The Man Who Knew Infinity Page #4

Listen, I'm hard on you

for your own benefit.

So that you can be published.

But, sir, you can publish the notebooks

and my prime number theorem.

You've had them since I arrived.

There is nothing I'd like more.

But, if I was to publish them

in their present state,

I'd be sent to the lunatic asylum.

You don't understand. These...

I don't think about this

the same way you do.

These steps you want, what you want,

I do not know how to do.

Well, you can just begin

by trying your best

and see if you don't surprise yourself.

Sir, do you know something I don't?

Apparently not.

Oh, no, God and I

don't see exactly eye to eye.

So if I prepare for rain, then it won't.

So far, so good.

I'm Hardy and I'm spending the

afternoon in the Wren Library.

Now we're sure

to have sunshine. (CHUCKLES)

You see, I'm what you call an atheist.

No, sir. You believe in God.

You just don't think He likes you.

Oh, really?

Listen...

I wasn't gonna...

Give you this just yet,

but I took the liberty of doing some of

your proofs myself.

Just to show you

what together we can achieve.

See?

You've been published.

Mr. Hardy, thank you!

Thank you, sir!

(LOW CHATTER)

It is with great pride

that today all of us have shared

the publication of my son's article

in the London Mathematical Society.

(APPLAUSE)

Such a big thing.

A very prestigious society.

(SPEAKS TAMIL)

So how really is the little genius?

Don't pay attention to her.

She's not proud enough

of his achievements. Huh?

(SPEAKS TAMIL AND LAUGHS)

(KNOCKING)

- (KNOCKING)

- MAN:
Ramanujan?

Wake up. It just

came over the wire. We're at war.

- Here?

- No, silly, Belgium.

Now, come on! The King's arriving!

MEN:
God save the King!

Bloody jingoes.

Bertie's asked me to help him

with his Union of

Democratic Control or something.

Hmm, agitating already?

Well...

Well, I received a letter from the

War Office this morning.

Seems they need

some assistance with ballistics.

- Ballistics? You?

- I know.

I did try to explain,

but they're rather a dense lot.

- Yeah.

- Anyway, you probably won't miss me.

There's an ongoing theory that I'm

merely a figment of your imagination.

(CHUCKLES) That's not true.

(MEN CHANTING)

Ah, Ramanujan's out there.

There's a reason

he doesn't like proofs, you know.

They may be disagreeable to his formulas.

MEN:
God save the King!

How do you mean?

Well, I've been having some

reservations about some of his work.

Oh.

Well, what did you expect?

He may belong to

a world beyond us, but he's not God.

Well, that's a relief.

He's not.

How will Janaki ever come now?

Don't worry.

They say it'll be over by Christmas.

Please finish by telling him

that, of course, I will come

and not to worry

about the war. It is far away from here.

And that I will wait for him to make

the necessary arrangements.

Also that I love him very much.

That is all.

(CHICKEN CACKLING)

Make your mark here.

I knew your husband.

But he spent all the time at the temple.

He's still there in the alcove.

(GRATING)

JANAKI:
Amma?

Amma, please, would you post this for him?

Hmm?

He needs to know

I will still come with the war.

Amma, please let me help you.

(PATIENT CRIES OUT IN PAIN)

Where are all the vegetables?

Rationing for the war.

- And some... Thank you.

- Hmm.

WOMAN:
There is no letter for you.

Please, can you check again?

I already looked again.

Now, you're holding up the queue.

- His mum forgot to write him.

- (LAUGHS)

Look who it is, the genius wog!

Can you believe they send us

off while he kips here in luxury?

Oi! Where do you think you're going?

You freeloading little blackie.

Hey. Hey.

I'm talking to you.

Hey.

(GRUNTS)

(GRUNTING)

This is our home.

Don't you forget it.

(LAUGHING)

(WHIMPERS)

(APPLAUSE)

Victory at any price?

Victory for whom?

(CROWD MUTTERING IN AGREEMENT)

I understand it's inevitable

that anybody primarily interested in peace

should be unpopular in a time of war.

But perhaps that is

all the more reason that we should exist.

- (APPLAUSE)

- ALL:
Hear, hear.

Mr. Littlewood has

very kindly offered us his rooms

while he is away

solving the intricacies of ballistics

for which he is so ill-suited.

(ALL LAUGH)

So please keep your hands off my books.

By that he means his whiskey collection.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Thank you all very much for coming.

- Bless you.

- (APPLAUSE)

Thank you so much. Thank you for coming.

(BELL TOLLING IN DISTANCE)

Bloody cheek!

...were so fast and ours

were in completely the wrong position.

What is the meaning of this?

I'd have thought

you'd choose your battles more wisely.

After all, it's only the goodwill of

the college that allows Ramujin here.

What the bloody hell does the UDC have

to do with Ramanujan?

You should know that your friend,

Russell, is going to lose his lectureship

as a result of the leaflets

he's been distributing.

We have heard that others

are doing the same.

Are you threatening me?

Mr. Howard is simply

trying to enlighten you

as to the

precariousness of your situation.

You are perfectly at liberty to take

the matter to the College Council.

Well, rest assured, I shall, on principle.

Well, that's a rather dangerous word,

with all your liberal colleagues in France.

Change, Hardy. That's what you wanted.

Now you get used to it.

From Mr. Littlewood, sir.

If I may,

he's so misplaced on a battlefield,

I shouldn't think

a bullet would recognize him as a target.

Hmm.

(ENVELOPE TEARING)

(DOOR SHUTS)

Damn you, Littlewood.

LITTLEWOOD:
My dear Harold,

please forgive

this personal transgression.

I'm gone now to this god-awful war

and haven't the faintest idea

if I will ever return.

Fortunately, unlike you,

I do have God to take comfort in.

I have two points to make.

The first is

that Ramanujan's work on primes,

while brilliant in itself, is actually wrong.

The other point is less straightforward.

You have in Ramanujan

nothing short of a miracle.

The man exceeds any notion of brilliance

that I have ever understood.

Forget Jacobi,

we can compare him with Newton.

I have come to believe

that for Ramanujan,

every single positive integer

is one of his personal friends.

And, to that end,

you, too, have a responsibility.

You have to look after him

and make sure that his work

amounts to something.

Don't let Howard and his lot win.

So, you see, Hardy,

you, too, have a war to fight.

Just don't let it be with Ramanujan.

So, there you have it.

He left this for you to see for yourself.

Your theorem on primes is wrong.

It's not. It can't be.

It's rather interesting, really.

If you compare

the prime number approximation

with the actual number of primes,

the calculation tells us what?

It always moves higher.

Even at a thousand? A million?

A billion trillion?

Yes?

Where is the proof?

I gave it to you. It proves it.

No, because

however intuitively obvious it may seem,

when subject to calculation, it fails.

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