Rajan Mahadevan
Encyclopedia
Rajan Srinivasan Mahadevan is a numerically gifted memorist born in Madras, India
in 1957. Rajan moved to Mangalore
in 1959. He discovered his exceptional ability to memorize numbers at the very young age of 4 during a party hosted by his family. During the party, Rajan wandered to a parking lot and committed the license plate numbers of every guest's car for recitation later.
In 1977 after losing interest in engineering, Rajan set to memorize substantial parts of pi. On July 5, 1981, he recited from memory the first 31,811 digits of pi. This secured him a place in the 1984 Guinness Book of World Records, and he has been featured on Larry King Live
and Reader's Digest
.
Rajan received his Bachelor's degree in psychology in 1984 and his Master's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Mysore
in 1986 during his extended participation in memory study. Though as research on Rajan progressed, his digit span was found to be nearly ten times the average, it is estimated that, before the effects of practice, it was at a more modest but nonetheless exceptional 15 digits.
Although Rajan is adept at remembering numbers, he nevertheless displays only an average memory when it comes to prose passages or geometric shapes.
Rajan holds the position of Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Tennessee
, where he teaches courses in learning and thinking as well as cognitive psychology.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1957. Rajan moved to Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
in 1959. He discovered his exceptional ability to memorize numbers at the very young age of 4 during a party hosted by his family. During the party, Rajan wandered to a parking lot and committed the license plate numbers of every guest's car for recitation later.
In 1977 after losing interest in engineering, Rajan set to memorize substantial parts of pi. On July 5, 1981, he recited from memory the first 31,811 digits of pi. This secured him a place in the 1984 Guinness Book of World Records, and he has been featured on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
and Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
.
Rajan received his Bachelor's degree in psychology in 1984 and his Master's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Mysore
University of Mysore
The University of Mysore , is a public university in India. The University founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore, and was conceptualized on the basis of a report on educational progress in the United States and Australia, submitted by Messrs Thomas Denham and...
in 1986 during his extended participation in memory study. Though as research on Rajan progressed, his digit span was found to be nearly ten times the average, it is estimated that, before the effects of practice, it was at a more modest but nonetheless exceptional 15 digits.
Although Rajan is adept at remembering numbers, he nevertheless displays only an average memory when it comes to prose passages or geometric shapes.
Rajan holds the position of Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, where he teaches courses in learning and thinking as well as cognitive psychology.