The Miracle has Happened

Abstract

My father Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan was a master of exposition, both in written and spoken form. He was a dynamic speaker, an orator in every sense. Right from my boyhood, I had the pleasure to listen to many of his scientific lectures and speeches, and was inspired by his manner of speaking and the power of his oratory. The finest speech he ever gave was perhaps at the inauguration of MATSCIENCE, the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, on January 3, 1962, when his thoughts came pouring out at that very exciting and memorable occasion. As a six year old boy, I was in the front row of the English Lecture Hall at the Presidency College in Madras when he delivered that speech extempore, as was his custom. The speech was later written up from a tape recording. This speech was printed in the appendix to The Alladi Diary, Vol I, East–West Books, Madras, (2000). It is reprinted here with the permission of East–West Books, Madras, Pvt. Ltd.