Person: Ramchundra
Ramchundra was an Indian mathematician whose book, Treatise on Problems of Maxima and Minima, was promoted by De Morgan.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Ramchundra's early education was at home, a standard for India at that time, but he also attended school in Panipat from the age of six.
- In 1833 Ramchundra entered the English Government School in Delhi.
- The College incorporated the English Government School which Ramchundra attended.
- In 1841 Ramchundra competed for a scholarship and was awarded a senior scholarship of thirty rupees per month.
- Ramchundra began a programme of translating and compiling works into Urdu.
- Ramchundra, along with the advanced students in the English and Oriental departments of the Delhi College, founded a Society of the Diffusion of Knowledge in 1847.
- In another monthly publication, founded in September 1847 and published by Delhi College, Ramchundra contributed articles on a wide variety of topics including: A Description of the Diving Bell, by which Sunken Materials may be retrieved from the Sea; A Discussion of the Mistakes that Hindu Learned Men have made in Various Sciences in the Shastras; On Astronomy; On the work of Sir Isaac Newton; A discussion of the Relationship of the Human Mind and Body; On Demosthenes; On Confucius; and A biography of the Safavid Shah Abbas.
- In 1850 Ramchundra published at Calcutta, at his own expense, the book A treatise on problems of maxima and minima solved by algebra.
- In 1852 Ramchundra converted to Christianity.
- Ramchundra's health was not good at this stage and he retired from his position as headmaster on grounds of ill health in 1866 when 45 years of age.
- Though Niven addresses the same ideas and even some of the same problems as Ramchundra addressed over a century earlier, he has completely overlooked his Indian predecessor.
- Despite the illustrious De Morgan's efforts to make this remarkable Hindu algebraist known, Ramchundra does not appear in Niven's text, index, or bibliography.
Born 1821, Panipat, India. Died 11 August 1880, Delhi, India.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Astronomy, Origin India
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
