Mohamed ElBaradei
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Mohamed ElBaradei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for his efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.
Full name: Mohamed ElBaradei
Born: 17 June 1942, Cairo, Egypt
Date awarded: 7 October 2005
Nuclear disarmament
The 2005 Nobel Peace Prize was co-awarded to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. ElBaradei was born on 17 June 1942 in Cairo, Egypt. He is married, and has two children. Elbaradei has a doctorate in international law obtained from universities in Egypt and the USA. He began his career as a diplomat in the Egyptian delegation to the UN. From 1974 to 78 he was a special assistant to the Foreign Minister of Egypt. He became a senior fellow of the International Law Program at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in 1980. ElBaradei was associated with the IAEA from 1984 to 2009. He is described as a knowledgeable, hard-working person, with a mild, unpretentious manner. He and the IAEA conducted their activities under strong pressure both from the countries being inspected and from the nuclear powers themselves.
Dedicated advocate
ElBaradei received the prize for his role as an unafraid spokesman for his cause. He has put forth numerous proposals relating to non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. According to ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize would help to focus public attention on disarmament and non-proliferation issues. ElBaradei has served in a number of high-level positions within the IAEA and served three periods as the elected Director General. “Verification and diplomacy, used together, can work”, ElBaradei has asserted on many occasions. In 2011 ElBaradei was an important figure in the Egyptian protests for democracy.
Diplomatic or military solutions?
To ensure that diplomacy and negotiation – not military power – remain the most important means of opposing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the most important challenge may lie in proving just how relevant and essential the IAEA system is in addressing old as well as new nuclear threats. As ElBaradei repeatedly stated: there is an urgent need to renew political and financial investment in the international non-proliferation regim
From committee’s announcement
“At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its Director General. In the nuclear non-proliferation regime, it is the IAEA which controls that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes, and the Director General has stood out as an unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen that regime.” – Ole Danbolt Mjøs, Chairman of the Nobel Committee Oslo, 7 October 2005. Read the full speech here
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Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei is the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an intergovernmental organization that is part of the United Nations system ...
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Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
