Indian Noble Prize Winners List

Nobel Prize is awarded combinedly by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Swedish Academy, Norwegian Committee and Karolinska Institutet. Nobel prize is awarded to individuals and organisations for exemplary achievements in field of Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology or Medicine and Peace. Karolinska Instituter awards Nobel prize for Physiology/Medicine while Norwegian Nobel committee decides the prize for Peace. Remaining of the prizes for Physics, Chemistry, Economics are given by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The category for Economics was added to the list in year 1968. These awards were established by will of Alfred Nobel in year 1895. Cash money associated with the Nobel Prize – nearly 8 Million Swedish Krona (1.2 Million US Dollars). Prize money is decided every year which varies.

A number of Indian nationals have been conferred with the internationally prestigious Nobel Prize in different disciplines. The list explains all Indian Nobel Prize Winners in increasing order of the year of receipt.

First Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Rabindranath Tagore

• Year : 1913
• Discipline : Literature

Rabindranath Tagore who is also called as Gurudev is one of the India’s most distinguished and respected person for his literature works. He was also the first ever Indian to win this coveted award. He was also the first non-European to win Nobel Prize in Literature. Rabindranath Tagore got this award for his lyrics collection  Gitanjali. He was a great author and educationist who founded Vishwabharti University (Shantiniketan , Bolepur) using the money he received from prize. His famous poems include – Sonar Tari, Purabi, The Cycle of the Spring, The Evening Songs and The Morning Songs. His famous novels include – Gora, Raja aur Rani, Muktdhara, Raj Rishi, Ghare Baire, Nauka Dubi, Kabuliwallah, Chitra, Chokher Bali, Kshudhit Pashan. The British Government awarded him with title “Sir” which he returned in 1919 in protest against Jallianwala massacre.

Second Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman

• Year : 1930
• Discipline : Physics

C V Raman was born in Tiruchirapalli of Madras Presidency of British India in 1888. C V Raman was the first Indian scientist to win the Nobel Prize for his study of scattering of Light known as Raman Effect. This theory describes change in frequency of light passing through a transparent medium. He was the first Indian and Asian to win this coveted prize in Physics. He won many internationally famous awards including Knight Bachelor (1929), Hughes Medal (1930), Bharat Ratna (1954) and Lenin Peace Prize (1957). He died at 82 years of age in Bangalore in 1970.

Third Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Hargobind Khorana

• Year : 1968
• Discipline : Medicine

Hargobind Khorana was born in British India in 1922 at Kabirwala, Punjab (now in Pakistan). He became naturalized  American citizen in 1966. He was Indian American biologist who researched on order of nucleotides in nucleic acid. He was awarded Nobel prize for laboratory synthesis of a yeast gene for the first time. He studied from Punjab University and later from University of Liverpool.

Fourth Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Mother Teresa

• Year : 1979
• Discipline : Peace

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje (Macedonia) in 1910 with Albanian family origin. Her original name was Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. She came to India in 1929 at the age of 19 and became an Indian citizen and spent rest of her life in India. She established the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Prize for her missionary services. She was also awarded Bharat Ratna in 1980, Jawaharlal Nehru Award for international understanding in 1969, Ramon Magsaysay award in 1962, Templeton Foundation Award in 1973. For her, life was a mission to serve the suffering humanity.

Fifth Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar 

• Year : 1983
• Discipline : Physics

He was born in Pre-Independent India in 1910 in Lahore City which is now in Pakistan. He was Indian-American Astrophysicist who studies on various topics including Dwarf Stars, Stellar Dynamics, Quantum Theory etc. He studied from Presidency College, Madras and then completed his Doctorate from Trinity College, Cambridge. He was awarded for his work in physics on Chandrasekhar Limit which determines the minimum mass of a dying star that enables it to survive. He won many famous national and international awards including – Adams Prize in 1948, Copley Award in 1984, National Medal of Science in 1966, Royal Medal in 1962 and Padma Vibhushan in 1968.

Sixth Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Amartya Sen

• Year : 1998
• Discipline : Economics

Amartya Sen was born in year 1933 in British India at Manikganj (now in Bangladesh). He got his education from Presidency College of Kolkata and his Doctorate from Trinity College, Cambridge. He was awarded Nobel for his analysis in Welfare Economics wherein Bengal Famine formed the basis. He is presently working as Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University.

Seventh Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

• Year : 2009
• Discipline : Chemistry

Venkatraman Rama Krishnan was born in year 1952 at Chidambaram, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. His pet name is Venki Ramakrishnan. He is Indian-born but resides in UK and has citizenship of both US and UK. He is well known Structural Biologist and was awarded Noble prize for his work on Structure and Function of Ribosome, Macro Molecular crystallography. He has won several other famous awards including – Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2007, Padma Vibhushan in 2010, Knight Bachelor in 2012.

Eighth Indian Nobel Prize Winner : Kailash Satyarthi

• Year 2014
• Discipline : Peace

Kailash Satyarthi was born on 11 Jan 1954 at Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. His original name was Kailas Sharma. He is Electrical Engineer by profession and social activist by occupation. He is popular socialist who is well known for his struggle against the suppression of children and young people. He is also known as strong advocate for Children’s Education and Activist against Child Labor. He has won numerous national and international awards including Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award (1995), Alfonso Comin International Award (2008), Medal of Italian Senate (2007), Defenders of Democracy Award (2009).