Nobel Prize Winners in India

1) Rabindranath Tagore – Nobel Prize in Literature (1913)

Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, becoming the first Asian and first non-European to receive this prestigious honour. He was recognised:

“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.”

Gitanjali (Song Offerings) : Work That Won Noble prize

• Gitanjali, originally written in Bengali, was a collection of devotional poems that explored themes like spirituality, nature, humanity, and divine love.
• Tagore translated the poems into English himself, and it was this English version that caught the attention of Western readers, especially poet W.B. Yeats, who wrote the introduction.
• The simplicity and philosophical depth of the poems resonated deeply with the Swedish Academy.

• Tagore’s award marked a turning point for Indian and Asian literature, putting Indian thought and creativity on the global literary map.
• His Nobel Prize was not just a personal honour but also a symbol of India’s rich cultural and literary heritage.

2) C. V. Raman – Nobel Prize in Physics (1930)

•  C.V. Raman was Honoured “for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him,” now universally known as the Raman Effect.
• Raman showed that when a beam of monochromatic light traverses a transparent substance, a small portion is scattered at shifted frequencies. This proved that molecules leave a unique spectral “fingerprint,” laying the foundation of modern Raman spectroscopy.
• He became the first Asian—and first non-White scientist—to win a Nobel Prize in any branch of science, spotlighting Indian research on the global stage.
• The Raman Effect opened powerful new routes for probing molecular structure; today Raman spectroscopy is routine in chemistry, materials science, biomedicine, forensics, and even art conservation.

3) Har Gobind Khorana – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1968)

Hari Gobind Khorana won the Nobel prize "For their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis." (Shared with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley)

• Har Gobind Khorana was awarded the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in decoding the genetic code — the language through which DNA instructs cells to build proteins.
  He demonstrated how nucleotide sequences in DNA determine the structure of proteins, confirming that the genetic code is made up of three-letter words called codons.
• He was also the first to artificially synthesize a functional gene, a historic milestone in biotechnology and genetic engineering.
  
  He is celebrated as the first person of Indian origin to win a Nobel Prize in Medicine.
• His research laid the foundation for genetic engineering, gene therapy, and modern biotechnology
• Khorana’s work revolutionized biology by proving that genes could be read, written, and manipulated — a concept that powers everything from modern medicine to DNA-based diagnostics.

4) Mother Teresa – Nobel Peace Prize (1979)

Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her tireless efforts in serving the sick, poor, and dying through the Missionaries of Charity, a religious order she founded in Kolkata.

• She devoted her life to caring for those whom society abandoned — the destitute, the terminally ill, orphans, lepers, and AIDS patients — offering dignity, compassion, and hope.
• She declined the traditional Nobel banquet and requested that the funds be donated to the poor in India, reinforcing her lifelong message of simplicity and service.
• She became the first Indian citizen to receive the Nobel Prize, although born in Skopje (now in North Macedonia), she later adopted Indian citizenship and made India her permanent home.
• Her humanitarian philosophy was rooted in "doing small things with great love," which inspired millions around the world to serve selflessly.
• Her legacy lives on through thousands of Missionaries of Charity sisters and volunteers across the globe, continuing to serve the most vulnerable.
• Mother Teresa’s Nobel Peace Prize is remembered as a global tribute to compassion, mercy, and the power of humble service.

5) Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – Nobel Prize in Physics (1983)

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 (Shared with William A. Fowler) for his pioneering work on the evolutionary stages of stars, particularly his theory explaining the life cycle of massive stars after they exhaust their nuclear fuel.

• In the early 1930s, at just 19 years old, Chandrasekhar formulated what became known as the Chandrasekhar Limit — the maximum mass (approximately 1.4 times that of the Sun) a white dwarf star can have before it collapses under its own gravity.
• His theory predicted that stars exceeding this limit would not remain stable as white dwarfs but would continue collapsing, ultimately becoming neutron stars or black holes.
• Although his ideas were initially resisted by senior physicists of the time, including Sir Arthur Eddington, Chandrasekhar’s work was later recognized as revolutionary in the field of astrophysics.
• Chandrasekhar’s research extended beyond stellar evolution — he contributed to general relativity, fluid dynamics, quantum theory, and radiative transfer, producing a remarkable body of work spanning over six decades.
• His Nobel Prize is considered a landmark recognition of theoretical astrophysics, and the Chandrasekhar Limit remains a fundamental principle in modern astronomy and space science.

