Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate, found himself at the center of false death rumors that circulated in multiple Indian media outlets due to a viral social media post. However, Sen’s daughter, Nandana Sen, swiftly dispelled these rumors on Tuesday, confirming that her 89-year-old father was “totally fine.”
Nandana shared a picture of herself with her father and stated that he was as active as ever. She mentioned that he continues to teach two courses per week at Harvard and is diligently working on his forthcoming book about gender issues, allaying concerns about his health.
The false news began when an account on a social media platform, X, created under the name of Claudia Goldin, the 2023 Nobel Prize winner in Economics, posted a misleading message about Sen’s demise. This led to an outpouring of condolences from Sen’s admirers on the platform.
Numerous mainstream Indian media outlets subsequently reported on this erroneous information, but Sen’s daughter took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to refute these reports. She shared that she had just spent a delightful week with her family in Cambridge and reassured every one of her father’s well-being, emphasizing the strength of his embrace during their farewell.
The account responsible for spreading the false information was swiftly removed.
Amartya Sen, a Harvard professor, holds the distinction of being the first individual from Asia to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics, a momentous occasion that brought immense joy to India in 1998.
Born into an academic family in 1933 in what West Bengal is now, India, Sen spent a significant part of his childhood in Dhaka, which is presently in Bangladesh.
He later pursued his studies in economics at Cambridge University, returning over three decades later to serve as the master of Trinity College. Throughout his illustrious career, he has also held positions at Oxford and the London School of Economics.