Success Story: Meet Indian Math Prodigy Vashishtha Narayan Singh, Who Worked at Berkeley, NASA, and IIT

One of the most brilliant brains in Indian history was the math prodigy Vashishtha Narayan Singh. Vashishtha Narayan Singh, who came from a tiny hamlet in the Bihar district of Basantpur, shown tremendous promise by winning both the B.Sc. and M.Sc. exams in a row. The math prodigy, who was born in 1942, worked with prestigious organizations including Berkeley, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) because of his exceptional academic performance.

Vashishtha Narayan, who came from a small hamlet in Bihar’s Siwan district, became well-known worldwide. Some people even said that he refuted Albert Einstein’s well-known idea. Anecdotes claim that he contributed to the Apollo missions, which aimed to place people on the moon, and took part in crucial NASA computations amid a computer malfunction.

The son of a police policeman, Vashishtha Narayan started his education at Jharkhand’s Netarhat School. After that, he continued on to Patna Science College, where his aptitude for mathematics brought him particular recognition. He completed his PhD in 1969 thanks to the college principal’s facilitation of an accelerated education plan.

Vashishtha Narayan was sent to study at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States by Professor John L. Kelly, who saw his talent. He spent over ten years overseas before coming back to teach at prominent universities in India, including ISI Kolkata, TIFR Mumbai, and IIT Kanpur. Despite his early promise, mental illness caused his career trajectory to unexpectedly change, turning him from a potential Ramanujan successor into a “could-have-been.” When he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, his life tragically changed, resulting in the dissolution of his wife and a drop in his scholarly standing.

Schizophrenia patient Vashishtha Narayan had obstacles in her personal and professional life. By the middle of the 1980s, he was institutionalized after the dissolution of his marriage in 1976. Following therapy, he vanished inexplicably on a train ride, only to be found living pennifully in his hometown.

With the assistance of BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, Vashishtha Narayan fought his illness after being hospitalized to NIMHANS Bengaluru and obtaining treatment at IHBAS Delhi. The mathematical prodigy returned to academics at BNMU Madhepura in spite of the difficulties. On November 14, 2019, the 72-year-old math prodigy, who was never able to realize his full potential, passed away. In recognition of his achievements, he was given a posthumous Padma Shri honor.