The Nobel Prize

First instituted in 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to a total of 989 individuals (930 men and 59 women) and 30 organizations as of 2022.[1] Among the recipients, 12 are Indians (five Indian citizens and seven 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.[2] 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.[3][4]

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).[5] In 2006, Geir Lundestad, the Secretary of Norwegian Nobel Committee, cited it as "the greatest omission in our 106-year history".[6][7][8]

Laureates

Two (Tagore and Raman) of the Nobel laureates are citizens of British India at the time they were awarded. Three (Teresa, Sen, and Satyarthi) of the Nobel laureates are citizens of India and four (Khorana, Chandrasekhar, Ramakrishnan, and Banerjee) were Indian by birth but subsequently non-citizens of India. One (Naipaul) is a Trinidad and Tobago born British Nobel laureate of Indian origin.

Year Image Laureate Born Died Field Citation
Citizens of the British India
1913 Rabindranath Tagore (Khulna district, Bengal, now Bangladesh) 7 May 1861
Kolkata, Bengal, now West Bengal 		7 August 1941
Kolkata, Bengal, now West Bengal 		Literature "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."[9]
1930 Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (Thanjavur district, Madras, now Tamil Nadu) 7 November 1888
Tiruchirapalli, Madras, now Tamil Nadu 		21 November 1970
Bangalore, Karnataka 		Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him."[10]
Citizens of India
1979 Teresa Bojaxhiu, M.C. (Ottoman, now North Macedonia) 26 August 1910
Skopje, Ottoman, now North Macedonia 		5 September 1997
Kolkata, West Bengal 		Peace "for her work for bringing help to suffering humanity."[11]
1998 Amartya Sen (Dhaka district, Bengal, now Bangladesh) 3 November 1933
Santiniketan, Bolpur, Bengal, now West Bengal 		— Economics "for his contributions to welfare economics."[12]
2014 Kailash Satyarthi (Vidisha district, Madhya Pradesh) 11 January 1954
Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh 		— Peace "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."[13]
(awarded together with Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai)
Diaspora[a]
1968 Har Gobind Khorana (Multan district, Punjab, now Pakistan's Punjab) 9 January 1922
Raipur, Punjab, now Pakistan's Punjab 		9 November 2011
Concord, Massachusetts, United States 		Physiology or Medicine "for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis."[14]
(awarded together with American biochemists Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley)
1983 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Thanjavur district, Madras, now Tamil Nadu) 19 October 1910
Lahore, Punjab, now Pakistan's Punjab 		21 August 1995
Chicago, Illinois, United States 		Physics "for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars."[15]
(awarded together with American astrophysicist William Alfred Fowler)
2001
VS Naipaul 2016 Dhaka
 Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (Gorakhpur district, United Province, now Uttar Pradesh) 17 August 1932, Chaguanas Borough Corporation, Trinidad and Tobago 11 August 2018, London, United Kingdom Literature
2009 Venkatraman "Venki" Ramakrishnan (Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu) 1 April 1952
Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu 		— Chemistry "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome."[16]
(awarded together with American biochemist Thomas A. Steitz and Israeli crystallographer Ada Yonath)
2019 Abhijit Banerjee (Hooghly district, West Bengal) 21 February 1961
Mumbai, Maharashtra 		— Economics "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty"
(awarded together with his wife Esther Duflo and American economist Michael Kremer)
Expatriates
1902 Ronald Ross 13 May 1857
Almora, Uttarakhand 		16 September 1932
London, United Kingdom 		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."[17]
1907 Joseph Rudyard Kipling 30 December 1865
Malabar Hill, South Mumbai, Maharashtra 		18 January 1936
London, United Kingdom 		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."[18]

