The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus and to Grameen Bank, both of Bangladesh, for advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, especially women, through their pioneering microcredit work. In his Nobel lecture Yunus said, “We wanted to go to the moon, so we went there. We achieve what we want to achieve. If we are not achieving something, it is because we have not put our minds to it. We create what we want. . . . I firmly believe that we can create a poverty-free world if we collectively believe in it.”
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel. Since 1901 it has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses” Over the next few months we’ll be introducing you to the past Nobel laureates, leading up to the award of the 2016 prize in October.
