Biography of Shakuntala Devi called Human Computer

Shakuntala Devi was a mathematician, astrologer, social worker, and writer.

She was a prodigious genius and a human calculator since childhood. She had defeated even the fastest computers of her time with her rapid calculation.

Shakuntala Devi had the ability to tell the day of any date of the last century in a moment.

When no one knew much about computers in the world, nor did such calculators come which could calculate the largest numbers. At that time, Shakuntala Devi created a stir as a math prodigy.

She also wrote a book on homosexuality. Her husband was gay and her book was the result of research into her personal experiences.

Shakuntala Devi gave a humane perspective to the society towards this community, during the period when it used to be a crime or a curse, let alone the discussion of gay people.

There is no immorality in separation. It is immoral not to allow others to be different. If someone's sexual relations are not according to the norms of society, then he is not immoral… rather immoral are those who punish him for being different.

— Shakuntala Devi, The World of Homosexuals

The main books written by her are 'Figuring: The Joy of Numbers, 'Astrology for You', 'Perfect Murder' and 'The World of Homosexuals' interviewing her wisdom. Cookbooks and novels are also included in the books written by her.

In 1982, her name was included in the Guinness Book of Records.

On her 84th birthday, on 4 November 2013, Google dedicated a Google Doodle in her honor.

It was your biggest dream to open a mathematics university and research and development center. Which, through transformative technology, people can be made proficient in shortcuts and effective ways to solve complex mathematical problems.

In an interview with The Times of India, she said: “I cannot transfer my ability to people but I can definitely help the common man to develop a numerical aptitude faster. There are a large number of people whose power of reasoning has not been harnessed. ,

Shakuntala Devi had broken a big myth that girls' hands are a bit tight in maths.

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Birth and Early Life

Shakuntala Devi, who could do calculations in a moment, was born on 4 November 1929 in Bangalore (Karnataka) in a poor family. She comes from an orthodox Kannada Brahmin family.

Due to the weak economic condition of the family, she could not even take formal education.

At a young age, her father C.V. Sundararaja Rao preferred to entertain people by walking on a tight rope, performing a madaris-like act, instead of becoming a temple priest.

Later her father became an artist in the circus and used to perform his tricks there. When Shakuntala Devi was only 3 years old, she defeated her father several times while playing cards. Her father was also surprised that how someone at such a young age could understand the next move by remembering the order of the cards.

When the father came to know about the potential of her daughter's psychic talent, she left the circus and started organizing public programs on Shakuntala Devi and displayed her potential. For the first time, she demonstrated their potential at the local level.

Shakuntala Devi, who roadshowed her talent through her father, had not got any fame yet.

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How did she become popular in the media?

At the age of 6, Shakuntala Devi demonstrated her arithmetical abilities at the University of Mysore.

Later after 2 years, she performed at Annamalai University. Then she went to Osmania University and Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam to perform. Shakuntala Devi was getting accolades in her childhood itself.

She performed in many cities. She always replied within 10 to 30 seconds.

In 1944, she moved to London, United Kingdom.

Now there was a big change in her life. She got recognition not only in national media but also in international media.

During a program on BBC Radio, she was asked a complex arithmetic question and immediately gave the correct answer, making Shakuntala Devi in the headlines for the first time at that time.

This incident became more popular because the answer she gave was correct while the radio presenter's answer turned out to be wrong.

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Why is it called a human-computer?

Everyone would be interested to check this wonderful ability of Shakuntala Devi from time to time.

She traveled to many countries around the world showcasing her arithmetical genius.

Examples of problems presented by Shakuntala Devi include the calculation of the cube root of 61,629,875 and the seventh root of 170,859,375.

By 1950, Shakuntala Devi was touring Europe. There, on October 5, 1950, famed broadcast journalist Leslie Mitchell hosted a special program on BBC with her, where she solved mathematical and calendrical problems. When she and the computer's answer to a mathematical problem differed, it was found that Shakuntala Devi's answer was correct.

