Godfrey Harold Hardy was born on 7 February 1877 in Cranleigh, Surrey, England to teacher parents. Hardy’s birth wrote his fate as both his parents were greatly inclined towards mathematics.
At a very young age Hardy found himself being naturally pulled by mathematics. He was surely a genius to be able to write numbers up to millions when he was just 2 years old. He went to church where he stunned everyone by factorizing the numbers of the hymns.
Hardy finished his schooling from Cranleigh School which was an independent English boarding school in Cranleigh, Surrey. He earned his scholarship to pursue his mathematical work in Winchester College. In 1896 Hardy enrolled himself in Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took just two years to prepare himself for the Mathematics Tripos examination standing fourth in it. In his later years Hardy had worked hard to get rid of the Tripos procedure as he started feeling the overbearing nature of the system than a fruitful means of achieving an end in the examination process.
During his university days, Hardy became a member of the Cambridge Apostles which was a secret society for the elite and intellectual students of the university.
Hardy was greatly influenced (as stated by him) by French mathematician Camille Jordan whose ‘Cours d'analyse de l'École Polytechnique’ had helped Hardy become well acquainted with prevalent European mathematical trends of his time. In 1900 he succeeded in passing part II of the tripos which also made him win a fellowship.
In 1903 Hardy received his M.A. which was arguably the topmost academic degree at English universities of the time. In 1906, he was appointed lecturer and he taught for six hours per week leaving him with enough time for research.
In 1919 Hardy left Cambridge to join Oxford after being appointed as the Savilian Chair of Geometry. Again in 1931 Hardy found his way back to Cambridge where he remained Sadleirian Professor till 1942.
Hardy remained a bachelor all his life having some respite from a few platonic relationships with young men sharing common sensibilities like him. He was a non-believer. Hardy was believed to be a very shy person not liking the idea of meeting new people. It was often noted that he did not even like to see his very own image on the mirror and so during his stay in hotels he often used to cover the mirrors with towels.
Hardy was unsocial, shy, cold and eccentric as a person all through his life. Although he received awards, prizes and several honours in his school life, he hated to receive them in front of the entire school.
During his obituary, Hardy’s former students had noted the kind hearted nature of Hardy. Hardy was said to be a man who could not stand the failure of his pupil in their researches.
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