Fact Check: Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s Death Rumours Are Fake
Our investigation clearly shows that the claim of Nobel economist Amartya Sen’s death is a hoax. The X handle through which the rumour of his death was spread is a fake handle created in the name of Claudia Goldin, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics.
- By Vishvas News
- Updated: October 12, 2023
New Delhi, Vishvas News –The claim of the death of Indian economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is false. The fake news was shared by a fake account of Economist Claudia Goldin, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2023. A fake profile of Claudia Goldin has been active on X since May 2023, with a total of five posts made so far.
What’s going viral?
Indian news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) (Archive) reported Amartya Sen’s death from its verified handle, however, this post was later deleted. Many English news websites and Hindi news websites including Business Today, Deccan Herald, Zee News, and First Post published the news of Amartya Sen’s death believing the information given on the fake X (formerly Twitter) handle of Claudia Goldin. Deccanchronicle.com however updated the report later.
Considering the information given by a fake handle in the name of Claudia Goldin as true, many users on different social media platforms accepted the rumour of Sen’s death as true.
Investigation:
The claim of Amartya Sen’s death is false and baseless. After the rumour of Amartya Sen’s death spread on social media, Sen’s daughter Nandana Sen also shared a picture with her father on her X handle, denying the rumours.
She wrote, “Friends, thank you for your concern, but this is false news. Baba is completely healthy. We recently had a wonderful week together in Cambridge with the family. He (Amartya Sen) is teaching two courses a week at Harvard and working on his book. busy as usual!”
Vishvas News contacted Sen’s daughter Antara Dev Sen regarding the rumor of his death. Denying Sen’s death, she said, “Professor Sen is completely healthy. I am with him in Cambridge. This is completely fake news.”
After posting the wrong information about Sen’s death, another post was made from the fake account of Claudia Goldin, calling it a hoax account. The post made it evident that it was a fake account in the name of Claudia Goldin. A profile of Goldin exists on Harvard’s website, which provides her contact details. Goldin has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2023.
Claudia Goldin’s real X handle is @PikaGoldin, not @profCGoldin, which shared the rumours of Amartya Sen’s death. The bio of this profile also includes a link to his Harvard profile (https://scholar.harvard.edu/), which contains her other contact details.
Conclusion: Our investigation clearly shows that the claim of Nobel economist Amartya Sen’s death is a hoax. The X handle through which the rumour of his death was spread is a fake handle created in the name of Claudia Goldin, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics.