List of notable people from Kolkata . Kolkata has been regarded as the cultural capital of India .[ 1]
Philosophers and religious teachers [ edit ]
The most famous religious figure of Kolkata is Mother Teresa . Others are (in order of surname):
List in order of surname.
James Atkinson (1780—1852), surgeon, artist and Persian scholar
R. D. Banerji , archeologist
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858—1937), Bengali polymath, physicist, biologist, biophysicist, botanist and archaeologist
Upendranath Brahmachari
Asima Chatterjee (1917—2006), chemist
Debendra Mohan Bose (1875—1975), physicist
Satyendra Nath Bose (1894—1974), physicist and polymath from Bengal
Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay (1890—1977), Bengali linguist
Krishnendu Chaudhury, computer scientist
Barun De (1932—2013), historian
Brajendranath De (1852—1932), Indian civil servant and orientalist
Anil Kumar Gain (1919—1978), mathematician and statistician.
J.B.S. Haldane (1892—1964), British-Indian scientist, known for his work in the study of physiology , genetics , evolutionary biology , and mathematics
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1893—1972), Bengali scientist and applied statistician
R.C. Majumdar (1884—1980), historian
P. J. Marshall (b. 1933), historian
Ujjwal Maulik (b. 1965), computer scientist
Subhash Mukhopadhyay (1931—1981), physician
Sisir Kumar Mitra (1890—1963), physicist
Rajat Kanta Ray , historian
Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri (1923—2005), physicist, known for his research in general relativity and cosmology
Tapan Raychaudhuri (1926—2014), historian
C. R. Rao (1920–2023), mathematician and statistician
Prafulla Chandra Roy (1861—1944), Bengali chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist
Meghnad Saha (1893—1956), astrophysicist
Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870—1958), historian
Sumit Sarkar (b. 1939), historian
Susobhan Sarkar (1900—1982), historian
Tapan Kumar Sarkar (1948—2021), electrical engineer
Ashoke Sen (b. 1956), theoretical physicist
Bikas K Chakrabarti (b. 1952), theoretical physicist & econophysicist
Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay (b. 1968), computer scientist
Sukumar Sen (linguist) historian of Bengali literature
Gallantry Awards winners [ edit ]
Ashoka Chakra
Maha Vir Chakra
Bankers and business people [ edit ]
Satyajit Ray , who won the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1992, lived in Kolkata and is considered among the greatest directors of film history.
Other notable filmmakers from Kolkata include:
Hindustani classical singers/maestros[ edit ]
Hindustani classical instrumentalists [ edit ]
Contemporary Bollywood musicians [ edit ]
Abhijeet Bhattacharya , playback singer
Anupam Roy (b.1982), singer-songwriter
Alka Yagnik (b. 1966), playback singer
Arijit Singh (b. 1987), singer, music producer, recordist and music programmer
Babul Supriyo (b. 1970), playback singer, live performer, television host, actor and politician
Kumar Sanu (b. 1957), playback singer
Pritam (b. 1971)
Sagarika (b. 1970), playback singer and actress
Shreya Ghoshal (b. 1984), playback singer
Shaan (b. 1972), playback singer and actor
Prominent dancers of the city include:
Kolkata is the magic capital of India and has produced internationally famous magicians and performers, including:
Norman Pritchard , track and field, Olympic medallist (1900)
Richard James Allen , hockey, Olympic (1928, 1932, 1936)
Leslie Claudius , hockey, Olympic medallist (1924, 1928, 1936)
Gurbux Singh , hockey, Olympic medallist (1964, 1968)
Vece Paes , hockey, Olympic medallist (1980)
Leander Paes , tennis, Olympic medallist (1996)
Sourav Ganguly , cricketer, former India national cricket team 's captain, sports administrator, former BCCI president
Chhanda Gayen , mountaineer, first Bengali woman to summit Mount Everest
Pankaj Roy , cricketer
Laxmi Ratan Shukla , cricketer
Deep Dasgupta , cricketer
Rohan Gavaskar , cricketer (son of Sunil Gavaskar )
Manoj Tiwary , cricketer
Ashok Dinda , cricketer
Wriddhiman Saha , cricketer
Mohammed Shami , cricketer
Len Stubbs , former cricketer
Chuni Goswami , footballer
Gautam Sarkar , footballer
Shailen Manna , footballer, former India national football team 's captain (guided India to Gold medal in 1951 Asiad)
Pradip Kumar Banerjee , footballer
Krishanu Dey , footballer
Sudip Chatterjee , footballer
Subrata Pal , footballer
Subhasish Roy Chowdhury , footballer
Syed Rahim Nabi , footballer
Mehtab Hossain , footballer
Arnab Mondal , footballer
Pronay Halder , footballer
Pritam Kotal , footballer
Narayan Das , footballer
Subhasish Bose , footballer
Mihir Sen , record swimmer
Jyotirmoyee Sikdar , track and field
Arjun Atwal , golfer
Surya Shekhar Ganguly , chess grandmaster
Dibyendu Barua , chess grandmaster
Sandipan Chanda , chess grandmaster
Deep Sengupta , chess grandmaster
Gobar Guha , wrestler
Manohar Aich , body builder, Mr. Universe 1952
Dipu Ghosh , badminton, Arjuna Award
Saurav Ghosal , squash player
Jaidip Mukerjea , tennis player
Jagmohan Dalmiya , sports administrator
Pankaj Gupta , sports administrator
John Holman , cricketer
William Laidlay , cricketer
Hira Mondal , Footballer
Six Nobel Prize winners have been associated with Kolkata:
Ramon Magsaysay Award winners [ edit ]
The Ramon Magsaysay Award , sometimes called "Asia's Nobel Prize", is given "to perpetuate his example of integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society." Kolkata winners include:
Mother Teresa (1910—1997) — Peace and International Understanding, 1962
Satyajit Ray (1921—1992) — Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts, 1967
Gour Kishore Ghosh (1923—2000) — Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts, 1981
Mahasweta Devi (1926—2016) — Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts, 1997
Samik Bandyopadhyay (b.1940), critic of Indian art, theatre and film
Tanmoy Bhattacharya (b. 1958), politician
William Carey (1761—1834), missioner and reformer
Laksmikanta Roy Choudhury (1570—1649), Brahmin scholar, social and political figure
Alexander Duff (1806—1878), missioner and reformer
Manny Elias (b. 1953), drummer, record producer, original drummer of the Tears for Fears
David Hare (1775—1842), philanthropist and founder of many important and prestigious educational institutions of Kolkata
Mohit Kumar (b. 1992), fashion model and influencer[ 7]
Rajendra Prasad (1884—1963), politician, the first President of India (from 1950 to 1962)
Romita Ray (b. 1970), art historian
Radhika Roy (b.1948), journalist
Gayatri Chakravorty Spiv (b. 1942), scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820—1891), philosopher, academic, writer, translator, entrepreneur, social reformer and philanthropist; key figure of the Bengal Renaissance