Neena Gupta the third woman and the fourth Indian who had received this prestigious “DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan award 2021”. This prize is honored after the great Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and this award was first given in the year 2005.
Neena Gupta is a mathematician and a professor at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata. She had received this award for her outstanding work in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry; most of it is known as the “Zariski’s Cancellation Problem”.
Here are some points on how Neena Gupta reached where she is right now as it wasn’t a piece of cake for her because her journey for reaching the achievement is very fascinating and encouraging at the same time.
- The Ramanujan Prize is given to all the young mathematicians or researchers under the age of 45 years for developing their countries in the field of mathematics.
- Neena Gupta is known for the 2021 Ramanujan Prize and is the third woman in the world and fourth Indian who has won this award.
- Neena Gupta and her work in commutative algebra, affine algebraic geometry has been recognized as the most commendable work. Zariski’s Cancellation Problem is considered a fundamental problem in algebraic geometry and also the world’s hardest mathematical problem to solve.
- In an interview with India Today Neena said – “mathematics isn’t that difficult like all the other subjects, it can’t be memorized or spoon-fed to you. Here practice is the key and if your concepts are crisp clear then you can solve the most difficult problems easily.
The more you practice the more your mind would open up and that’s the only mantra. If you start practicing automatically it’ll build interest in yourself and if you get scared already then you eventually start ignoring it”.
- In the interview when Neena Gupta was asked about her plans then she said “it’s just the beginning” this is not the end. Neena further added that there are a lot of problems in math that are unsolved. She said, “that by teaching her students it would help them learn and grow and it would help her as well to learn as there is no end to learning”.
- How did Neena turn rejection into success? While Neena Gupta was a Ph.D. student in 2009 at the Indian Statistical Institute she presented to her professor Zariski’s cancellation problem. In return, her professor said that you should focus on your studies and drop this idea as it is just a ‘waste of time’.
But Neena again in 2012 found a solution that was working for the problem and in 2014 Neena won the “Indian National Science Academy’s Medal of Young Scientists”.
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- In my interviews and conferences, Neena Gupta mentioned how her family always supported her and was very proud of all her achievements.
- While Neena Gupta did her education in Dunlop, Kolkata from the Khalsa High School and for her graduation she studied at the Bethune College in Kolkata and did a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics. Later from the Indian Statistical Institute, Neena finished her master’s and then Ph.D. and now she is a professor in her own college of ISI.
In the end, this was all about Neena Gupta and her life and achievements and how she earned the Ramanujan Prize and became the fourth Indian to win this award.
It was always her passion and enthusiasm for mathematics that kept her going and even after facing rejections she solved Zariski’s cancellation problem and contributed to this field.
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I hope this short mathematical news update was informative to all of you. Do check out more such stories. Thank you!
