---
title: "On Pi Day, All Hail the Pi Master of Earth: Suresh Kumar Sharma"
description: "Suresh Kumar Sharma is the biggest celebrity you need to know about today. He holds the record for most digits of pi recited in a single performance."
date: "2018-03-14"
modified: "2018-03-14"
authors:
  - name: "Alexandra Ossola"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/alexo"
url: "https://futurism.com/pi-day-celebrity"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "mathematics"
  - "memorization"
  - "pi"
  - "pi day"
---

# On Pi Day, All Hail the Pi Master of Earth: Suresh Kumar Sharma

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/picounter2.jpg>)

On Pi Day, we celebrate...a number. But what of the non-number humans who surround its legacy? And their most celebrated ranks among [pi's long history](<https://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/history-of-pi>)?

Yeah, there's Archimedes of Syracuse, the Greek who first calculated pi in the 3rd century BCE; or William Jones, who, in 1706, popularized the Greek letter π to symbolize the irrational number; and we can't forget Edwin Goodwin, who lobbied Congress to make Pi Day official (in [2016 *Slate* called him](<http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/03/pi_day_history_perfect_symmetry_a_mathematical_constant_wave_formulas_and.html>) *"*a crank pseudo-mathematician with loony-toon visions of fame," but whatever, he makes the list).

But the only one that matters, in 2017? Sharma. Suresh Kumar Sharma. Remember that name for the next 3.14 minutes.

In 2015, when he was 20 years old, Sharma recited 70,030 digits of pi. The 17-hour gauntlet put Sharma atop [the Pi World Ranking List](<http://www.pi-world-ranking-list.com/index.php?page=lists&category=pi&sort=digits>), the *definitive* list of pi digit recitations (don't accept imitations).

And there *are* imitations, or at least those that contest Sharma's title. Rajveer Meena, a man from the south Indian city Vellore, holds the Guinness World Record for reciting 70,000 pi digits seven months before Sharma did. And he did it *blindfolded*. Japan native Akira Haraguchi claims the unofficial title, as [*NPR* reported](<https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/14/470412581/asia-leads-the-world-in-the-feat-of-reciting-thousands-of-pi-digits>), as he reportedly [recited 100,000 digits](<https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/mar/13/pi-day-2015-memory-memorisation-world-record-japanese-akira-haraguchi>) at a 2006 event in Tokyo. And [this kid's](<http://www.reformer.com/stories/pi-day-local-teen-is-up-for-the-count,534460>) gonna give it a go in Brattleboro, Vermont, today.

This competition is even possible because, as you may recall from grade school, pi is an [irrational number ](<http://www.dictionary.com/browse/irrational-number>)— one that has an infinite number of digits after the decimal point. No one knows how far pi goes, and we might never know.

Fortunately, it doesn't take any mathematical ability to memorize digits of pi. Sharma is a former vegetable vendor from the northern city of Jaipur, India, who [reportedly didn't pass](<https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Failed-to-crack-IIT-but-now-helps-to-shape-best-minds/articleshow/51034612.cms>) the country's engineering entrance exam. And yet: He was able to memorize all those digits of pi by associating each number with an image. Now, he coaches others in memorization (aspiring memorizers, Sharma is yours to challenge).

Happy Pi Day to you, and happiest of Pi Days to Suresh Kumar Sharma (and, I suppose, his haters). May your memorization abilities never flag, or rather, irrationally extend into infinity.

### Author social links  
[Facebook](<https://www.facebook.com/alexandraossola/?fref=ts>)  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/ossolalex>)