Born on the 13th of March, 1999 to Sri Narasimha Bhat and Smt. Shashikala Bhat, Raghavendra Bhat has been sharing his fun and passion for mathematics all over the world since the tender age of 13. He has performed well over 50 times in India as well as the US. Inside India he has performed at TedX Manipal, 2012; at NITK Engineer 2013, at IIT Chennai, at CMR Institute Bangalore, at International Algebra Conference at MIT, Manipal and also in various schools and colleges.
In April 2016 and September 2017, Raghavendra toured the US, giving his talks at prestigious places such as Harvey Mudd College, Wright State University, UIUC, and Miami University. He also performed at Intel, San Diego.
One of his Math shows was witnessed by an Indian Swamiji (of Udupi Krishna Temple), who blessed him a “true genius who has innate knowledge not taught by anyone”.
When in Grade 7, Raghavendra was recognized as a gifted child both in Math and Science by Duke University’s TIP (Talent Identification Program). He has secured 2nd rank in the state in the science aptitude test, when in grade 7 and secured 6th rank in the country, when in grade 9.
American Math Wiz and one of the top TED speakers, Dr. Arthur Benjamin, invited him to his house and Raghavendra spent a week with him in March 2016.
Raghavendra has studied tabla under Pandit Madhav Achar and Pt. Sadanand Naimpalli, Mumbai. He has bagged many prizes for his tabla performances.
In March of 2019, Raghavendra released his first book, titled ‘Math – a Subtle Language of the Universe’.
In July of 2019, he traveled to the United States to pursue his college education. Raghavendra graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with the Highest Distinction in Mathematics in December 2021. He now focuses on pure math and has given talks at various Universities in the USA on his research which mostly involves his prime number conjectures. During his undergrad, two of his papers got accepted for publication at the Missouri Journal of Mathematical Sciences.
Currently, he is a graduate student in the University of Illinois Mathematics department, being advised by world renowned mathematicians Alexandru Zaharescu and Bruce Berndt.
He got married to Anupama Udayakumar in June 2022. She is a graduate student at the University of Illinois, in the department of Entomology. Both Raghavendra and his wife currently reside in Champaign, Illinois.