By Matters India Reporter
Patna, Nov 14, 2019: Vasishtha Narayan Singh, a renowned Indian mathematician who challenged Einstein’s relativity theory, died on November 14 in Patna, Bihar state capital. He was 77.
However, his family was forced to wait for an ambulance outside Patna Medical College and Hospital, with his body on a stretcher.
Only after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that he would be cremated with state honors, did the family get an ambulance.
The incident has triggered a row on social media.
Singh, a resident of Basantpur in Bhojpur district, was admitted to the medical college in October with prolonged illness. He was released later, but was brought to the hospital on November 14 after his condition worsened. Doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Ayodhya Prasad, a member of Singh’s family, has alleged that his body was kept in the open as the hospital management kept them waiting for an ambulance for an hour.
Several Twitter users have slammed the state government for the hospital’s apathy.
Hospital authorities, however, said they were discussing if his body should be sent for a post-mortem.
Chief Minister Kumar has called Singh’s death a great loss to the nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted his anguish over his death.
“I am pained with the news of Dr Vashishtha Narayan Singh’s death. With him gone, the country has lost a great talent in the field of science and knowledge,” he tweeted.
Singh was born on April 2, 1942, to Lal Bahadur Singh and Lahaso Devi in the Basantpur village of the Bhojpur district in Bihar.
He received his primary and secondary education from Netarhat Residential School, now in Jharkhand, and college education from Patna Science College.
Singh became a legend as a student when he was allowed by Patna University to appear in the very first year of its two-year B Sc (Honors) Mathematics course. His achievements are still mentioned with a sense of pride by Netarhat Vidyalaya.
He received doctorate in Reproducing Kernels and Operators with a Cyclic Vector from University of California, Berkeley, in 1969. His doctoral advisor was John L. Kelley.
His work on Cycle Vector Space Theory made him famous. He also reportedly challenged Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
He had worked as a mathematics professor in Washington. After returning to India in 1971, he also worked at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur and Kolkata.
He married in 1974. He suffered from schizophrenia. After a few years of marriage his wife left him because of his illness. He was staying in his village without any attention from government.