One morning in January 1913, G. H. Hardy - thirty-seven years old, eccentric and charismatic, and already considered one of the greatest British mathematicians of his time - receives a mysterious envelope bearing abundant Indian stamps. Inside is a somewhat incoherent letter from a humble Madras accountant, Srinivasa Ramanujan, who claims to be very close to finding the solution to one of the most important - and never solved - mathematical problems of the time. Some of Hardy's Cambridge colleagues think this is a tall tale and ignore the letter, but he is increasingly convinced that Srinivasa Ramanujan deserves to be taken seriously. And with the help of his assistant Littlewood and young Professor Neville and his wife Alice, who will soon be going to Madras, Hardy decides to find out all he can about the mysterious Ramanujan, and even sets out to convince him to go to Cambridge. That decision will change not only his own life and that of his friends, but also the history of science. The Hindu Accountant is based on the true story of the strange and ultimately tragic relationship between an admired British mathematician and an unknown, self-taught genius.
