Plenty of mathematicians, Hardy knew, could follow a step-by-step discursus unflaggingly—yet counted for nothing beside Ramanujan. Years later, he would contrive an informal scale of natural mathematical ability on which he assigned himself a 25 and Littlewood a 30. To David Hilbert, the most eminent mathematician of the day, he assigned an 80. To Ramanujan he gave 100.

~ Robert Kanigel

Robert Kanigel David Hilbert G H Hardy Gh Hardy Godfrey Hardy Godfrey Harold Hardy Hardy Hilbert John Edensor Littlewood John Littlewood Littlewood Math Mathematicians Mathematics Ramanujan Science Srinivasa Ramanujan