The institute announced a major project on the history of Indian mathematics today, with the support of a major grant by Infosys Co-founder Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan.

As part of the project, IITGN will develop programmes and support research scholars, conferences, publications, etc. and broaden global awareness and understanding of the wide-ranging and seminal Indian contributions to number systems, geometry, algebra, trigonometry and algorithmic methods.

IITGN Director Sudhir K Jain said: “India has made major contributions to many of the foundations of modern mathematics, which is not deeply studied or widely known. We are grateful to Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan for this support, which will enable us to undertake a systematic study of the history of Indian mathematics and to disseminate those contributions both within India and globally.”

I am delighted to support this project to better understand and create wider awareness of the significant contributions that Indians have made from the 8th century BC to the 20th century, in the development of mathematics. I am confident that IITGN will do exceptional work in this area.

Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan

Co-founder, Infosys

About the Project: Among the world’s ancient civilizations, India made innovative, wide-ranging and seminal contributions to mathematics. From the Shulbasutras of the eighth to sixth century BCE to Sankara Varma’s Sadratnamala of the 19th century, Indian mathematics boasts long, continuous and cumulative intellectual tradition, with illustrious names such as Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya or Madhava, but also a host of lesser-known yet brilliant scholars from almost every part of the subcontinent. Through its advances in number systems, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and algorithmic methods, India contributed to some of the foundations of modern mathematics. In the twentieth century, this production continued on a new foundation. While S. Ramanujan now stands out among the world’s greatest mathematicians, others, such as Syamadas Mukhopadhyay, S.S. Abhyankar, K.S. Chandrasekharan, Raj Chandra Bose, S.S. Shrikhande, Harish-Chandra and many more, made significant contributions to various branches of mathematics.
About the Donor

Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan is the co-founder and former CEO of Infosys and chairman of the startup accelerator Axilor Ventures. He was elected president of the Confederation of Indian Industries in 2013-2014 and served as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour, in 2011. Mr Gopalakrishnan is chairman of IITGN’s Research Park Advisory Board and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre.

The news was covered by some of the leading Indian newspapers and media agencies. Please click on links below to read in detail.