Indian Nobel Laureates
Indian names associated with the Nobel Prize are frequently asked about under the "Awards and Honours" tag in Patwari's GK-India section — laureates with Indian citizenship and those of Indian origin are clearly distinguished here.
- GK-India · Awards and Honours
- 5 min read
Citizenship vs Origin — Understand the Difference
There is often confusion over Indian names associated with the Nobel Prize — some laureates were Indian citizens at the time they received the prize, while others were born in India or of Indian origin but held the citizenship of another country when they won. This distinction can be asked clearly in the exam.
India's first Nobel Prize was won by Rabindranath Tagore in Literature in 1913 — he was also the first Asian (non-European) Nobel laureate.
Indian Citizens at the Time of the Award
| Year | Name | Field |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | Rabindranath Tagore | Literature (first Asian/non-European Nobel laureate) |
| 1930 | C.V. Raman | Physics (for the discovery of the "Raman Effect") |
| 1979 | Mother Teresa | Peace |
| 1998 | Amartya Sen | Economics (welfare economics and social choice theory) |
| 2014 | Kailash Satyarthi | Peace (for child rights; shared with Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai) |
Laureates of Indian Origin (citizens of another country at the time of the award)
| Year | Name | Field |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Har Gobind Khorana | Medicine (born in undivided India, American citizen) |
| 1983 | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar | Physics (born in India, American citizen) |
| 2009 | Venkatraman Ramakrishnan | Chemistry (born in India, British/American citizen) |
| 2019 | Abhijit Banerjee | Economics (born in India, American citizen) |
These four are generally called "Nobel laureates of Indian origin", not "Indian Nobel laureates" — be sure to keep this distinction in mind for the exam.
Caution
The 14th Dalai Lama received the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize and has lived in exile in India, but he is not an Indian citizen (he is a Tibetan refugee) — so he is generally not included in the list of "Indian Nobel laureates".
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won India's first Nobel Prize?+
Rabindranath Tagore, in 1913 in Literature — he was also the first Asian Nobel laureate.
Who were the Indian citizens who won the Nobel Prize in Physics?+
C.V. Raman (1930), for the discovery of the "Raman Effect" — Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983) also won the Nobel in Physics, but he was an American citizen at the time.
What did Kailash Satyarthi receive the Nobel Prize for?+
The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, for his work on child rights and against child labour — it was shared jointly with Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai.