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{{Short description|Indian mathematician and monk of the Ramakrishna Order}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Mahan Mj
|image = Mahan mj.webp
|image_size = 150px
|caption = Mahan Mitra
|birth_date =
|birth_place =
|death_date =
|death_place =
|residence =
|citizenship =
|nationality = [[India]]
|field = [[Mathematics]]
|work_institutions = [[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]]
|alma_mater = [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]]<br />
[[University of California, Berkeley]]
|doctoral_advisor = [[Andrew Casson]]
|thesis_title = Maps on boundaries of hyperbolic metric spaces
|thesis_year = 1997
|thesis_url = http://www.math.tifr.res.in/~mahan/thesis.ps
|doctoral_students =
|known_for =
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|prizes = [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award]]<br />[[Infosys Prize]] 2015 for Mathematical Sciences
|religion =
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|signature =
}}

'''Mahan Mj''' (born Mahan Mitra ([[Bengali language|Bengali]]: মহান মিত্র), 5 April 1968<ref name="a">{{cite web
|title=Brief Profile of the Awardee, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize |url= http://ssbprize.gov.in/content/Detail.aspx?AID=359}}</ref>), also known as '''Mahan Maharaj''' and '''Swami Vidyanathananda''', is an Indian [[mathematician]] and monk of the [[Ramakrishna Order]]. He is currently Professor of Mathematics at the [[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]] in [[Mumbai]]. He is a recipient of the 2011 [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award]] in [[Mathematical sciences|Mathematical Sciences]]<ref>http://www.csir.res.in/external/heads/career/award/2011/ssb2011_awardees.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref><ref name="ibn">{{cite news|url=http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/11-scientists-selected-for-shanti-swarup-bhatnagar-award/836081.html |title=11 scientists selected for Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award |date=26 September 2011 |agency=[[CNN-IBN|IBN Live]] |accessdate=20 December 2011 |author=PTI |location=New Delhi |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104061539/http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/11-scientists-selected-for-shanti-swarup-bhatnagar-award/836081.html |archivedate=4 January 2012 |author-link=Press Trust of India }}</ref> and the [[Infosys Prize]] 2015 for Mathematical Sciences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.infosys-science-foundation.com/prize/laureates/2015/index.asp|title=Infosys Prize - Laureates 2015}}</ref> He is best known for his work in [[hyperbolic geometry]], [[geometric group theory]], [[low-dimensional topology]] and [[complex geometry]].

== Early education ==
Mahan Mitra studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Calcutta]], till Class XII. He then entered the [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]], with an All India Rank (AIR) of 67 in the [[Joint Entrance Examination]], where he initially chose to study [[electrical engineering]] but later switched to [[mathematics]].<ref name="iitk" /> He graduated with a Masters in mathematics from IIT Kanpur in 1992.<ref name="mint" />

== Career ==
Mahan Mitra joined the [[PhD]] program in mathematics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], with [[Andrew Casson]] as his advisor.<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=31504}}</ref> He received the [[Earle C. Anthony]] Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley in 1992–1993 and the prestigious [[Sloan Fellowship]] for 1996–1997.<ref name="iitk">{{cite web|url=https://iitk.ac.in/dora/profile/Prof-Mahan-Mitra|title=Prof. Mahan Mitra|publisher=Office of Resources and Alumni, IIT Kanpur|date=24 February 2021}}</ref> After earning a doctorate from U.C. Berkeley in 1997, he worked briefly at the [[Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai]] in 1998.

He was Professor of Mathematics and Dean of Research at the [[Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University]] till 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Vidyanathananda-the-wizard-who-became-a-monk/articleshow/10626461.cms|title=Vidyanathananda, the wizard who became a monk - Times of India|work=The Times of India|access-date=2018-04-15}}</ref> He is currently Professor of Mathematics at the [[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]], [[Mumbai]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.math.tifr.res.in/people/faculty.php|title = Faculty | www.math.tifr.res.in}}</ref>

He has widely published and presented his research in the area of [[hyperbolic manifold]]s and [[Ending lamination theorem|ending lamination]] spaces. His most notable work is the proof of existence of [[Cannon–Thurston map]]s.<ref>http://annals.math.princeton.edu/2014/179-1/p01</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1007/s00039-014-0263-x | volume=24 | title=Ending Laminations and Cannon–Thurston Maps | journal=[[Geometric and Functional Analysis]] | pages=297–321| arxiv=math/0701725 |year = 2014|last1 = Mj|first1 = Mahan| s2cid=9083637 }}</ref> This led to the resolution of the conjecture that connected limit sets of finitely generated [[Kleinian group]]s are locally connected.<ref name="iitk"/> He is also the author of a book titled ''Maps on boundaries of hyperbolic metric spaces''.<ref name="thesis">{{cite book
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4-2iHwAACAAJ
| title=Maps on boundaries of hyperbolic metric spaces
| publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]]
| author=Mitra, Mahan
| year=1997
| isbn=978-0591-52738-4}}</ref>

Mj was an [[List of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers#2018, Rio de Janeiro|invited speaker]] at the [[International Congress of Mathematicians]] in 2018 in [[Rio de Janeiro]].

== Personal life ==
Mj became a monk of the Ramakrishna order in 1998.<ref name="mint">{{cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Politics/N5CITe2rJuWNdTjBn29BEN/Being-a-mathematician-is-not-that-far-removed-from-being-a-m.html|title=Being a mathematician is not that far removed from being a monk: Prof. Mahan Mj|publisher=Mint|date=5 December 2015}}</ref> Mahan Maharaj, as he is known to his students and colleagues, is fluent in English, Hindi and Bengali. He also knows a bit of Tamil, learnt from his stay in southern part of India at [[Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai|IMSc]]. He has been quoted as saying, "I am enjoying being a monk as much as I enjoy my mathematics".<ref name="toi">{{cite news
| url=http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS00vMjAxMS8xMC8yOCNBcjAwMjAx
| work=[[The Times of India]]
| last=Pandey
| first=Jhimli Mukherjee
| title=RKM monk wins country's top math award
| date=28 October 2011
| location=[[Kolkata]]
| accessdate=29 January 2013}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{MathGenealogy |id=31504}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110712202255/http://www.rkmvu.ac.in/intro/academics/matsc_website/mahan/index rkmvu.ac.in]
*[http://gonitsora.com/the-monk-who-is-sold-on-geometry-an-interview-with-mahan-maharaj/ The Monk Who is Sold on Geometry]
*[https://iitk.ac.in/dora/mahan-mitra/Prof. Mahan Mitra (BT/EE/1969)]

{{SSBPST recipients in Mathematical Science}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mj, Mahan}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:IIT Kanpur alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian mathematicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian mathematicians]]
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission]]
[[Category:Topologists]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]
[[Category:Group theorists]]
[[Category:Tata Institute of Fundamental Research faculty]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Mathematical Science]]
[[Category:Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute faculty]]

Mahan Mj - Revision history

UpdateBot at 07:35, 12 March 2022