Nobel Prize Winners from India
9 Nobel Laureates of Indian origin โ from Tagore's poetry to Kailash Satyarthi's crusade for children. Click any name to explore their story, discoveries, and exam tips.
Quick Reference Timeline
๐ Key Facts
- Tagore (1913) โ first Asian Nobel laureate; wrote anthems of India AND Bangladesh
- C.V. Raman (1930) โ first Indian/Asian Nobel Prize in Science
- Mother Teresa (1979) โ Nobel Peace Prize + Bharat Ratna (1980)
- Amartya Sen (1998) โ co-developed the Human Development Index (HDI)
- Satyarthi (2014) โ shared Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai
- No Indian has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Physiology, or Medicine alone (Khorana and Ramakrishnan were US/UK citizens)
๐ About the Nobel Prize
History
The Nobel Prize was established by the will of Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel (1833โ1896), who invented dynamite. Nobel signed his will on 27 November 1895, directing that the bulk of his fortune be used to create a series of prizes awarded annually for outstanding contributions in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded on 10 December 1901 โ the 5th anniversary of Nobel's death, a tradition that continues to this day. The Economics prize (officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) was added in 1969.
Awarded By
- Physics & Chemistry: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm
- Physiology or Medicine: Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm
- Literature: Swedish Academy, Stockholm
- Peace: Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oslo (Norway โ the only prize awarded outside Sweden)
- Economics: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm
Prizes are awarded on 10 December every year in Stockholm (all prizes except Peace) and Oslo (Peace Prize).
The Prize
Each Nobel Prize consists of a gold medal, a diploma, and a monetary award (currently SEK 11 million / approx. โน8โ9 crore as of 2024). Up to 3 persons can share a single prize. The prize cannot be awarded posthumously (except in cases where the recipient died after announcement). A prize can be declined (e.g. Jean-Paul Sartre, 1964) or withheld entirely.
India & the Nobel
- First Asian Nobel laureate: Rabindranath Tagore (Literature, 1913)
- First Indian/Asian Nobel in Science: C.V. Raman (Physics, 1930)
- India-born citizens who won after emigrating: Har Gobind Khorana (Medicine, 1968, US), V.S. Naipaul (Literature, 2001, UK), Venki Ramakrishnan (Chemistry, 2009, UK)
- Youngest Indian Nobel laureate: Kailash Satyarthi (Peace, 2014, age 60)