Politics 2000

President Obama became the fourth American president, and the third sitting chief executive, to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Obama joins Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson as in-office presidents to win the prize. Jimmy Carter received the honor after his retirement.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee–a group of five people appointed by Norway’s Stortling (parliament)–sifted through a record 205 nominations. Prize founder Alfred Nobel willed that the committee choose the Peace Prize recipient each year. Each of the five current members–chair Thorbjorn Jagland, deputy chair Kaci Kullmann Five, Sissel Marie Ronbeck, Inger-Marie Ytterhorn and Agot Valle–are deeply connected within Norway’s political elite.

Obama was recognized “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Like the other Nobel winners this year, he will receive a cash award of 10 million Swedish Krona (about $1.44 million). The Peace Prize was the fifth of six Nobels bestowed each year.

The Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.” The Prize in Physics was shared by Charles K. Kao “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication” and the team of Willard S. Boyle and George K. Smith “for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, Ada E. Yonath received the Prize in Chemistry “for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.” Herta Muller “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed” is the Prize in Literature winner. The last award, the Prize in Economic Sciences, will be awarded Monday.

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