Nobel Prize

Ludwig Quidde (March 23, 1858 – March 4, 1941), the oldest son of a wealthy merchant, grew up in the republican atmosphere of the Hanseatic city of Bremen, enjoying an unusually liberal education at its humanistic gymnasium, «an education in freedom to freedom». He studied at the Universities of Strassburg and Göttingen, where his professors…

Carl von Ossietzky (October 3, 1889-May 4, 1938) was born in Hamburg, though his father, a civil servant, had originally come from a village near the German-Polish border. Seven years after Ossietzky’s father died in 1891, his mother married Gustav Walther, a Social Democrat, who was influential in shaping Ossietzky’s later political attitudes. Ossietzky’s academic…

Albert Schweitzer (January 14, 1875-September 4, 1965) was born into an Alsatian family which for generations had been devoted to religion, music, and education. His father and maternal grandfather were ministers; both of his grandfathers were talented organists; many of his relatives were persons of scholarly attainments. Schweitzer entered into his intensive theological studies in…

Georges Charles Clement Ghislain Pire (February 10, 1910-January 30, 1969), born in Dinant, Belgium, the first child of Georges and Berthe (Ravet) Pire, assigned his life to action in striving to achieve understanding among peoples of the world, to eliminate poverty and hopelessness in the emerging nations, to alleviate the lot of the refugees of…

Chief of his tribe and president-general of the African National Congress, Albert John Lutuli (1898?-July 21, 1967) was the leader of ten million black Africans in their nonviolent campaign for civil rights in South Africa. A man of noble bearing, charitable, intolerant of hatred, and adamant in his demands for equality and peace among all…

Linus Pauling (February 28, 1901- ), the only person who has won two undivided Nobel Prizes, was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of a pharmacist, Henry H.W. Pauling, and Lucy (Darling) Pauling. He attended Washington High School in Portland but because of a technicality did not receive his diploma until 1962, long after he…

Henry Alfred Kissinger was the 56th Secretary of State of the United States from 1973 to 1977, continuing to hold the position of Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs which he first assumed in 1969 until 1975. After leaving government service, he founded Kissinger Associates, an international consulting firm, of which he is…

Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Maya culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went…

1931: March 2, born, Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky District, Stavropol territory in the North Caucasus, to a peasant family in a small village, his father an agricultural mechanic on a collective farm. 1942: German army occupies the Privolnoye area. 1945: Begins work as assistant to combine harvest operator. 1949: Awarded Order of Red Banner of Labour. 1950:…

Curriculum Vitae Born Warsaw, 4 November 1908 (British citizen since 1946)Educated at the Free University of Poland and the University of Warsaw, Poland   Academic Degrees MA, Free University of Poland, 1932 Doctor of Physics, University of Warsaw, 1938 PhD, University of Liverpool, 1950 DSc, University of London, 1953   Honorary Degrees Hon DSc, University…