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Economist Abhijit Banerjee became the sixth Nobel Laureate from Kolkata.
Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya Sen, Mother Teresa, CV Raman and Ronald Ross are the others from Kolkata or have a connection to the city, who won the award.
Two of them are from the city’s Presidency College.
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Durga Puja might be over but celebrations aren’t over in the city of joy – Kolkata. The city celebrated its sixth Nobel Laureate with Abhijit Banerjee being awarded the prestigious award for his contribution to economics.
In fact, one of the most prestigious universities of the city – Presidency college has in itself brought out two Nobel Laureates including Banerjee.
On Monday afternoon, Abhijit Banerjee along with his wife Esther Duflo and economist Michael Kremer became the recipients for the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics. They were awarded the recognition for “their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”
The Indian-born American Banerjee studied in Kolkata’s Presidency College and completed his MA in economics from JNU in Delhi. His parents were both professors in economics in Kolkata.
Amartya Sen
The predecessor to Banerjee of being an Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Economics is Amartya Sen. Sen won the award in 1998 for his work in welfare economics.
Sen was born in Shantiniketan in West Bengal. Interestingly, Sen was given his name by another Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who was a close associate of his maternal grandfather.
Sen too had graduated from Presidency College, before becoming a professor in Jadavpur University in Kolkata. He had then gone on to teach at institutions like Trinity College, London School of Economics and many more.
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She was born into an Albanian family and had moved to India in 1929. She set up the Missionaries for Charity in Kolkata, then called Calcutta and continued to live there until her death in 1997. The city continues to be the home for her congregation and continues her work for the poor.
CV Raman
Indian physicist CV Raman won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1930. Born in the Madras Province, Raman had gone on to become a physics professor at the University of Calcutta. It was during his work in Kolkata that he discovered the groundbreaking Raman Effect which got him the Nobel Prize.
Rabindranath Tagore
One cannot talk of Kolkata and Nobel Prize, and not talk about the great Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore, the poet, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Also called the Bard of Bengal, Tagore was the first non-European to have won a Nobel Prize.
Tagore is credited for many things – writing the Indian national anthem, redefining Bengali literature, Rabindro Sangeet, the list can go on. Having been against classroom schooling, Tagore set up Santiniketan, which even today stands as a centre for art and culture.
Ronald Ross
British doctor Ronald Ross won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1902 for his work on the transmission of malaria. Ross too had a connection with Kolkata. He worked at the Presidency General Hospital in Kolkata and even today, the Ronald Ross Memorial building stands tall in the city.