India's Neena Gupta receives Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians 2021

Professor Neena Gupta, a mathematician at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata was awarded the 'Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries 2021' for her outstanding work in affine algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, the Ministry of Science and Technology informed, adding that Professor Neena is the third woman to receive the Ramanujan Prize since its inception in 2004. 

The prize, named after Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, was first awarded in 2005 and is administered by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) jointly with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the International Mathematical Union (IMU), news agency ANI reported. 

The DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize committee noted that the IIT professor's work "shows impressive algebraic skill and inventiveness."

Neena Gupta's journey as a mathematician

After graduating with mathematics honours from Bethune College, Kolkata, in 2006, Neena Gupta went on to complete her post-graduation from the Indian Statistical Institute. 

Following her post-graduation, Professor Gupta pursued her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in algebraic geometry and in the year 2014 went on to publish her first research paper on Zariski's 'cancellation problem'. Her paper received an award and was widely recognised by other mathematicians.

Gupta presently works as an associate professor at the ISI's Statistics and Mathematics unit.

Neena's contributions to mathematics 

In 2014, Professor Neena Gupta had received the 'Young Scientist' award from the Indian National Science Academy, which called her work among one of the best done so far in algebraic geometry in recent years.

In 2019, Professor Gupta became one of the youngest people to receive the 'Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize' at the age of 35. She has successfully solved a 70-year-old mathematics puzzle - Zariski's Cancellation Problem.

When asked in an interview regarding the cancellation problem the ISI professor had said, "The cancellation problem asks that if you have cylinders over two geometric structures, and that have similar forms, can one conclude that the original base structures have similar forms?"

The Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries is given to mathematicians from developing countries who are less than 45 years of age and have conducted notable research in the field.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: PIB)