Then in 1977, Shakuntala Devi got a chance to go to America. Here is a university in Dallas, she was competing with a computer 'Univac' equipped with modern techniques.

In this competition, Shakuntala had to find the 23rd square root of a number of 201 digits by mental calculation. It took her 50 seconds to solve this question, surprising everyone, Shakuntala Devi answered digit by digit answering 546,372,891.

The US Bureau of Standards had to prepare a special program to see their answer on the UNIVAC 1101 computer.

The computer named 'Univac' took 62 seconds to answer this. This means she had given the correct answer 12 seconds before the computer. Soon after this incident, Shakuntala Devi's name rose to the heights of fame across the world as the Indian Human Computer.

Shakuntala Devi, in her 1977 book Figuring: The Joy of Numbers, described several methods used to perform mental calculations.

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The name is in the Guinness Book of World Records

Shakuntala Devi's talent also got a place in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1982. She got this place because she gave the answer to the product of two 13-digit numbers in just 28 seconds without the help of any computer.

On 18 June 1980, she displayed the product of the two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779

These numbers were chosen at random by the computing department at Imperial College London. She gave the correct answer to her questions 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in just 28 seconds.

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Personal Life

In an interview in the 1950s, Shakuntala Devi said that "I do not want to give any man an opportunity to say that if I have earned a name, it is because of his help."

When she married, she flatly refused to adopt her husband's surname. She told the reason that "I want the ration card to be made in my name only."

Shakuntala Devi returned to India in the mid-1960s and married Paritosh Banerjee, an IAS officer from Kolkata, in the same year. They had a daughter named Anupama Banerjee.

The marital relationship could not last for long, soon their marriage came to an end when her husband's homosexuality was revealed. As a result, they got divorced in 1979.

According to those times, knowing this truth can become a reason for anyone's anger, but for Shakuntala Devi, it became an opportunity to know more about human beings. And this time, she came into the limelight not because of her calculations, but because of her empathy. She was the first Gay Rights Activist, and the book 'The World of Homosexuals written by her is the first book in India to demand the place of homosexuals in society.

In 1980, she contested the Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate for Mumbai South and Medak in Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana). In Medak, she stood up against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, saying that she wanted to "save the people of Medak from being fooled by Mrs. Gandhi." She finished ninth with 6,514 votes (1.47% of the vote).

Shakuntala Devi returned to Bangalore in the early 1980s with her daughter. Here she started giving astrology advice to celebrities and politicians.

She wrote several books in her later years, including novels as well as treatises about mathematics, puzzles, and astrology.

Her daughter Anupama Banerjee is married to Ajay Abhay Kumar, has two daughters, and lives in London.

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Death

Shakuntala Devi succumbed to death on April 21, 2013, at the age of 83 in Bangalore due to cardiac arrest and kidney problems after a prolonged illness.

Awards and Honors

• Shakuntala Devi was awarded the title of 'Special Woman of the Year' and the Gold Medal by the University of the Philippines in the year 1969.
• In the year 1988, was awarded the 'Ramanujan Mathematical Genius Award in Washington D.C. 
• Seeing her talent, her name was recorded in the 'Guinness Book of World Records' in the year 1982.
• In the year 2013, she was also honored with the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' in Mumbai.
• On her 84th birthday, on November 4, 2013, Google dedicated a 'Google Doodle' in his honor.

A film on her life titled Shakuntala Devi was announced in May 2019. The film stars Vidya Balan in the lead role and Sanya Malhotra, Amit Sadh and Jisshu Sengupta in supporting roles. Produced by Sony Pictures Networks Productions, the film was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 31 July 2020.

Evaluating the mind on the basis of gender is not only wrong but also atrocities. How can being a woman or being a man determine your intelligence capacity?

Every woman needs to identify her talent and potential to give the right direction to her life. Financial freedom is most important for anyone. That's why every woman must fight for her independence and strengthen herself.

A heartfelt salute to the amazing talent and mental calculator on this planet we have. 

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