Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Trivia Quiz

Answer:

One of the prizes for which Alfred Nobel left instructions and money in his will, the Peace Prize is awarded by a committee in Oslo to the person who has done the 'most or the best work for fraternity between nations'. While other prizes are given to individuals, the Peace Prize can, and has, been given to organisations such as the Red Cross and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. A selection of the individual recipients has been chosen for the quiz.

Woodrow Wilson received his award in 1919 as one of the prime movers behind the setting up of the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations. Another American, Ralph Bunche was a diplomat who won the award in 1950 for his work in settling the conflict between Israel and the Arab countries which broke out when Israel became a separate country in 1948.

In 1993, Yasser Arafat, along with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, was awarded the prize, in recognition of their efforts to resolve tensions between the Arab countries and Israel. Another country to suffer regular upheavals is Northern Ireland. Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams were shared winners of the Peace Prize in 1977 after founding the Northern Ireland Peace Movement in an effort to bring sectarian violence, based on religious differences, to an end.

Nelson Mandela must be one of the best known names in the quiz, and he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with F W de Klerk as they managed to bring an end to the abhorrent system of apartheid in South Africa. Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, was the recipient in 1989 for his efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to China's claim to Tibet.

Linus Pauling is one of the elite who have won more than one Nobel Prize. This American scientist won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954. His reaction to the use of atomic bombs to end the Second World War was to campaign vigorously against nuclear weapons testing. He was awarded the Peace Prize for his efforts in 1962. The difficulties of creating long term peace in Northern Ireland meant that 1998 saw a further Peace Prize awarded for work in that region. The award went jointly to David Trimble and John Hume for their efforts to bring about a peaceful conclusion to the long running Troubles.

Martin Luther King jr. was the recipient in 1964 with the citation noting his leadership of the Civil Rights Movement and his promotion of non-violent means of obtaining racial equality. The name of the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen may be better known for his explorations of the likes of Greenland and the Polar regions, but he was also a noted humanitarian. He was awarded the Peace Prize in 1922 in recognition of his work in helping refugees and with the League of Nations.

Desmond Tutu was an Anglican Bishop in South Africa who opposed the apartheid system. His efforts were recognised by the award of the Peace Prize in 1984. Albert Schweitzer received the award in 1952. He worked in Gabon to provide medical assistance and raised funds for a hospital there, including donating the money he received for winning the Nobel Prize.

The first person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize was Henri (or Henry) Dunant, the Swiss founder of the Red Cross. The award came in 1901. Dunant had been appalled by the level of suffering he saw at the Battle of Solferino in 1859 leading him to set up the Red Cross. A more recent recipient was Malala Yousafzai who won in 2014, the youngest recipient to date (2024). Her courageous stand against the Taliban in Pakistan, who had banned education for women, nearly cost her life when she was shot in the face. She survived the attack and continued her activism, which was recognised by the Nobel Prize Committee.

Kofin Annan was awarded the Peace Prize in 2001, jointly with the United Nations of which he was Secretary-General from 1997 until 2006. The award recognised his efforts to prevent the spread of HIV in Africa and other humanitarian work.

Non-winners listed include some names of people who possibly deserved recognition more than a few of the actual winners. Gandhi, for example, did not receive the award although it is possible he might have done had he not been assassinated in 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt, Vaclav Havel and Corazon Aquino are also regularly listed as having been 'overlooked'. Churchill did win a Nobel Prize, but in Literature and Diana, Princess of Wales campaigned against land mines and might have been short-listed had it not been for her untimely death. Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bombs, so might not have been anyone's choice.