Nominees

Image Laureate Born Died Years Nominated Citation Nominator(s)
Peace
Nicholas Roerich 19 October 1874 in Saint Petersburg, Russia 13 December 1947 in Naggar, Himachal Pradesh, India 1929 "for his dedication to the cause of preserving art and architecture during times of war."[19] Georges Chklaver[b]
(1897–1970)
  Switzerland
1933 Mikhail von Taube[c]
(1869–1961)
 Russia
1935 Henry Pratt Fairchild
(1880–1956)
 United States
Sol Bloom
(1870–1949)
 United States
Annie Wood Besant 1 October 1847 in Clapham, England, United Kingdom 20 September 1933 in Adyar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 1931 "for having been actively involved in educational and humanitarian work in India, establishing the Indian Home Rule League and for her efforts to solve the Indian "problem", thereby securing world peace by uniting East and West."[20] Peter Freeman
(1888–1956)
 United Kingdom
Raja Mahendra Pratap 1 December 1886 in Mursan, Uttar Pradesh, India 29 April 1979 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India 1932 "for travelling around the world to create awareness about the situation in Afghanistan and India."[21] Nils August Nilsson
(1860–1940)
 Sweden
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 2 October 1869
Porbandar, Gujarat 		30 January 1948
New Delhi, Delhi 		1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, 1948 [22]
Physics
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman 7 November 1888
Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu 		21 November 1970
Bangalore, Karnataka 		1929, 1930 "for his work in the field of light scattering and the discovery of a modified scattering called Raman effect."[23]
Meghnad Saha 6 October 1893
Dhaka, Bangladesh 		16 February 1956
New Delhi 		1930, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1951, 1955 "for developing the Saha ionization equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars."[24]
Arthur Edwin Kennelly* 17 December 1861
Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra 		18 June 1939
Boston, Massachusetts, United States 		1935 "for his contributions to the theory of electrical transmission and to the development of international electrical standards."[25]
Homi Jehangir Bhabha 30 October 1909
Mumbai, Maharashtra 		24 January 1966
Mont Blanc, Alps, France 		1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956 "for his discovery of the cascade process of cosmic radiation and Bhabha Scattering in quantum electrodynamics."[26] Jacques Hadamard (1865–1963)
Satyendra Nath Bose 1 January 1894
Kolkata, West Bengal 		4 February 1974
Kolkata, West Bengal 		1956, 1959, 1962, 1968, 1969 "for developing the foundation for Bose statistics and the theory of the Bose condensate in quantum mechanics."[27]
Robert Hanbury Brown* 31 August 1916
Aruvankadu, Tamil Nadu 		16 January 2002
Andover, Hampshire, United Kingdom 		1965, 1966 "for developing the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect leading to the creation of intensity interferometers."[28][29]
Richard Quinn Twiss* 24 August 1920
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 		20 May 2005
Sydney, Australia
Chemistry
Roger John Williams* 14 August 1893
Ooty, Tamil Nadu 		20 February 1988
Austin, Texas, United States 		1960 "for his work on vitamins, particularly on discovering and isolating vitamin B6, lipoic acid, and avidin."[30]
Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran 8 October 1922
Ernakulam, Kerala 		7 April 2001
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 		1964 "for developing the Ramachandran plot for understanding peptide structure."[31] Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888–1970)
Thiruvengadam Rajendram Seshadri 3 February 1900
Kulithalai, Tamil Nadu 		27 September 1975
New Delhi 		1966, 1968 "for his research on oxygen heterocyclic compounds."[32]
  • N. Subba Rao (?)
  • B. Jain (?)
Literature
Joseph Rudyard Kipling* 30 December 1865
Malabar Hill, South Mumbai, Maharashtra 		18 January 1936
London, United Kingdom 		1903, 1904, 1905,
1907 		[33]
Rabindranath Tagore 7 May 1861
Kolkata, West Bengal 		7 August 1941
Kolkata, West Bengal 		1913 [34] Thomas Sturge Moore (1870–1944)
Rabindranath Datta 1 October 1883
Kolkata, West Bengal 		6 July 1917
Kolkata, West Bengal 		1916 [35]
  • Mano Gangedy (?)
  • Raya Yatindra Chondhury (?)
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 5 September 1888
Thiruttani, Tamil Nadu 		17 April 1975
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 		1933, 1934, 1935,
1936, 1937, 1952,
1956, 1957, 1958,
1960, 1961, 1962,
1963 		[36]
James Cousins* 22 July 1873
Belfast, Northern Ireland 		20 February 1956
Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh 		1935 [37] Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)
Hari Mohan Banerjee 1936 [38] Devadatta Ramakrishna Bhandarkar (1875–1950)
Bensadhar Majumdar 1937, 1939 [39]
  • Sen Satyendranath (1909–?)
  • Mukundadeb Chatterjee (?)
Mohammad Hosain Khan
(probably Mohammad Habib (1895–1971)) 		1938 [40] Per Hallström (1866–1960)
Sanjib Chaudhuri 1938, 1939 [41]
Sri Aurobindo Ghose 15 August 1872
Kolkata, West Bengal 		5 December 1950
Pondicherry, Union Territory of Puducherry 		1943 [42] Francis Younghusband (1863–1942)
Sachidananda Routray 13 May 1916
Gurujang, Odisha 		21 August 2004
Cuttack, Odisha 		1959 [43] Radhakamal Mukerjee (1889–1968)
Lawrence Durrell* 27 February 1912
Jalandhar, Punjab 		7 November 1990
Sommières, Gard, France 		1961, 1962, 1963,
1964, 1965, 1966,
1967, 1969, 1971 		[44]
Gopal Singh 29 November 1917
Panaji, Goa 		8 August 1990
Panaji, Goa 		1965 [45]
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay 27 July 1898
Labhpur, West Bengal 		14 September 1971
Kolkata, West Bengal 		1971 [46] Krishna Kripalani (1907–1992)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Nobel laureates of Indian ancestry but having foreign citizenship.
  2. ^ Chklaver nominated Roerich on behalf of several other persons (most of them were not entitled to nominate), including Mikhail von Taube (1869–1961; member of the Institute of International Law).
  3. ^ Taube nominated Roerich on behalf of two persons who were not entitled to nominate.

