Shakuntala Devi (4 November 1929 – 21 April 2013) was an Indian mathematician, essayist, and mental adding machine, famously known as the "Human-Computer". Her ability earned her a distinguishing position in the 1982 version of ‘The Guinness Book of World Records. However, the testament for the record was given after death on 30 July 2020, despite Devi achieved her world record on 18 June 1980 at Imperial College, London. Devi was an intelligent youngster and she exhibited her mathematical ability at the University of Mysore without having any formal education.
Devi endeavored
to work on mathematical calculations for students. She composed various books in
her later years, including mathematics, science, riddles, and astrology. She
composed the book The World of Homosexuals, which is viewed as the prime study
of homosexuality in India. She saw homosexuality in a positive light and is
viewed as a pioneer in this field.
Shakuntala Devi
was born on 4 November 1929 in Bangalore, Karnataka to a Kannada Brahmin
family. Her dad, C V Sundararajan Rao, was a trapeze acrobat, lion tamer,
tightrope walker, and magician in a circus.
He discovered
his daughter's ability to memories numbers during teaching her a card
trick. At that time, this intelligent girl was just 3 years old. Her father
left the circus and started to demonstrate the amazing ability of human
calculators on-road and streets. She did not attend any school and performed all
her shows without having any formal education. At the age of six, she exhibited
her mathematical abilities at the University of Mysore. In 1944, Devi moved to London, United
Kingdom.
Devi visited
several countries showing her math abilities. She was on a visit through Europe
all through 1950 and was in New York City in 1976. In 1988, she visited the
US to have her capacities studied by Arthur Jensen, a professor of educational
research at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen examined
mathematical ability including the estimation of large numbers. These tests
included the cube root of 61,629,875 and the 7th root of 170,859,375. Jensen
revealed that Devi gave the right answer for the previously mentioned issues
(395 and 15, respectively) before Jensen could write them down in his notebook.
Jensen published this story in the Academic Publication “Intelligence” in 1990.
In 1977, at
Southern Methodist University, she gave the 23rd root of a 201 digit number in
just 50 seconds. Her reply, which was 546,372,891, was confirmed by the
calculation done at the US Bureau of Standards by the UNIVAC 1101 PC, for which
a unique program was designed, which was capable to calculate such high digit
calculations.
"The
result is so far superior to anything previously reported that it can only be
described as unbelievable."
Shakuntala Devi
explained a lot of the techniques she used to do a mental calculation in her book
“The Joy of Numbers.
In 1977, she
wrote a book on homosexuality – “The World of Homosexuals”. This was the first
book on this topic. Due to this book, she was condemned in her native country –
India. In the documentary ‘Straights Only,
she said that her interest in the theme as a result of her marriage with a
homosexual man.
Devi got back
to India during the 1960s and she wedded Paritosh Banerji, an official of the
Indian Administrative Service from Kolkata. They separated in 1979 because of
individual problems.
Along with her ability as Human-Computer, Devi was an eminent astrologer and the writer of
many books. She also liked to write short tales and murder mysteries. She also
had a strong fascination with music.
In April 2013,
Devi was conceded to a medical clinic in Bangalore with extreme respiratory
problems. During the next fourteen days,
she experienced heart and kidney complications. She passed on in the hospital
on 21 April 2013. At the time of her death, she was 83 years old.
On 4 November
2013, Devi was respected with a Google Doodle on what might have been her 84th
birthday. A Google Doodle is a kind of tribute to commemorate holidays, events,
achievements, and notable historical figures from the world. In Google Doodle,
the Google Logo on its Official Search Engine Homepage is temporally replaced
with a tribute entity.
A film on her
life named Shakuntala Devi was made in May 2019, in which Vidya Balan played
her role. This film was made by Sony Pictures Networks Productions, the film
broadcasted worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 31 July 2020.
Live Demo of Case Study of Human-Computer - Shakuntala Devi
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