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- The National Mathematics Day is observed on 22nd December every year to celebrate the birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan. He was considered to be a doyen of number theory, infinite series, mathematical analysis and making formulas without any form of training in pure mathematics. Along with Harold Hardy, he had also discovered the smallest number that is represented as sum of two cubes 1729 which is also known as Hardy-Ramanujan number. The feature film “The Man Who Knew Infinity” is based on his life and stars Dev Patel.
Srinivasa Ramanujan - Hong-Kong has decided to withdraw visa-free facility for Indians from 23rd January 2017. This decision was made in order to prevent the illegal immigration taking place as huge number of Indian asylum seekers have been on the rise.
- Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have topped the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers (Ashwini is 1st while Jadeja is 2nd). This is the second time such a feat has been achieved as earlier in 1974, Bishan Singh Bedi and Bhagwath Chandrasekhar were ranked in the same manner.
- Nepal and China will be holding their first-ever joint-military exercise named Pratikar-1 wherein Nepali forces will be trained to deal with extreme situations involving international militant groups.
- The Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2016 were presented for 24 languages. The President of the Akademi is Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari. The comprehensive list can be accessed here: http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/sahitya-akademi-award-2016-announced-1482379988-1
- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has decided to impose a fine of Rs. 50,000 on those airlines whose aircrafts empty human waste tank in air.
- The Reserve Bank of India has withdrawn the 5000 rupees limit that it had imposed on deposit of money in old currency notes for those holding KYC accounts.
- Scientists have discovered the molten jet stream within the Earth’s molten iron core by using latest data that has been obtained from three European satellites called Swarm.
- US Researchers have finally developed the first vaccine for Chikungunya fever and have made it from an insect-specific Eilat virus. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.
- The Cabinet Ministry has approved the Cadre review and formation of a new service in the name of Indian Enterprise Development Services (IEDS) that will be created in the Office of Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
- India has surpassed Britain to become the 6th largest economy, according to a report published in the Forbes Magazine. The top-five largest economies are United States, China, Japan, Germany and France.
- The draft ordinance that empowers states and industries to pay their workers’ wages digitally, through a direct bank transfer to accounts or by cheque has been approved by the Union Cabit in a bid to promote cashless transactions.
- China launched the TanSat satellite to monitor global carbon emissions in order to study the effects of climate change. It is the third country to have a satellite to monitor greenhouse gases after Japan and United States.
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Just to add a little clarity, the fact about Ramanujan is more accurately explained by this quote from Hardy:
“I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavorable omen. “No,” he replied, “it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.””
[Source:http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Quotations/Hardy.html%5D