Raghunathan has done a lot to help mathematics grow. He has worked with many science groups. He helped organize the Ramanujan centenary celebrations in 1987. This was a big event in Chennai. Many top mathematicians attended.

His most important work has been with the National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM). Raghunathan joined the Board in 1983. He became its chairman in 1987. He still serves in this role. The Board does many things to support math. They give money to math libraries. They also fund research projects and help people travel to conferences.

The Board also finds and supports young math talent. They run activities like the Math Olympiad. They offer scholarships for students at different levels. Raghunathan also created a special program. It helps students learn math even if they choose other careers. He also organized the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2010. This big event was held in Hyderabad, India. It was the first time India hosted this important meeting.

Published Book

Raghunathan wrote a book called "Discrete Subgroups of Lie Groups." It was published in 1972. This book is now considered a classic in its field. It covers many important results in mathematics. The book is widely used and appreciated by mathematicians. It has even been translated into Russian.