C. R. Rao
On a day India marked its presence on the Moon, it lost one of its brightest mathematical stars. C Radhakrishna Rao, one of India’s greatest mathematicians and statisticians, died in the US at the dawn of August 23, about two weeks before his 103rd birthday.
Known as Dr Rao to his colleagues and students, the former director of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) had hit the headlines earlier this year after he was awarded the International Prize in Statistics, which many consider equivalent to the Nobel Prize.
My first acquaintance with the man happened when I had joined ISI, Kolkata, as an undergraduate student in 1970. Mostly, everyday around 11 am, we would see from our classroom an unassuming man, often in chappals, walking down the hallway of the third floor of main building to enter the “tea room.” I learnt that many faculty members and research scholars assembled there to get guidance from him on mathematical or statistical problems. Most came out of the room smiling.
