Who is Srinivasa Ramanujan?

Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) was an Indian mathematician who made great and original contributions to many mathematical fields, including complex analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions.
What was Ramanujan's early life like?
Early Life and Education Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887, in Erode, a city in southern India. His father, K. Srinivasa Aiyangar, was an accountant, and his mother Komalatammal was the daughter of a city official. Though Ramanujan's family was of the Brahmin caste, the highest social class in India, they lived in poverty.
Why did Ramanujan lose his scholarship to Madras University?
Having verified the results in Carr's book, Ramanujan went beyond it, developing his own theorems and ideas. In 1903 he secured a scholarship to the University of Madras but lost it the following year because he neglected all other studies in pursuit of mathematics.

What was Ramanujan's correspondence with Hardy?

Seeking mathematicians who could better understand his work, in 1913 he began a postal correspondence with the English mathematician G. H. Hardy at the University of Cambridge, England. Recognizing Ramanujan's work as extraordinary, Hardy arranged for him to travel to Cambridge.

What happened to Ramanujan when he was a child?
When Ramanujan was a year and a half old, his mother gave birth to a son, Sadagopan, who died less than three months later. In December 1889 Ramanujan contracted smallpox, but recovered, unlike the 4,000 others who died in a bad year in the Thanjavur district around this time.
What is the best book on Ramanujan?
The Man Who Knew Infinity, by Robert Kanigel, is an accessible and well-researched historical account of his life. The rest of this wiki will give a brief and light summary of the mathematical life of Ramanujan. As an appetizer, here is an anecdote from Kanigel's book.