An ace mathematician of India who is an associate professor in ISI, Kolkata won the 2021 Ramanujan award and has also been the 3rd woman and 4th Indian who grabbed this award.
The Ramanujan award will be honored to the young mathematicians aged below 45 years for their tremendous achievement in maths in developing countries. This award was started in 2005 and was named after great Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan by the international center for theoretical physics (ICTP) in Italy.Â
For 2021, Neena Gupta, the associate professor in ISI, has been honoured with this prestigious award in solving Zariski’s problem and her work in algebraic geometry and cumulative algebra.Â
Neena Gupta, an Indian-based mathematician and an associate professor in the Indian statistical institute (statistics and mathematics wing), was born in 1984. Her parents have supported her in pursuing higher education. As per one of her seniors’ suggestions, she has chosen B.Sc. math’s (H) and graduated from Bethune College in 2006.
As per Ms Gupta, like any other ordinary girl, she also thought to finish her graduation and get married, which was taught by her parents. But things were changed by seeing her grown-up interest in maths. She added that her mother’s support was immense, and she sacrificed many things for Ms Gupta’s higher studies.
She was awarded her post-graduation degree in the Indian statistical institute. And later, she applied for her PhD, which was when her father asked how many years it would take? And Ms Gupta replied it was five years, but her father believed that she could complete it in 2 years and proved it correct. She completed her PhD in 2011 under the guidance of Mr Amartya Kumar Dutta, with a specialization in cumulative algebra.
In 2009 when she was pursuing her PhD, she wanted to crack a solution for Zariski’s problem. Still, she found the answer for the situation in 2012, and she was awarded the same in 2014 by the Indian national science academy.Â
As per Ms Gupta, maths is not a tricky subject, it is a fascinating subject and sharpens the brain, but one thing is that no one can spoon-feed you like any other subject; you cannot memorize it. Suppose you want to be thorough with the maths; you have to clarify the concept.
You only have to explore it and practice because the only practice can make it easy and open your brain. If you keep on practicing, you will fall in love with mathematics, and you will enjoy it, she added. Lack of practice will make it challenging, and people will ignore it. Practice is the key mantra to get success in maths.Â
She has already won many awards in maths, but this is her first international award on which she feels pleased and proud. She said that” till date, people in India are recognized by the name of Ramanujan, and now she is honoured with the award named after him which makes her feel so proud”.
While discussing her plans with India today, Neena said there are many problems in mathematics which she has to solve yet. And she also said that she has her students in ISI, whom she has to teach and learn from. Â
Some of the awards and honours she won:Â
- Ramanujan award in 2021Â
- Santhi Swaroop Bhatnagar award in2019Â
- TWAS young affiliates in 2020Â
- The INSA young scientist award in 2014Â
- The Swarna Jayanthi fellowship award in 2015Â
- Ramanujan prize from the University of Madras in 2014Â
These are some achievements of Dr Neena Gupta; she has been an inspiration to many girls who want to succeed in maths. She stated that while she was pursuing her higher studies, Neena was the only girl in her class, but now where Dr Neena is the associate professor, she can find many girl students, which makes her happy.Â
