List of people from West Bengal explained
This is a list of notable people from West Bengal, India. This list does not include the significant number of prominent East Bengali refugees from East Bengal who settled in West Bengal after the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947.
Literature
Major figures
Children's story writers
Medieval Bengal literary scene
Other authors from early modern period
Prominent foreign-language authors from Bengal
Other authors from early/mid-twentieth century and some contemporary authors
Journalists
Comics Writer
Language/linguistics, anthropology, history, and other social sciences
- Haricharan Bandopadhayaya, lexicographer
- Rajshekhar Basu, major contributor for scientific terms in Bengali and lexicographer
- Girindrasekhar Bose, first non-European correspondent of Freud
- Nirmal Kumar Bose, anthropologist, associate of Gandhi
- Suniti Kumar Chatterji, linguist
- Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, social philosopher
- Kirti N. Chaudhuri, historian
- Pramatha Chaudhuri, creator of modern Bengali prose (chalit bhasha) along with Tagore
- Harinath De, linguist
- Romesh Chunder Dutt, historian
- Anil Kumar Gain, fellow of the Royal Society
- Biraja Sankar Guha, anthropologist
- Ranajit Guha, subaltern theorist
- R. C. Majumdar, historian
- Vina Mazumdar, women's studies academic
- Rajendralal Mitra, first Indian to work with Indologists
- Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, earliest educationist
- Niharranjan Ray, historian
- Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri, Indian historian
- Tapan Raychaudhuri, professor of history at Oxford University
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy, first Bengali prose writer
- Jadunath Sarkar, historian
- Sumit Sarkar, historian
- Susobhan Sarkar, historian
- Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize awardee in Economics
- Dinesh Chandra Sen, historian of Bengali literature and folklorist
- Sukumar Sen, linguist
- Hara Prasad Shastri, historian of Bengali language and culture
- Maniklal Sinha, novelist, historian and archaeologist of west Rarh
- Surajit Chandra Sinha, anthropologist
- Dineshchandra Sircar, epigraphist
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, literature theorist.
- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, creator of Standard Bengali prose (sadhu bhasha)
Scholars and polymaths
- Asima Chatterjee, scholar of chemistry
- Suniti Kumar Chatterji, linguist
- Amlan Datta, economist, Vice Chancellor of Visva Bharati
- Radhakanta Deb, linguist
- Anil Kumar Gain, scholar, mathematician
- Prithwindra Mukherjee, scholar of Indian history, philosophy, religion and culture
- Ramendra Sundar Tribedi, scientist
Education
Pioneers
Post-independence
Modern times
Others
Teachers
- Babar Ali, world's youngest headmaster, headmaster and founder of Ananda Siksha Niketan
- Katyayanidas Bhattacharya, philosophy, Presidency College
- Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, philosophy, University of Calcutta
- Barun De, history, Presidency College
- Mahasweta Devi, English, Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College
- Chinmoy Guha, English, Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College and University of Calcutta
- K. C. Nag, mathematics, Mitra institution
- Susobhan Sarkar, history, Presidency College
Philosophy
Pre-modern period
Modern age
Early / Mid twenty century
Science
- Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, computer scientist
- Amar Nath Bhaduri, Indian molecular enzymologist and chemical biologist
- Somnath Bharadwaj, cosmology
- Avik Bhattacharya, remote sensing
- Santanu Bhattacharya, chemistry
- Bhabatarak Bhattacharyya, Indian structural biologist, biochemist
- Mani Lal Bhaumik
- Birendra Bijoy Biswas, Indian molecular biologist and geneticist
- Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian theoretical physicist and mathematician
- Upendranath Brahmachari
- Bidyut Baran Chaudhuri, computer scientist
- Asis Datta, Indian biochemist, molecular biologist and genetic engineer
- Moumita Dutta, Indian physicist
- Anil Kumar Gain, mathematics
- Partha Ghose
- Sankar Ghosh, Indian-American immunologist, microbiologist, and biochemist
- Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis
