Aryabhata
Indian Mathematician who was born in 476 AD in Kusumpur ,Patna. He studied there and became the Vice-Chancellor of Nalanda University,
His 10 major contributions are --
1. Aryabhata calculated the circumference of the Earth as 39,968 kilometers while the actual circumference is 40,075 kilometers.
2. He calculated the time of earth rotation as 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds; this is unbelievably close to the modern-day calculated value of 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds.
3. His major work Aryabhatiya that he wrote at the age of 23; is divided into four chapters: Gitikapada (13 verses), Ganitapada (33 verses), Kalakriyapada (25 verses) and Golapada (50 verses).
4. He calculated the value of pi correct up to 4 decimal places. His intermediate equation method is used to solve Diophantine Equation in the form of by = ax + c and by = ax – c
5. He calculated the area of triangle, volume of sphere, constructed the sine table at the inerval of 3° 45′. In order to do this he used a formula for sin(n + 1)x – sin nx He was also the one to introduce the versine into trigonometry, gave a method to find the square root and cube root of a number.
6. He introduced a method to write big numbers using Hindi alphabets. He assigned a value to Swar (Vowels) and Vyanjan(Constant) and could write number as big as 10^18.
7. Method of finding the sum of n numbers, sum of the square of n numbers and sum of the cubes of n numbers are due to him.
8. Aryabhata used a geocentric model for the solar system. He calculated the time of solar and lunar eclipses and reasoned out why it occurs. The computational model of Aryabhata was so accurate that in the 18th Century, scientist Guillaume Le Gentil found his calculations regarding the duration of the lunar eclipse of 30th August 1765 to be short by only 41 seconds!
9. Apart from Aryabhatiya he wrote Aryabhatiya Bhasya which is his lost work
10. In 1975, the first satellite that India launched was named after him. Aryabhata is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the Sun temple in Taregana, Bihar. His bust was unveiled in UNESCO headquarter Pune and a full size statue is located in Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) Pune.
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