The biopic “The Man Who Knew Infinity” opened in theaters this past weekend. It tells the remarkable story of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (played by Dev Patel) and his friendship with British mathematician G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons). The film is based on the book of the same name by Robert Kanigel.
The mathematical consultant for the film was Ken Ono of Emory University. Ken visited the Gustavus MCS Department last spring and during his visit shared clips and behind the scenes stories of the film.
Ken is pictured here with the department’s bust of Ramanujan sculpted by Paul Granlund. This bust was funded by donations from mathematicians around the world and played a big part in shaping Ken’s life as a mathematician.
Also coming out in print is Ken’s memoir “My search for Ramanujan: How I learned to Count” that details his rise from a gifted, yet rebellious, teen to one of the world’s most prominent number theorists.