Since 1913, nine Indians have earned the world’s most coveted recognition — the Nobel Prize. The first was Rabindranath Tagore, the only Indian and the first Asian awarded the Nobel in Literature, honoured in 1913 for his profoundly sensitive and beautiful writings. In 1930, C V Raman became India’s first Nobel laureate in Physics for his groundbreaking discovery of the Raman Effect on light scattering.
Mother Teresa, though Albanian-born, brought pride to India by winning the Peace Prize in 1979 for her selfless service to the poor through the Missionaries of Charity.
In 1998, economist Amartya Sen received the Nobel in Economics for his pioneering work in welfare economics. Human rights activist Kailash Satyarthi followed in 2014 with the Peace Prize for his tireless campaign against child labour and for universal education.
Adding further glory are Indian-origin American Nobel laureates: Har Gobind Khorana (Physiology/Medicine, 1968), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Physics, 1983), Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Chemistry, 2009) and Abhijit Banerjee (Economics, 2019).
Together, these nine names shine as enduring symbols of Indian brilliance and humanitarian spirit on the Nobel roll of honour.
