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List of Indian Nobel laureates

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Picture of Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian Nobel Laureate.
Rabindranath Tagore was the first person of Indian origin and also first Asian to be awarded with the Nobel Prize.[1] He received the prize for Literature in 1913.

The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed on "those who conferred the greatest benefit on humankind" in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economic Sciences,[A][2] instituted by Alfred Nobel's last will, which specified that a part of his fortune be used to create the prizes. Each laureate (recipient) receives a gold medal, a diploma and a sum of money, which is decided annually by the Nobel Foundation.[3] The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel; the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; the Swedish Academy awards the Nobel Prize in Literature; and the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Nobel Peace Prize. They are widely recognised as one of the most prestigious honours awarded in the aforementioned fields.[4]

First instituted in 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to a total of 989 individuals (930 men and 59 women) and 30 organisations as of 2022.[5] Among the recipients, 12 are Indians of which 5 are Indian citizens and 7 are of Indian ancestry or residency. Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian citizen to be awarded and also first Asian to be awarded in 1913. Mother Teresa is the only woman among the list of recipients.[6] Sri Aurobindo, the Indian poet, philosopher, nationalist and developer of Integral yoga, was nominated unsuccessfully for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1943 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950.[7][8]

On 1 December 1999, the Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed that Mahatma Gandhi was nominated unsuccessfully for the Peace Prize five times (from 1937 to 1939, in 1947 and a few days before he was assassinated in January 1948).[9] In 2006, Geir Lundestad, the Secretary of Norwegian Nobel Committee, cited it as "the greatest omission in our 106-year history".[10][11][12]

Laureates

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List of the Indian (British Indian Citizen and Indian Citizen) Nobel Prize/Nobel Memorial Prize Winners[13][B]
Year Image Name Family Field (Nobel Prize/Nobel Memorial Prize) Reason Born Died
1913 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Rabindranath Tagore taken in 1909 Rabindranath Tagore or Rabindranath Thakur (Author and Composer of National Anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana, it was written in Sadhu/Pure/Classical Bengali language by him in 1911, he is the only Indian to win Nobel Prize in Literature) Bengali Hindu Brahmin family, Khulna, Bengal, now Bangladesh (East Bengal) Literature Gitanjali (A collection of Poems written in Sadhu/Pure/Classical Bengali language by him in 1910) 7 May 1861, Calcutta, Bengal, now West Bengal 7 August 1941, Calcutta, Bengal, now West Bengal
1930 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Sir CV Raman Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (Only Indian to win Nobel Prize in Science/Physics) Tamil Hindu Brahmin family, Thanjavur, Madras Presidency, now Tamil Nadu (South India) Physics Discovery of Raman Effect/Scattering by him in 1928 7 November 1888, Tiruchirapalli, Madras Presidency, now Tamil Nadu (South India) 21 November 1970, Bangalore, Mysore State, now Karnataka (South India)
1979 Photographic portrait of Mother Teresa captured in 1994 Mother Teresa
[C] 		Macedonian Christian family, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, now North Macedonia (Europe) Peace Humanity (Missionaries of Charity is a Catholic Christian centralised religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for Women, established by her in 1950, it is initially dedicated to serving the Poorest of the Poor in India) 26 August 1910, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, now North Macedonia (Europe) 5 September 1997, Calcutta, West Bengal
1998 Picture of Amartya Sen Amartya Sen (Only Indian to win Nobel Prize/Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics) Bengali Hindu family, Wari, Dhaka, Bengal, now Bangladesh (East Bengal) Economics Contribution to Welfare Economics 3 November 1933, Birbhum, Bengal, now West Bengal -
2014 Photographic portrait of Kailash Satyarthi Kailash Satyarthi or Kailash Sharma
[D] 		Hindustani (Hindi) Hindu Brahmin family, Vidisha, Madhya Bharat State, now Madhya Pradesh Peace Humanity (Struggle against the suppression of Children and young people and the right of all Children to Education) 11 January 1954, Vidisha, Madhya Bharat State, now Madhya Pradesh -

