Did you know? Amartya Sen was named by this Nobel Laureate

Amartya Sen

Nobel Laureate, recipient of Bharat Ratna and famed economist Amartya Sen is well-known for his economic theories and concepts. But did you know that this esteem economist was named ‘Amartya’ by another legendary Nobel Laureate?

Nobel Prize Organisation took to Instagram to share an interesting fact about Sen. It said that he got his ‘unusual’ name from none other than Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first non-European Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1913. 

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“Imagine being named by Literature Laureate Rabindranath Tagore - that is exactly what happened to Amartya Sen,” the Nobel Prize Organisation wrote in the post. The post said that the Literature Laureate suggested the name ‘Amartya’ to Sen’s mother.

The economist’s maternal grandfather was Kshiti Mohan Sen, who was a close associate of Tagore. Tagore suggested Sen’s first name to his mother. 'Amartya' means immortal,” the organisation wrote in the post.

The Nobel Prize Organisation also shared another fact that defines his connection with Tagore—that Sen attended Shantiniketan, which was founded by Tagore.

“Sen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 "for his contributions to welfare economics". 85 years earlier Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature,” the organisation wrote sharing a photo of the economist in his house in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. In the picture, Sen is seen standing in front of two photographs — one of Tagore and other of his grandfather Kshiti Mohan Sen with Mahatma Gandhi.

 

 

 

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Imagine being named by Literature Laureate Rabindranath Tagore - that is exactly what happened to Amartya Sen. Tagore suggested Sen’s unusual first name to his mother. 'Amartya' means immortal (Bengali à¦Âu00c2u0085মরà§Âu00c2u008dতà§Âu00c2u008dয oÌÂu00c2u0082morto, lit. "immortal"). Later Sen would attend Tagore’s experimental school at Santiniketan, India. Sen was awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 "for his contributions to welfare economics". 85 years earlier Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Photo: Amartya Sen is pictured in his home in Cambridge in front of two photographs of Rabindranath Tagore and his grandfather Kshitimohan Sen with Mahatma Gandhi in 1941 and a map of the Trinity grounds in Cambridge. Photo credit: Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard University. . . . #NobelPrize #NobelLaureate #economics #science #tagore #literature #write #life #story #amartya #research

A post shared by Nobel Prize (@nobelprize_org) onJul 1, 2020 at 1:59am PDT

The organisation had shared another post about Sen’s bicycle, last month, that helped him in conducting his Nobel-winning research work. The post mentioned that Sen had travelled around the countryside of West Bengal on his bicycle while researching about the social choice, welfare measurement, and poverty, that later won him the prestigious accolade.

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