References

  1. ^ Media, Nobel (22 November 2018). "Nobel Prize facts". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Media, Nobel (22 November 2018). "Aurobindo Ghosh Nomination archive". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  5. ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). The Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years. London: Imperial College Press, London. pp. 181–186. ISBN 9789810246655.
  6. ^ Tønnesson, Øyvind (1 December 1999). "Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Wolchover, Natalie (10 May 2011). "No Peace for Gandhi". NBCNews. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  9. ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 Archived 2 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  10. ^ The Nobel Prize in Physics 1930 Archived 17 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  11. ^ The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 Archived 30 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  12. ^ The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1998 Archived 30 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  13. ^ The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 Archived 1 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  14. ^ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1968 Archived 15 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  15. ^ The Nobel Prize in Physics 1983 Archived 17 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  16. ^ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 Archived 25 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  17. ^ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1902 Archived 8 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  18. ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907 Archived 2 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  19. ^ Nomination archive – Nicholas Roerich Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  20. ^ Nomination archive – Annie Besant Archived 5 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  21. ^ Nomination archive – (Raja) Mahendra Pratap Archived 7 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  22. ^ https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=3320 Archived 18 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine[bare URL]
  23. ^ Nomination archive – Sir Chandrasekhara V Raman Archived 6 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  24. ^ Nomination archive – Meghnad N Saha Archived 31 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  25. ^ Nomination archive – Arthur E Kennelly Archived 29 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  26. ^ Nomination archive – Homi J Bhabha Archived 16 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  27. ^ Nomination archive – Satyendra Nath Bose Archived 11 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  28. ^ Nomination archive – Robert Hanbury Brown Archived 5 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  29. ^ Nomination archive – Richard Q Twiss Archived 29 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  30. ^ Nomination archive – Roger J Williams Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  31. ^ Nomination archive – Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  32. ^ Nomination archive – T R Seshadri Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  33. ^ Nomination archive – Rudyard Kipling Archived 25 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  34. ^ Nomination archive – Rabindranath Tagore Archived 9 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  35. ^ Nomination archive – Roby Datta Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  36. ^ Nomination archive – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Archived 8 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  37. ^ Nomination archive – James H Cousins Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  38. ^ Nomination archive – Hari Mohan Banerjee Archived 17 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  39. ^ Nomination archive – Bensadhar Majumdar Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  40. ^ Nomination archive – Mohammad H Khan Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  41. ^ Nomination archive – Sanjib Chaudhuri Archived 18 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  42. ^ Nomination archive – Sri Aurobindo Archived 8 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  43. ^ Nomination archive – Sochi Raut Roy Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  44. ^ Nomination archive – Lawrence Durrell Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  45. ^ Nomination archive – Gopal Singh Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org
  46. ^ Nomination archive – Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay Archived 26 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org

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