What True Events Inspired The Man Who Knew Infinity?

I still get a little emotional thinking about how a handful of real events shaped 'The Man Who Knew Infinity'. At its core it’s the true story of Ramanujan’s bold letter-writing — he sent page after page of formulas to mathematicians in England, and Hardy recognized that there was something extraordinary there. From that point came the invitation to Cambridge, the collaboration that produced major results (like the partition function work), and public recognition such as the Royal Society fellowship.

The movie and biography don't invent the hardships: Ramanujan struggled with poverty and malnutrition, missed India while in wartime England, and his health declined, possibly exacerbated by diet and religious fasting. There’s also the cultural tension — an Indian genius working within the British academic system during colonial times — which the book and film explore with emotional truth. If you like, follow up by reading his notebooks or Kanigel’s biography for layers the film can’t fully show.

When I teach bits of math history, I point students to the concrete events that inspired 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' because they show how discovery and human story intertwine. First, Ramanujan’s astonishing independent work in India: he compiled notebooks full of results without formal proofs. Second, his decision to reach out by mail to established mathematicians — Hardy’s reply and subsequent support were pivotal. Third, the cross-continental move to Cambridge during World War I, where collaboration with Hardy led to formal publications and significant theorems like the Hardy–Ramanujan asymptotic for partitions and numerous identities later tied to modular forms and mock theta functions.

Beyond the theorems, the narrative follows true hardships: inadequate nutrition in wartime England, cultural isolation, and deteriorating health leading to his early death after returning to India. The story has been dramatized for film, so dialogue and pacing are altered, but the turning points — the letters, the Cambridge years, the honors, and the tragic decline — are all historically attested and documented in his papers and Kanigel’s research. For students interested in primary sources, the published notebooks are a fascinating place to dive deeper.

I talked about this one at a neighborhood book club last month and everyone was surprised how much of 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' comes straight from real life. It’s inspired by Ramanujan’s true events: his childhood and self-study in Madras, the moment he mailed his theorems to Cambridge, Hardy recognizing the genius, and the move to England. The story then follows their collaboration and the public recognition that followed, including election to the Royal Society.

The human bits are real too — his poverty, homesickness during wartime, and declining health that forced his return to India. The film and the biography focus on those emotional beats as much as the math, so it feels both epic and intimate; it’s worth watching or reading if you like stories where ideas and life collide.

I got pulled into this story after seeing the film and then getting lost in Robert Kanigel’s book — both versions are rooted in real life. 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' is based on the true events of Srinivasa Ramanujan’s life: a self-taught mathematical genius growing up in Madras who sent a stack of astonishing results in letters to Cambridge, which eventually landed on the desk of G. H. Hardy. That correspondence and Hardy’s invitation for Ramanujan to come to England are the spine of the story.

Once he arrived at Cambridge, their collaboration produced breakthrough work — think partitions and what later became famous as the Hardy–Ramanujan asymptotic formula, plus many deep results about modular forms and infinite series. The film compresses time and dramatizes conversations, but the essentials are real: poverty, cultural dislocation, World War I-era shortages that worsened his health, the famous 1729 taxi anecdote, his election to the Royal Society, and his premature return to India where he died young. Reading the letters and the papers gives the same mix of brilliance and human struggle that makes the movie hit so hard for me.