scorecardresearch
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
Advertisement

Renowned mathematician Bashistha Narayan Singh dies, Nitish says was Bihar’s pride

Singh had been suffering from schizophrenia since 1974 and was in and out of hospital for the last three years.

Bashistha Narayan Singh had not been keeping well for the last three years.

Mathematician Bashistha Narayan Singh died after prolonged illness at Patna on Thursday. He was 73. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called him the “pride of Bihar” and said he would be cremated with full state honours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed his condolences. “Saddened by the news of the death of mathematician Bashishtha Narayan Singh. In his death, the country has lost one of its rare talents in the field on science,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter.

Singh had been suffering from schizophrenia since 1974 and was in and out of hospital for the last three years. Hailing from Bhojpur, Singh had been living with his brother Ayodhya Prasad Singh at Patna.

Advertisement

In his condolence message, Chief Minister Kumar wrote, “Bashistha Narayan Singh got a PhD in Mathematics from Berkeley University of California (in 1969) on ‘cycle vector space theory’ and later worked as a professor in Washington. After his return to India in 1971, he taught at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. He was also a visiting professor at B N Mandal University, Madhepura….Singh was the pride of the state. His death is an irreperable loss.”

Kumar met Singh’s brother Ayodhya and nephew Rakesh. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said Singh was “a Mathematics genius who made the state proud”.

Festive offer

Born in 1946, Singh was a child prodigy. His brother Ayodhya recalled that their family decided to send Singh to Netarhat Vidyalaya after he started solving sums of higher classes from an early age. “He performed very well in the Class X and XII board exams. Patna University had to change rules to admit him in a graduation course as he was underage,” said Ayodhya, who was upset with Patna Medical College and Hospital for the delay in providing an ambulance to take the mathematician’s body to his village in Bhojpur.

The mathematician was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1974. Initially, he got the state government’s assistance for treatment. Later, a group of former Netarhat students helped him. In 1989, he went missing from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and was traced four years later at Doriganj in Saran. Since then, brother Ayodhya had been taking care of him.

Advertisement

Senior journalist Surendra Kishore recalled the mathematician’s “days of penury”. “When I asked Singh sometime in 1990s why he was living at a remote part of Patna, he said that his friend from Netarhat days, urologist Dr Ajay Kumar, did not charge him for the accommodation,” said Kishore.

First uploaded on: 15-11-2019 at 03:16 IST
Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
close