 6) Amartya Sen – Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (1998)

Amartya Sen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 for his groundbreaking work in welfare economics, particularly his research on poverty, inequality, and human development.

• His contributions helped reshape the way economists and policymakers understand poverty—not just as lack of income, but as deprivation of basic capabilities, such as education, health, and freedom.
• Sen developed the Capability Approach, a framework that evaluates individuals’ well-being based on what they are able to do and be — shifting focus from economic growth alone to human freedom and choice.
• One of his most influential works was on famine and food distribution. In his book Poverty and Famines (1981), he demonstrated that famines are not caused solely by food shortages, but also by inequalities in food distribution and political inaction.
• He also played a key role in the development of the Human Development Index (HDI), widely used by the United Nations to measure a country’s progress beyond GDP.
• Born in 1933 in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India, Amartya Sen has held prestigious academic positions at Oxford, Harvard, and Cambridge. He is celebrated as one of the most influential economists and thinkers of the modern era.
• Sen’s Nobel Prize was a landmark moment for Indian academia, as it brought global attention to development economics, social justice, and the need for equitable public policy.
• His work continues to inspire economists, educators, and policymakers around the world to pursue a more inclusive and humane model of development.

7) Venkatraman Ramakrishnan – Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2009)

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 (Shared with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath) for his pivotal role in mapping the structure of the ribosome, a molecular machine found in all living cells that synthesizes proteins by translating genetic information.

• Using X-ray crystallography, he and his colleagues provided a detailed atomic-level structure of the ribosome — revealing how genetic instructions (mRNA) are decoded and how proteins are assembled from amino acids. This discovery was a major breakthrough in molecular biology.
• Understanding the ribosome's structure also helped explain how antibiotics target bacterial ribosomes, paving the way for the development of better, more effective antibiotics and advancing research in both medicine and drug design.
• He is the third person of Indian origin to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, after C. V. Raman and Har Gobind Khorana.
• Beyond the lab, Ramakrishnan has been an influential science communicator and served as President of the Royal Society (2015–2020) — one of the most prestigious scientific roles in the world.
• His Nobel-winning research opened new frontiers in structural biology, genetic research, and pharmaceutical science, making a lasting impact on how we understand the mechanics of life at the molecular level.

8) Kailash Satyarthi – Nobel Peace Prize (2014)

Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 (Shared with Malala Yousafzai)  for his tireless efforts to combat child labour, slavery, and trafficking, and for championing children’s right to education, freedom, and safety.

• A former electrical engineer, Satyarthi gave up his career in the 1980s to dedicate his life to rescuing children from bonded labour. He founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement), which has directly freed over 100,000 children from exploitative working conditions.
• His approach combined grassroots activism with global advocacy. He led the Global March Against Child Labour, which mobilized civil society across 100+ countries and influenced international labour laws, including ILO Convention 182.
• He became the second Indian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize after Mother Teresa, and the first Indian-born male recipient of this honour.
• Satyarthi’s Nobel win emphasized that freedom from exploitation and access to education are non-negotiable rights for every child. He often describes education as the most powerful tool for liberation.
• His work continues through the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, focusing on creating a child-friendly world through prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation programs.
• The award also marked a powerful North-South collaboration — shared with Malala Yousafzai, a young education activist from Pakistan — symbolizing unity in the fight for children’s rights beyond borders.

9) Abhijit Banerjee – Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2019)

Abhijit Banerjee was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2019 (Shared with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer) for his pioneering use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to understand and improve the effectiveness of poverty alleviation strategies in developing countries.

• He and his co-laureates developed a scientific, data-driven approach to studying poverty, which involved breaking down complex issues like education, healthcare, and microfinance into smaller questions and testing practical interventions on the ground.
• Their work challenged traditional “one-size-fits-all” economic policies, replacing them with evidence-based solutions that directly improved the lives of millions — especially in countries like India and Kenya.
• He is the second Indian-origin economist (after Amartya Sen) to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.
• Banerjee co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), which has conducted hundreds of field experiments across the world to test what actually works in development policy.
• His Nobel-winning research has reshaped the landscape of development economics, providing governments and NGOs with measurable, scalable, and effective methods to fight poverty.