Shakuntala Devi, Indian scientist

Shakuntala Devi""1Shakuntala Devi is generally known as a `Human Computer` because of her extraordinary talents in solving complex mathematical problems without any mechanical aid. Yet, Shakuntala Devi dislikes being called the `human computer` as she strongly believes that people have minds better than any computer. Her passionate interest in exploring and expanding the learning capacity of the human mind led her to develop the concept of `mind dynamics`. Shakuntala Devi has spelled bound and challenged the world with her unique talents.
Genius Shakuntala Devi born on 4th November 1939 in Bangalore India. She was born in a well-known Brahmin priests family. Her father performed magic tricks in schools and colleges. She was doing card tricks with him when she was only three. Shakuntala Devi received her early lessons in mathematics from her grandfather. By the age of five she became an expert in complex mental arithmetic and was recognized as a child prodigy. She demonstrated her talents to a large assembly of students and professors at the University of Mysore a year later. At the age of eight she had success at Annamalai University by doing the same.
In 1977 she 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 which was picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She answered the question in 28 seconds. Her correct answer was 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730. This extraordinary incident found her a place in the Guinness book of World records.
Through her expertise she also motivates the young minds to discover the world of mathematics. She maintains that a child`s curiosity and receptivity during infancy and childhood can never be matched, and we must nurture the young minds by offering the right learning process and motivation to develop the innate strengths possessed by every child. She has been traveling around the globe performing for the student community, Presidents, Politicians, Prime Ministers and Educationalists.
She shares some of the methods of mental calculations in her world famous book `figuring: the Joy of Numbers`. `Puzzles to puzzle you`, `More Puzzles to Puzzle you`, `The Book of Numbers`, `Mathability: The Math Genius in Your Child`, `Astrology for you`, `Perfect Murder`, `In the Wonderland of Numbers` which talks about a girl Neha and her fascination for numbers and `Awaken the Genius in Your Child` are some of the books written by her.
She happens to be an outstanding astrologer and gives remedies based on date and time of birth and place. Her clients include celebrities and well known personalities. The Vedic Math Forum India is associated with Shakuntala Devi and plans to organize a workshop with her in the near future.