MovieChat Forums > The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016) Discussion > Hardy was only 10 years older than Raman...

Hardy was only 10 years older than Ramanujan in real life


They cast a young actor for Ramanujan and old actor for Hardy. Age difference over 42 years.

In real life Ramanujan born 1887 & Hardy born 1877 - 10 years.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._H._Hardy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

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Also, Littlewood was about as old as Ramanujan. And they prettified Ramanujan quite a bit, in reality he was rather short and stout with chubby cheeks.

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/400/1*PcFzUFUVYDDI0qd1BchScg.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/RamanujanCambridge.jpg

The movie distorts history in many aspects. For example, Ramanujan did publish papers for quite some time before he went to England. In these papers he does write down proofs. Hardy and Littlewood were well aware that his result on the distribution of prime numbers was wrong, long before Hardy invited Ramanujan to England. Ramanujan's wife was 14 years old when he left India. His infection most likely was hepatic amoebiasis, and most likely he was infected before he left India. Still I suppose this film is closer to reality than most biopics.

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His infection most likely was hepatic amoebiasis, and most likely he was infected before he left India


That is absolutely true, however, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and the diagnosis of hepatic amoebiasis was not even made until 1994, long after he died. So showing him being treated for TB is simply historically accurate.

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Certainly, but I think it was misleading to show this selection of the facts. They could have shown early stages of the disease in India (which apparently he had). The doctors were confused about the symptoms and one of them conjecture the cause to be "some obscure Oriental germ trouble imperfectly studied at present". Showing any of this would have helped. As it was, the viewer would strongly get the impression that the trip to England ultimately killed him.

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As it was, the viewer would strongly get the impression that the trip to England ultimately killed him.


Which is what everyone thought at the time, both in India and the UK, and it accurately reflects the source material, as the book clearly states that hypothesis several times.

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> Which is what everyone thought at the time

The doctor who blamed "some obscure Oriental germ" clearly did not think so, at the time.

> accurately reflects the source material

I think historical accuracy is more important than closely following some book.

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The film is only based on historical facts.

It's that man again!!

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