She was nicknamed "human computer" for her ability to make complex mental calculations.
Coming from a humble family, Shakuntala Devi's father was a circus performer who did trapeze, tightrope and cannonball shows.
It was while she was playing cards with her father at the
tender age of three that he found his daughter's calculation abilities. It
turned out that she beat him not by sleight of hand, but by memorising the
cards.
At the age of six, she demonstrated her calculation
skills in her first major public performance at the University of Mysore and
two years later, she again proved herself successful as a child prodigy at
Annamalai University.
However, despite apprehensions in some quarters,
Shakuntala Devi did not lose her calculating ability when she turned adult like
other prodigies such as Truman Henry Safford.
In 1977, Shakuntala Devi extracted the 23rd root of a
201-digit number mentally.
On June 18, 1980 she demonstrated the multiplication of
two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by
the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She answered the question
in 28 seconds.
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Mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi died at a hospital in Bangalore on April 21st 2013
following respiratory problems. She was 80.
"She passed away at Bangalore Hospital," Shakuntala Devi Educational Foundation Public Trust Trustee D C Shivadev told PTI. Doctors declared her dead at 8.15 AM, he said.
She was hospitalised a couple of weeks ago for critical respiratory problems, Shivadev said. "She developed heart and kidney problems later," he added.
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Also Look for Human Computer Shakunthala Devi Works(Puzzles & Books)
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