Rajan Srinivasan Mahadevan (born 1957) is an Indian

mnemonist The title mnemonist refers to an individual with the ability to remember and recall unusually long lists of data, such as unfamiliar names, lists of numbers, entries in books, etc. Some mnemonists also memorize texts such as long poems, speeches, o ...

Early life

Mahadevan was born in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

in 1957 and moved to

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

in 1959. He discovered his ability to memorize numbers at the age of 5 during a party hosted by his family. During the party, Rajan wandered to a parking lot and committed the license plate numbers of every guest's car for recitation later.

Education

In 1977, after losing interest in engineering, Mahadevan set to memorize substantial parts of pi. On 5 July 1981, he recited from memory the first 31,811 digits of pi. This secured him a place in the 1984 ''

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

'', and he has been featured on ''

Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' is an American television talk show broadcast by CNN from June 3, 1985 to December 16, 2010. Hosted by Larry King, it was the network's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Ma ...

'' and ''

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''. Mahadevan received his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1984 and his master's degree in clinical psychology from the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

in 1986 during his extended participation in memory study. Mahadevan's

digit span In psychology and neuroscience, memory span is the longest list of items that a person can repeat back in correct order immediately after presentation on 50% of all trials. Items may include words, numbers, or letters. The task is known as ''digit ...

was found to be nearly ten times the average; it is estimated that, before the effects of practice, it was 15 digits. Although Mahadevan is adept at remembering numbers, he nevertheless displays only an average memory when it comes to prose passages or geometric shapes.DAVID R. SHANKS, Science Spectra, 1999, Number 18
Outstanding Performers: Created, Not Born? NEW RESULTS ON NATURE VS. NURTURE.
/ref> Mahadevan holds the position of Distinguished Lecturer at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

, where he teaches courses in learning and thinking as well as cognitive psychology.

References

Notes

* "Unexceptional spatial memory in an exceptional memorist", Biederman et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology Learn Mem Cogn, 1992 May;18(3):654-7

* "The Man With the Endless Memory;Rajan Mahadevan Is Trying to Memorize 100,000 Digits. For Him, It's Easy as Pi", Washington Post article 18 June 1989

* "Memory Search by a Memorist", Thompson et al. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.,New Jersey, 1993 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahadevan, Rajan Living people 1957 births Sportspeople from Chennai University of Mysore alumni Indian mnemonists Nationality missing Sportspeople from Mangalore

Early life

Education

See also

References

Notes