Radha Charan Gupta (born 1935 in Gursarai

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative hea ...

, in present-day

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

) is an Indian historian of mathematics.

Early life of Radha Charan Gupta

Gupta graduated from the

University of Lucknow The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

, where he made his bachelor's degree in 1955 and his master's degree in 1957. He earned his Ph.D. in the

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

from

Ranchi University Ranchi University is a public state university in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. It was established in 1960 by an Act of the Bihar legislature. Ranchi University offers degrees in undergraduate, post-graduate, M.Phil. and doctorate programs. History ...

in 1971.Awarding of the K.O. May Prize
from

International Mathematical Union The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports ...

He did his dissertation work at

with the historian of Indian mathematics T.A. Sarasvati Amma. Then he served as a lecturer at

Lucknow Christian College Lucknow Christian College is a graduate and post-graduate college located in Golaganj, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is affiliated with the University of Lucknow. Overview Lucknow Christian College was established in 1862. It is an Inst ...

(from 1957 to 1958) and in 1958 he joined

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra (BIT Mesra) is a public deemed institute in Jharkhand, India. It was established in 1955 at Mesra, Ranchi, Mesra, Ranchi, by the industrialist Birla family, B. M. Birla. The institute was later headed by Ga ...

. In 1982 he was awarded a full professorship. He retired in 1995 as the Emeritus Professor of the

and

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

. He became a corresponding member of the

International Academy of the History of Science The International Academy of the History of Science (french: Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) is a membership organization for historians of science. The academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by ...

in February 1995.

Works

In 1969 Gupta addressed

interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

in Indian mathematics. He wrote on Govindasvamin and his interpolation of sine tables. Furthermore, he contributed an article on the work of

Paramesvara Vatasseri Parameshvara Nambudiri ( 1380–1460) was a major Indian mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama. He was also an astrologer. Parameshvara was a proponent of ob ...

: "Paramesvara's rule for the circumradius of a cyclic quadrilateral".

Notable awards

In 1991 he was elected a Fellow of the

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

, and in 1994 he became President of the Association of Mathematics Teachers of India. In 1979 he founded the magazine '' Ganita Bharati''. In 2009 he was awarded the

Kenneth O. May Prize Kenneth O. May Prize and Medal in history of mathematics is an award of the International Commission on the History of Mathematics (ICHM) "for the encouragement and promotion of the history of mathematics internationally". It was established in 19 ...

alongside the British mathematician

Ivor Grattan-Guinness Ivor Owen Grattan-Guinness (23 June 1941 – 12 December 2014) was a historian of mathematics and logic. Life Grattan-Guinness was born in Bakewell, England; his father was a mathematics teacher and educational administrator. He gained his bac ...

. He is notably the first Indian to get this prize. In 2023, he was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

for his contributions in the field of literature and education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Radha Charan 20th-century Indian mathematicians Scholars from Uttar Pradesh 1935 births 20th-century Indian historians Historians of mathematics Living people Ranchi University alumni People from Jhansi Scientists from Uttar Pradesh Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education