Overseas citizens of Indian origin

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The following are not Indians, but rather Nobel laureates born in British India or laureates who are of Indian origin but subsequently non-citizens of India; however, they are still often included in lists of Indian Nobel laureates.
Year Laureate Country of residence Field Rationale Ref.
1968 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Har Gobind Khorana Har Gobind Khorana [E]  United States
(born in Raipur,Punjab, British India, now Pakistan) 		Physiology or Medicine "For their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis." [15]
1983 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar  United States
(born in Lahore,Punjab, British India, now Pakistan) 		Physics "For his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars." [16]
2009 Photographic portrait of Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Venkatraman Ramakrishnan  United Kingdom /  United States
(born in Chidambaram, India) 		Chemistry "For studies of the structure and function of the ribosome." [17]
2019 Photographic portrait of Abhijit Banerjee Abhijit Banerjee  United States
(born in Mumbai, India) 		Economics "For his experimental approach to alleviating Global Poverty" [18]

Other

[edit]
The following are Nobel laureates with Indian linkages – foreigners who were born in India, those who are of Indian ancestry and those who were residents in India when they became recipients of the Nobel Prize.
Year Laureate Country of residence Field Rationale Ref
1902 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Ronald Ross Ronald Ross  United Kingdom
(born in Almora, British India) 		Physiology or Medicine "For his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and methods of combating it." [19]
1907 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Rudyard Kipling Rudyard Kipling  United Kingdom
(born in Bombay, British India) 		Literature "In consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author." [20]
1989 Photographic portrait of Dalai Lama 14th Dalai Lama  India
(born in Taktser, Republic of China) 		Peace "For his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people’s struggle to regain their liberty." [21][22]
2001 Photograph of VS Naipal taken in 2016 V. S. Naipaul  United Kingdom
(born in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) 		Literature "For having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories." [23]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences is an additional prize that was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was first awarded in 1969. Although not technically a Nobel Prize, it is identified with the award and the winners are announced with the Nobel Prize recipients, and the Prize in Economic Sciences is presented at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony.[2]
  2. ^ Per Indian nationality law, Article 9 of the Indian Constitution says that a person who voluntarily acquires citizenship of any other country is no longer an Indian citizen. Also, according to The Passports Act, a person has to surrender his Indian passport; it is a punishable offence under the act if he fails to surrender the passport. Hence, citizenship exclusively includes jus sanguinis (citizenship by right of blood).[14]
  3. ^ Born in Skopje, Ottoman Empire
  4. ^ shared with Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan
  5. ^ Awarded along with Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg

References

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  1. ^ Kasturi, Charu Sudan (25 August 2013). "Nobel tribute to Tagore – Stockholm to Calcutta, Sweden lines up centenary events". The Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Nobel Prizes–Britannica". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  3. ^ "The Nobel Prize". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. ^ "A short guide to the Nobel Prize". Swedish Institute. 7 December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  5. ^ Media, Nobel (22 November 2018). "Nobel Prize facts". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  6. ^ "From 1913 to 2014: Indian Nobel Prize winners". The Hindu. 10 October 2014. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  7. ^ Rajinder Singh (September 2012). "Aurobindo Gosh's Nobel nomination". Science and Culture. p. 442. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  8. ^ Media, Nobel (22 November 2018). "Aurobindo Ghosh Nomination archive". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  9. ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). The Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years. London: Imperial College Press, London. pp. 181–186. ISBN 9789810246655.
  10. ^ Tønnesson, Øyvind (1 December 1999). "Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  11. ^ Ghosh, Avijit (17 October 2006). "We missed Mahatma Gandhi". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  12. ^ Wolchover, Natalie (10 May 2011). "No Peace for Gandhi". NBCNews. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  13. ^ George, P J (10 October 2014). "List of laureates". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  14. ^ "Indian Citizenship". indiacode.nic.in. Archived from the original on 5 June 2003. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  15. ^ "H. Gobind Khorana". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 1 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Subramanyan Chandrasekhar". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  17. ^ "Venkatraman Ramakrishnan". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  18. ^ "Abhijit Banerjee". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  19. ^ "Ronald Ross". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  20. ^ "Rudyard Kipling". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  21. ^ "Dalai Lama 14th". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  22. ^ Aarvik, Egil. "Award ceremony speech". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 January 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  23. ^ "Nobel Prize in Literature 2001". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2024.

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