Yes, it has a long history. Like most math formulas, it back to Leonhard Euler. Ramanunan proved this series with his summation technique.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_%2B_2_%2B_3_%2B_4_%2B_%E2%8B...

[2] https://medium.com/cantors-paradise/the-ramanujan-summation-...