🌍 Chapter 05 · Topic 01 · International Awards

Nobel Prize & Indian Winners

Nobel Prize — 6 categories, Alfred Nobel, all Indian Nobel laureates from Tagore (1913) to Abhijit Banerjee (2019).

🏅 Nobel Prize — Overview

Established by Alfred Nobel (1833–1896) — Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor of dynamite
Nobel established the prizes in his will (1895); first awarded in 1901
Six categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, Economic Sciences
Economics prize added in 1969 by Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) — officially called “Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel”
Awarded annually on 10 December (death anniversary of Alfred Nobel)
Prize: gold medal + diploma + cash prize (~10 million Swedish kronor ≈ ₹7–8 crore)
Nobel Peace Prize awarded in Oslo, Norway; all others in Stockholm, Sweden
Administered by the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm
Maximum 3 persons can share a prize in one year
Cannot be awarded posthumously (except if the person dies after announcement)

🇮🇳 All Indian Nobel Laureates

Name	Year	Category	Reason / Key Fact
Rabindranath Tagore	1913	Literature	Gitanjali; first Asian Nobel laureate; first non-European Nobel in Literature
C.V. Raman	1930	Physics	Discovery of Raman Effect (scattering of light); first Asian Nobel in Physics
Har Gobind Khorana	1968	Physiology/Medicine	Interpretation of genetic code; Indian-American; born in Raipur (now Pakistan)
Mother Teresa	1979	Peace	Work among the poorest in Calcutta; Albanian-Indian; born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar	1983	Physics	Chandrasekhar limit — theoretical studies of physical processes in stars; Indian-American
Amartya Sen	1998	Economic Sciences	Welfare economics, social choice theory, poverty and famines; born Santiniketan, WB
V.S. Naipaul	2001	Literature	Works on suppressed histories; Trinidad-born of Indian origin; knighted
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan	2009	Chemistry	Structure and function of the ribosome; Indian-American; born Chidambaram, TN
Kailash Satyarthi	2014	Peace	Struggle against child labour; right of children to education; jointly with Malala Yousafzai
Abhijit Banerjee	2019	Economic Sciences	Experimental approach to alleviating global poverty; Indian-American; born Kolkata

⭐ Rabindranath Tagore — First Asian Nobel Laureate: Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his collection of poems “Gitanjali” (Song Offerings). He was the first Asian and first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He composed the national anthems of both India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Amar Sonar Bangla). He founded Visva-Bharati University at Shantiniketan, West Bengal. He was knighted in 1915 but renounced the knighthood in 1919 to protest the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

📌 C.V. Raman — National Science Day: Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888–1970) won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for the discovery of the Raman Effect — the inelastic scattering of photons by matter. He announced this discovery on 28 February 1928, which is why 28 February is celebrated as National Science Day in India. He was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Physics and the first Indian to win a Nobel Prize in science. He founded the Raman Research Institute in Bengaluru.

✅ Revision Checklist

✅ Nobel Prize = Alfred Nobel = first awarded 1901 = 6 categories
✅ Economics prize = added 1969 = Sveriges Riksbank
✅ Nobel Peace Prize = Oslo; all others = Stockholm
✅ Awarded on 10 December = Alfred Nobel’s death anniversary
✅ Tagore = 1913 = Literature = Gitanjali = first Asian Nobel laureate
✅ C.V. Raman = 1930 = Physics = Raman Effect = National Science Day 28 Feb
✅ Mother Teresa = 1979 = Peace = Albanian-Indian
✅ Amartya Sen = 1998 = Economics = welfare economics
✅ Kailash Satyarthi = 2014 = Peace = child labour + education
✅ Abhijit Banerjee = 2019 = Economics = poverty alleviation