- Chanchal Kumar Majumdar, Indian condensed matter physicist
- Dwijesh Dutta Majumdar, computer scientist
- Ujjwal Maulik, computer scientist
- Ashesh Prosad Mitra
- Sisir Kumar Mitra, Indian physicist
- Subhash Mukhopadhyay, physician
- Indira Nath, Indian immunologist
- Sankar Kumar Pal, computer scientist
- Shehla Pervin, molecular biologist
- Prafulla Chandra Ray, Indian chemist, industrialist and philanthropist
- Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri
- Somak Raychaudhury, Indian astrophysicist
- Anjali Roy, mycologist
- Subrata Roy, plasma physics
- Ram Brahma Sanyal, zoology
- Debi Prasad Sarkar, Indian biochemist, immunologist and virologist
- Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, economist, Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences
- Ashoke Sen, physics
- Radhanath Sikdar
- Snehasikta Swarnakar, Indian chemical biologist
Religious scholars
Muslim
Pre-modern period
The Brahmo Samaj
Hindu revival movement
Mid-twentieth-century religious figures
Social reformation and social work
Major figures
Derozians
Women's rights
Military
- Air Vice Marshal Madhavendra Banerji, recipient of Maha Vir Chakra
- Flight Lieutenant Suhas Biswas, recipient of Ashoka Chakra
- Subhas Chandra Bose, founder, Indian National Army
- General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian Army Chief during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
- Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji, Indian Navy Chief between 1966 and 1970
- Air Commodore Sudhindra Kumar Majumdar (1927–2011), India's first military helicopter pilot
- Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, former Head of Indian Air Force
- Chief of the Air Staff Arup Raha, 24th chief of Indian Air Force
- Captain Man Bahadur Rai, recipient of Ashoka Chakra
- Indra Lal Roy, first Indian (pre Independence) flying ace
- General Shankar Roychowdhury, former Indian Army Chief
Art
Early modern period
From mid-twentieth century
Film and photography
- Dulal Dutta
- Goutam Ghose, filmmaker, cinematographer, and music composer
- Rituparno Ghosh, filmmaker
- Suman Ghosh, filmmaker, documentary filmmaker
- Atiul Islam, filmmaker, screenwriter
- Ajoy Kar, cinematographer, filmmaker, screenwriter
- Tarun Majumdar, filmmaker, screenwriter, author, illustrator
- Subrata Mitra, cinematographer
- Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Indian film director, editor and writer
- Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri
- Satyajit Ray, filmmaker, screenwriter, author, illustrator and music composer
- Mrinal Sen, filmmaker, screenwriter, author
Music
Composers
Performers (instrumental)
- Allauddin Khan, sarod and multi-instrumentalist
- Ali Akbar Khan, sarod
- Annapurna Devi, surbahar
- Buddhadeb Dasgupta, sarod
- Manilal Nag, sitar
- Nikhil Banerjee, sitar
- Ravi Shankar, sitar
- Radhika Mohan Maitra, Sarod and Mohanveena
- Sankha Chatterjee, tabla
- Shankar Ghosh, tabla
- Pannalal Ghosh, flute
- Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Harmonium and tabla
Performers (vocal)
Classical
Songs of Tagore and his contemporaries
Modern
Nazrul geeti
Bengali Folk Song
Movies
Directors
Actors
Actresses
See also: List of Bengali actresses.
Cinematographer
Editor
Screenplay Writer
Dance
Doctors
Modern Days
Drama/theatre
Magicians
Politicians and revolutionaries
Pre-modern
Colonial period
Indian freedom fighters
Early figures
Twentieth century
Politicians
Others
Donation and social welfare
Old Calcutta / Bengal legends
Sports
Chess
Cricket
Football
Lawn tennis
Squash
Bodybuilding
Swimming
Table tennis
Weightlifting
Others
- Arjun Atwal, golfer
- Anirban Lahiri, Indian golfer
- Balaram Bose, philanthropist
- Chhanda Gain, mountaineering, first Bengali woman to climb Mount Everest
- Dipa Karmakar, Indian artistic gymnast; 2014 Commonwealth Games, bronze medal; 2010 Commonwealth Games participant
- Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, athletics, double gold medallist at Bangkok Asiad, 1996
- Joydeep Karmakar, Indian shooter, 2012 Summer Olympics; qualified to represent India in men's 50m rifle prone event; 2014 Commonwealth Games participant
- Mohammed Ali Qamar, Indian boxer, 2002 Commonwealth Games, gold medal
Industry/business
Other areas
See also
