K. G. Ramanathan was born in Hyderabad, South India, on 13 November 1920[2] to Sri Kollagunta Gopal Iyer and Smt.

Sources state that Ramanathan's academic journey was also influenced by mathematics teacher and Jesuit priest, Rev Fr.

[3] With a keen passion for teaching and research in mathematics, Ramanathan worked as an assistant lecturer at Annamalai University in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu from 1945 to 1946.

In 1948, he became a research scholar at the University of Madras, where he had the opportunity to work alongside esteemed mathematicians including Professors R Vaidhyanathaswamy and T Vijayraghavan.

[3] Following the successful completion of his PhD, Ramanathan returned to India to team up with K. S. Chandrasekharan at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) at Colaba in 1951.