Chennai:
Inaugurating the year-long celebrations to mark the 125th year of Srinivasa Ramanujan at a function here, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there is a general perception in society that the pursuit of maths did not lead to attractive career possibilities. "Now, there are many new career opportunities available to mathematicians, and the teaching profession itself has become much more attractive in recent years," Singh said.
Stating that mathematics could be regarded as the mother science, the Prime Minister said the natural sciences had a long symbiotic relationship with maths.
Giving a detailed account on the life of Ramanujan, the Prime Minister said, "India is proud of Ramanujan and many an Indian has been inspired by his example. Tamil Nadu, of course, has a special claim on him for he was a Tamilian."
Honouring Professor Robert Kanigel, who has written 'The man who knew Infinity', he said this book has made Ramanujan well known to the world. A commemorative stamp, first day cover and new edition of the notebooks of Ramanujan were released on the occasion.
Governor K Rosaiah, Union Ministers Kapil Sibal, V Narayanasamy, Jayanthi Natarajan and G K Vasan and State Higher Education Minister P Palaniappan were present on the occasion.