Hot Trends: Shakuntala Devi, the “human computer,” honored by Google Doodle

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Shakuntala Devi was on display as early as age five. Her father had escaped a life of strict orthodoxy and joined the circus, so when his daughter began exhibiting amazing mathematical abilities, he moved quickly. Shakuntala would guess numbers from the audience or beat magic tricks by keeping track of the cards. By six, her abilities were on display at the local university, and by her teenage years she had moved to the West. Her incredible abilities in memorization and calculation earned her the title of the Human Computer, and now Google is paying tribute with its latest Google Doodle.



Unlike some other Indian mathematical prodigies (most notably Srinivasa Ramanujan), Devi gained fame early in both the popular and mathematical worlds. Her most famous achievement was beating a computer in 1977, calculating the cube root of 188,132,517, though perhaps more impressive was her later success finding the 23rd root of a 201-digit number. Devi found the answer in just 50 seconds; it took a computer 70 seconds to confirm she was right. She entered the Guinness Book World Records in 1980, by correctly multiplying 7,686,369,774,870 by 2,465,099,745,779 in just 28 seconds.

Devi was also abnormal in that she involved herself in life outside of pure mathematics, using the celebrity brought by her counting to bring attention to issues she held dear. She was extremely involved in the nascent gay rights movement of the time, publishing her first book, The World of Homosexuals, to look at the realities of life for gays in India at that time. The book would have been considered strident even in the more liberal Western countries (the influence of which certainly influenced her views on the topic), let alone in the conservative religious communities of rural India.

Devi's life was extremely varied. In addition to being an outspoken cultural commentator and a mental calculator, she wrote novels and even cookbooks. Despite her facility with math she was reportedly an avid astrologer, and wrote several book on unlocking the hidden mathematical ability she believed was (to an extent) within all children.

Devi died earlier this year, and Google's latest Doodle marks what would have been her 84th birthday. Google seems to want to Doodle to serve as both a celebration and an educational tool, keeping people informed of characters and events of which they might never have been aware. Shakuntala Devi will certainly be remembered more fondly for their efforts.

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