Amartya Sen is a world renowned Nobel Laureate who was awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 “for his contributions to welfare economics”. However, did you know that his name was given by another Nobel Laureate who received the award 85 years ago for his contributions to the world of literature? There may be some who must be knowingly nodding their heads as they may have guessed the answer. If not, chances are you’re eager to know the answer – it’s Literature Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
The Nobel Prize Committee took to their official Instagram account to share this bit *trivia*and now it has sparked tons of comments among people.
In the caption, they mentioned that Tagore suggested the name to Sen’s mother when he was born. The word ‘Amartya’ means immortal in Bengali. The post further reveals that Sen also attended Tagore’s experimental school at Santiniketan, West Bengal.
They also shared an image of Sen clicked at his home in Cambridge. What makes the picture even more interesting is that Sen is standing in front of two photographs. One picture shows Rabindranath Tagore sitting in from of a window on a lounge chair. The other image shows Sen’s grandfather Kshitimohan Sen with Mahatma Gandhi. The post also mentions that the image was taken by Stephanie Mitchell of Harvard University.
Since being shared some 22 hours ago, the post has already gathered over 4,400 likes and also several comments from people. While some wrote about Sen, others were amazed to know that Tagore named him.
{{/usCountry}}Since being shared some 22 hours ago, the post has already gathered over 4,400 likes and also several comments from people. While some wrote about Sen, others were amazed to know that Tagore named him.
{{/usCountry}}“I love this brilliant economist,” wrote an Instagram user. “I had no idea Tagore named him. What an honour,” expressed another. “He is very admirable and unique,” wrote a third.