Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887 – 1920) grew up in India, where he received very little formal education in Mathematics. Yet, he managed to develop new ideas in complete isolation, while working as a clerk in a small shop.

After a few failed attempts to contact other Mathematicians, he wrote a letter to the famous G.H. Hardy. Hardy immediately recognised Ramanujan's genius, and arranged for him to travel to Cambridge in England. Together, they made numerous discoveries in number theory, analysis, and infinite series.

Unfortunately, Ramanujan soon fell ill and was forced to return to India, where he died at the age of 32. During his short life, Ramanujan proved over 3000 theorems and equations, on a wide range of topics. His work created entirely new areas of maths, and his notebooks were studied by other mathematicians for many decades after his death.