Cambridge, one afternoon in October, hundreds of kilometers east of London. The hourglass at the Trinity College campus showed 11 o'clock when the busy man left the meeting before its scheduled end. "My apologies," he greeted TEMPO, "I only have a short time for the interview."

Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Laureate who dedicated almost all of his thoughts to the poor, dressed casually, no tie and no coat. His moss-green corduroy trousers did not