Shakuntala Devi was a renowned writer and a mathematical expert, and her name appeared in the Guinness books of world records due to her impeccable mathematical talents. It was his father, who had discovered her abilities in Mathematics. She was the author of the famous book on ‘The World of Homosexuals’.
Let’s look into some lesser-known facts about Shakuntala Devi!
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1. Shakuntala Devi was born in Hindu Brahmin family on November 4, 1929 in Bangalore
She was from an orthodox Kannada family and was originally from a poor background.
2. Shakuntala Devi was a mental calculator
When she was 3 years old, her father discovered that she had an ability to memorize numbers while teaching her a card trick. Her amazing arithmetic abilities earned her lots of rewards and recognition.
3. Did not receive any formal schooling
Shakuntala was admitted to St. Theresa Convent in Chamrajpet, Bangalore, in the first standard. Later, Shakuntala Devi had to drop out as her family could not afford the monthly fees of Rs 2.
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4. Her impeccable mathematical talents were recognized at the age of six
At the age of six at the University of Mysore, Annamalai University, Osmania University, and other universities in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam she proved her arithmetic capabilities. Devi’s passion to expand the human capacity made her develop the concept known as Mind Dynamics.
5. In 1944, Shakuntala Devi moved to London with her father
Her father Bishaw Mitra Mani was a trapeze artist and lion tamer in a circus and magician.
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6. In early 1960 she Shakuntala Devi married to an IAS officer named Paritosh Banerjee
7. Shakuntala Devi has a daughter Anupama Banerjee.
8. Got divorced in 1979
Her husband was a homosexual. It affected her marital life to a considerable extent; however, this had also inspired her to write the book on homosexuality.
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9. She was an author of the most unique book
The first study of homosexuality in India was expressed through her book ‘The World of Homosexuals’. Shakuntala Devi broke many myths on homosexuality. Previously homosexuality was considered a perversion in India; however, Shakuntala Devi’s book changed the entire concept of homosexuality. She was also an astrologer and author of several other novels and cookbooks.
She was a fighter of LGBTQ rights.
10. Travelled around the world demonstrating her arithmetic talents
Shakuntala Devi believed that her talent is god gifted and she wanted to spread the message of god. She did not demonstrated her talent to Russia (then USSR) and China because they were communist countries.
11. Shakuntala Devi disliked the title of ‘Human Computer’
She believed that human beings’ minds could not be compared to a computer. She got this title after she projected her talents in the BBC channel hosted by Leslie Mitchell on October 5, 1950.
12. In 1977 Shakuntala Devi derived the 23rd root of a 201 digit number in fifty seconds
The answer 546,372,891 was verified by calculations done at the US Bureau of Standards by the UNIVAC 1101 computer. A special program was written to perform such large calculation which took longer time than her to do the same.
13. Fought Lok Sabha elections against Indira Gandhi in 1980
As an independent candidate Shakuntala Devi stood against the Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Medak (presently Telangana), saying she wanted to “defend the people of Medak from being fooled by Mrs. Gandhi.” She stood ninth in the elections with 6514 votes (1.47% of the votes).
14. Arthur Jensen, a professor of educational psychology studied Shakuntala Devi’s abilities in 1988
Arthur Jensen tested Shakuntala Devi’s performance for several tasks and with large numbers. Jensen said that Shakuntala Devi provided solution to problems even before he could note them down in his notebook.
15. In 1982 her name appeared in the Guinness Book of World records
Shakuntala Devi did a tough mathematical calculation in twenty-eight seconds. She multiplied two random numbers of 13 digits. She mentally multiplied 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 and correctly answered 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds.
16. Many mathematical calculations used by Shakuntala Devi was penned in the book ‘Figuring-The joy of print’.
The book is still in print.
17. Shakuntala Devi died on 21 April 2013
The great mathematician was admitted to a hospital in Bangalore with respiratory problems and later suffered complications of heart and kidneys. She was 83 years old.
18. In 2013 Shakuntala Devi was honoured with a Google Doodle.
19. Movie on the life of Shakuntala Devi which stars Vidya Balan
In the Shakuntala Devi film, Vidya Balan is seen to be juggling between the roles of a mother and a professional. The movie stars Vidya Balan as Shakuntala Devi and also features Amit Sadh, Sanya Malhotra and Jisshu Sengupta. This film was expected to release earlier but was delayed due to the COVID outbreak. Instead of theaters the movie will streamed worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 31 July 2020.
