December 21, 2024

Amartya Sen Biography, Age, Height, Weight, Family, Caste, Wiki & More

Updated On : November 2, 2018

Short Biography

Amartya Sen was born on 03-11-1933 in Santiniketan, Birbhum in India. He is an Indian Economist, Philosopher, Professor, Writer & Author.

Other Name: Amartya Kumar Sen
Other Professions: Philosopher Professor Writer Author

Amartya Sen Complete Bio & Career

Amartya Sen did his initial schooling from St Gregory's School in Dhaka but after the partition, he along with his family relocated to Kolkata in India. After completion of his schooling from Visva-Bharati University School, he obtained his graduate degree from the famous Presidency College in Kolkata. After obtaining his B.A. degree from here, he went to Trinity College in the UK and obtained another B.A. degree from there.
 
After which, he began his professional career as a Professor and was subsequently named the Head of the Department of Economics at Jadavpur University in Kolkata. However, after two years of his job, he relocated to the UK and obtained his Ph.D. degree from the famous Cambridge University. He was then appointed as the Professor of Economics at the famous Delhi School of Economics and he served there as a professor from 1961 to 1972. After which, he served as a professor at the world-famous London School of Economics.
 
Along with his career as a professor, he started penning down books and the first of them was ‘Collective Choice and Social Welfare’ which released in 1970 is regarded as the most influential monographs as it addressed the sensitive issues like equality, justice, basic welfare, and individual rights of human beings. After which, he published books after books and addressed the issues related to society. His published work called ‘The Possibility of Social Choice’ won him a Nobel prize and placed his name among the most sought-after authors globally. Though all his work has been extremely well received some that stood out were ‘More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing’, ‘Development as Freedom’, ‘Inequality Reexamined’, ‘The Argumentative Indian’, and ‘Peace and Democratic Society’ among others. He is currently serving at Harvard University as a Professor of Economics and Philosophy.

Amartya Sen Popular Videos

Honours & Awards

AWARD NAME AWARD CATEGORY RECEIPT YEAR RECEIPT FIELD
Bharat Ratna Civilian Award 1999 Welfare Economic

For his achievements, he has been conferred with various prestigious awards like the Adam Smith Prize, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Bharat Ratna, and National Humanities Medal.

Amartya Sen Family, Relatives and Other Relations

He was born to Ashutosh Sen and Amita Sen. He has been married thrice. He first married Nabaneeta Dev Sen in 1958 and was married to her till 1976. The couple together had two children named Nandana Sen and Antaria Sen. He then married Eva Colorni in 1978 and were married until her death in 1985. He had two children with her as well. He is currently married to Emma Georgina Rothschild since 1991.

Life's Important Dates Of Amartya Sen

Shocking / Interesting Facts & Secrets About Amartya Sen

  • 'Amartya' means immortal in Bengali, and so is Amartya Sen's contribution to global economy. The Indian scholar, who was born on this day in the year 1933, went on to become one of the greatest economists and academicians in the world.
  • Amartya Sen was diagnosed with oral cancer at the age of 18. High doses of radiation at a hospital in Kolkata saved his life.
  • He received the Nobel Prize in Economics in the year 1998 for his contributions to welfare economics. According to Sen, "even impoverished societies can improve the well-being of their least advantaged members".
  • Sen joined Harvard University in USA. He has also worked on the United Nations' Human Development Index that is used to assess a country's development.
  • In order to promote gender equality, Amartya Sen is known to use mostly feminine pronouns while writing papers. He writes 'she' and 'her' a lot more often than 'he' and 'him'.
  • Sen was appointed as the Chairman of the Nalanda Mentor Group that was formed to facilitate the establishment of Nalanda University in Bihar. He also became the first chancellor but withdrew his candidature after a year.
  • He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in the year 1999. He also has an honorary citizenship of Bangladesh as his theory of welfare economics helped the government to form a self-sufficient economy.
  • This admired Indian Bharat Ratna awardee and writer has been a permanent resident of the U.S for almost 50 years but chooses to retain only his Indian citizenship.

Amartya Sen Age, Birthday Facts and Birthday Countdown

91 years, 1month, 18 days old age Amartya Sen will turn 92 on 03 November, 2025. Only 10 months, 12 days, 11 hours,45 minutes has left for his next birthday.

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Amartya Sen has celebrated the total number of 91 birthdays till date. See the analysis by days count and bar graph.

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