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Akram Khan on Srinivasa Ramanujan

Choreographer Akram Khan chooses the intellectually daring Indian mathematician, Ramanujan. With Matthew Parris. From 2017.

In 1914, a self-taught Mathematics student named Ramanujan left India for Trinity College Cambridge.

Here, alongside the celebrated English mathematician GH Hardy, he completed some extraordinary work on Pi and prime numbers.

What was even more extraordinary was that he couldn't prove a lot of his work, and attributed many of his theories to a higher power.

For the renowned UK choreographer Akram Khan, there is a beauty in patterns and maths, and he sees Ramanujan's genius as a clash between Eastern and Western cultures.

Together with presenter Matthew Parris, he explores the mathematician's life.

Guest Professor Robin Wilson, who once visited Ramanujan's home, takes them through some of the maths, and explains why you'll never look at the number 1729 in the same way again.

Producer: Toby Field.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Sun 4 Jul 202105:30

Credits

RoleContributor
PresenterMatthew Parris
Interviewed GuestAkram Khan
Interviewed GuestRobin Wilson
ProducerToby Field

Broadcasts

  • Tue 10 Jan 201716:30
  • Fri 13 Jan 201723:00
  • Thu 1 Jul 202118:30
  • Fri 2 Jul 202100:30
  • Sat 3 Jul 202107:30
  • Sat 3 Jul 202117:30
  • Sun 4 Jul 202105:30

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