The story of a lost mathematician ... Vinit Vartak ©

 The story of a lost mathematician ... Vinit Vartak ©

1969 was the year when NASA's Apollo mission, carrying American astronauts, first landed on the moon. It was one of the proudest moments in the history of mankind in the United States and around the world. But when this mission was going to the moon. At the same time, computers have been down for some time, and NASA technicians and engineering giants have no idea what the mission current stage. At that time, a young man from the then backward state of Bihar, India, who had obtained his doctorate at the age of 23, was working at NASA. By the time NASA's computer was turned off, the 23-year-old Indian man had told NASA the exact location of the Apollo mission, calculating with his ingenuity. After some time, when NASA's computer was restored, the mathematics presented by the computer was exactly the same as that of the Apollo mission and the mathematics presented by this Indian scientist. At the tender age of 23, NASA's computer-savvy mathematician was diagnosed with 'schizophrenia', but later time he was looking for food on the streets of India. The Indian scientist who once challenged the theorem of Albert Einstein was Dr. Vashisht Narayan Singh.

He was born on 2nd April 1942 in a small village called Basantpur in Bihar. The father was a simple constable in the police department. When this boy, who seemed normal till he went to college, entered Patna Science College in 1963, no one thought that his name would be recognized globally in the near future. B. S. C. While in his first year of mathematics, the whole college saw his math brilliance. His teachers did not tolerate the humiliation in the classroom when he proved to the teachers that mathematics can be solved in a different way than the method they have been taught. Teacher lodged his complaint with the headmaster of the college. The headmaster of the college allowed him to solve mathematical questions beyond his intelligence. Which he solved in just a few minutes. The college had to take note of his extraordinary intellect. By informing the university about his ability and changing the rules, they given the opportunity to him to sit for the final year examination of B.Sc. Mathematics. Of course, he won the first number. Next year he appeared for Final year M.Sc. Math. There also he retained his number one position.

Vashisht Narayan Singh, who completed his postgraduate studies in Mathematics at the tender age of 19, became a topic of discussion on the horizon of Mathematics. Around the same time, Professor John Kelly of the University of California, Berkeley came to Patna for a conference on mathematics. Naturally, Vashisht Singh's fame reached his ears. He asked Vashisht Singh 5 very difficult questions in mathematics. The answer was given by Vashisht Singh but beyond that he solved the same math in different ways. A professor like John Kelly invited him to come to America. He paid for all the travel and education in the United States because he knew the talent Singh had. That person has the intelligence to take mathematics to new heights. At the age of 23, Vashisht Narayan Singh entered the University of Berkeley in the United States. There he wrote the dissertation ‘Reproducing Kernels and Operators with a Cyclic Vector’. For which he was awarded a doctorate. This dissertation is still regarded as one of the most important dissertations in mathematics and in this field.

Dr. Vashisht Narayan Singh participated in various NASA missions. What's more, he challenged the 'Theory of Relativity', the highest position in physics, with the help of mathematics. But destiny had something different in mind. He was diagnosed with incurable schizophrenia. Its effects began to show on their work. It became more and more difficult for him to accept the fact that he is irritated when there is no reason, He is not able to pay attention at work and sometime he is not able to solve even simple math problems. He got married under the pressure of his family. They had no idea about his illness. When the married couple started their family, the idea of ​​his illness reach to the family. He came to India in 1974. After coming to India, he worked at the Indian Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai and later at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, but he not able to give significant contribution anywhere. In 1976, his wife decided to separate. The trauma further deepened his already deteriorating mood. It was time for his family to take him to a psychiatric center. The wife's decision was not unreasonable, since her demeanor and violent behavior at the time were unbearable.

In 1985, he was taken home by his family from the center. During this period, Dr. Vashisht Narayan Singh was isolated from the rest of the world. He was not interested in anything. He escaped while traveling by train from Pune in 1987. His family searched for him but could not find him. For 4 years no one knew where he was. In 1993, at Doraiganj near Chapra, two men from his village found a man in a miserable condition, looking for food in a garbage bin. From his questioning and facial expressions, he identified him as Dr. Vashisht Narayan Singh. The mathematician, who once solved mathematical numbers with his intelligence and sat next to talented institution & people like NASA to Albert Einstein, was filling his stomach with food thrown in the trash by someone with the same intelligence disease.There is no other example of how destiny can make a king rank.

His condition was noticed at the government level. He was admitted to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore. They were treated appropriately. He was sent to Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University (BNMU) in Madhepura so that the new generation could use his mathematical intelligence. Appointed as a visiting professor here. But this mathematician who saw two ends of life merged into infinity on 14th November 2019. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 2020 for his contribution to mathematics.

After Aryabhata and Srinivas Ramanujan, in the history of world mathematics, if any mathematician could have successfully crossed the Indian tricolor with his intelligence, it must have been Dr. Vashisht Narayan Singh.But this mathematician, stuck in the cycle of destiny, always remained hidden from the eyes of Indians. My respects to this math expert ...

Jai Hind !!!

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