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Picture of Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian Nobel Laureate.
Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian and also the first non-European and the 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,Template:Efn-ua[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 Template:As of.[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 the first non-European and the 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

The following are the Nobel laureates who were residing in India at the time they were awarded the Nobel Prize.[13]Template:Efn-ua

Year Laureate Field Rationale Template:Abbr
1913 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Rabindranath Tagore taken in 1909 Template:Sort name 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." [14]
1930 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Sir CV Raman Template:Sort name Physics "For his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him." [15]
1979 Photographic portrait of Mother Teresa captured in 1994 Mother Teresa
Template:Efn-ua
Peace "in recognition of [her] work in bringing help to suffering humanity" [16][17]
1989 Photographic portrait of Dalai Lama Template:Sort name Peace "For his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people’s struggle to regain their liberty." [18][19]
2014 Photographic portrait of Kailash Satyarthi Template:Sort name
Template:Efn-ua
Peace "For their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education." [20]

Overseas citizens of Indian origin

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 Template:Abbr
1968 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Har Gobind Khorana Template:Sort nameTemplate:Efn-ua Template:Flag
(born in Raipur, Punjab, British India, now Pakistan)
Physiology or Medicine "For his interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis." [21]
1983 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Template:Sort name Template:Flag
(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." [22]
1998 Picture of Amartya Sen Template:Sort name Template:Flag
(born in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India)
Economic Sciences "For his contributions to welfare economics." [23]
2009 Photographic portrait of Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Template:Sort name Template:Flag / Template:Flag
(born in Chidambaram, India)
Chemistry "For studies of the structure and function of the ribosome." [24]
2019 Photographic portrait of Abhijit Banerjee Template:Sort name Template:Flag
(born in Krishnanagar, West Bengal, India)
Economics "For his experimental approach to alleviating Global Poverty" [25]

Other

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 Template:Abbr
1902 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Ronald Ross Template:Sort name Template:Flag
(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." [26]
1907 Black-and-white photographic portrait of Rudyard Kipling Template:Sort name Template:Flag
(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." [27]
2001 Photograph of VS Naipal taken in 2016 Template:Sort name Template:Flag
(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." [28]

See also

Notes

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References

  1. Nobel tribute to Tagore – Stockholm to Calcutta, Sweden lines up centenary events, Kasturi, Charu Sudan. The Telegraph India(25 August 2013). Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  2. Nobel Prizes–Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  3. The Nobel Prize. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. A short guide to the Nobel Prize. Swedish Institute(7 December 2018). Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  5. Nobel Prize facts, Media, Nobel. Nobel Foundation(22 November 2018). Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  6. From 1913 to 2014: Indian Nobel Prize winners. The Hindu(10 October 2014). Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  7. Aurobindo Gosh's Nobel nomination, Rajinder Singh. Science and Culture(Sep 2012). Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  8. Aurobindo Ghosh Nomination archive, Media, Nobel. Nobel Foundation(22 November 2018). Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  9. The Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years{{#if:Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin|, Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin}. Imperial College Press, London(2001). ISBN 9789810246655
  10. Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate, Tønnesson, Øyvind. Nobel Foundation(1 December 1999). Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  11. We missed Mahatma Gandhi, Ghosh, Avijit. The Times of India(17 October 2006). Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  12. No Peace for Gandhi, Wolchover, Natalie. NBCNews(10 May 2011). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  13. List of laureates. The Hindu(10 October 2014). Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  14. Rabindranath Tagore. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  15. C V Raman. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  16. Mother Teresa Agnes. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  17. Press Release 1979 Peace. Nobel Foundation(27 October 1979). Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  18. Dalai Lama 14th. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  19. Award ceremony speech, Aarvik, Egil. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  20. The Nobel Peace Prize 2014. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  21. H. Gobind Khorana. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  22. Subramanyan Chandrasekhar. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  23. Amartya Sen. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  24. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  25. Abhijit Banerjee. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  26. Ronald Ross. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  27. Rudyard Kipling. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  28. Nobel Prize in Literature 2001. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2024.

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