Amartya Kumar Sen (born November 3, 1933) is an Indian economist best known for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, and political liberalism. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in welfare economics in 1998 and the Bharat Ratna in 1999. In 2003, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves as one of Harvard University's eighteen elite University Professors who are technically not members of any academic department and therefore report directly to the University's president.