Vishnu K. Gurtu -
A product of internationally known University of Allahabad, Prof. (Dr) Vishnu Kumar Gurtu, joined Nagpur University’s prestigious Laxminarayan Institiute of Technology in 1967 and retired from active service in 2000. Initially he worked on astrophysical problems but from 1989 onwards he got involved is some challenging number theory problems like Fermat’s Last Theorem (FLT), separating prime and composite numbers from positive integers, Goldbach conjecture etc.
He is a multifaceted personality having interest, up to creative level, in diverse fields such as academic administration, music, literature, philosophy and human psychology. He loves taking up challenges in life and believes that the real solution of any problem, mathematical or otherwise, can be found only by going into its genesis. At age 67, he is continuing his research activities in different fields of his interests. In August 2006, he presented two proofs of FLT at the international Congress of Mathematicians held at Madrid, Spain; one proof which uses techniques available during 17th century goes to justify Fermat’s claim of having a marvelous demonstration of his proposition (FLT).