Born-November 4, 1929
Bangalore, India
Died-April 21, 2013
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Nationality-Indian
Other names-Human computer
Occupation-Mathematician, Astrologer
She is survived by her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren. Shakuntala Devi was a practising astrologer. A Guinness record holder, Devi is said to have solved the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in 50 seconds in 1977 at a university in the USA, although it took a computer 12 seconds longer than her to get the answer. She proved her mathematical abilities at the University of Mysore at the tender age of six. In yet another memorable performance, she multiplied two randomly chosen13-digit numbers within 28 seconds at Imperial College, London, in 1980. Two of her books were "Puzzles to Puzzle You," "Astrology for You," and "In the Numbers Wonderland."
Shakuntala Devi was born into a family of orthodox Kannada priests in Bangalore-Karnataka, India. Her father rebelled against becoming a priest at the temple, instead of entering a circus where he worked as a trapeze and tightrope performer, and later as a lion tamer and a human cannonball. Shakuntala Devi was just about three years old and she was roped in with card tricks to support her father. Her father left the circus and took her to roadshows showing her remarkable ability to crunch numbers. Her mathematical talents first turned up when she was making card tricks with her father when she was three.