Peace: 1902

1) Ducommun, Elie (1833-1906), a Swiss journalist, lecturer, business executive, and editor, was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1902 for his work as honorary secretary of the International Peace Bureau. He shared the prize with Charles Albert Gobat of Switzerland. In 1891, Ducommun became head of the newly formed bureau, which was based in Bern, Switzerland. In 1895, he became editor of the bureau's Correspondance bi-mensuelle (Bimonthly Correspondence).

Ducommun was born in Geneva, Switzerland. In his twenties, he was the editor of the Revue de Geneve (Geneva Review), a political journal. In 1865, he moved to Bern and founded a radical journal published in two languages as Fortschritt in German and Progres in French (Progress). In the late 1860's and early 1870's, he also edited L'Helvetia (Switzerland) and Les Etats-Unis d'Europe (The United States of Europe).

2) Gobat, Charles Albert pronounced goh BAHT, (1843-1914), a Swiss politician, writer, administrator and philanthropist was the administrator of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. For this work, he was awarded the 1902 Nobel Prize for peace, sharing the prize with Elie Ducommun.

After working as a successful lawyer, Gobat became interested in politics in the early 1880's. His political career included being a member of the Council of States of Switzerland from 1884-1890, president of the cantonal government during the mid-1880's, and a member of the National Council from 1890 until his death. Gobat presided over the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1892 and became director of its newly-established Inter-Parliamentary Bureau. In 1906 he took over the directorship of the International Peace Bureau and dealt with movements for peace, and conciliation between the parliaments of different countries. Gobat held the position of director for the next seventeen years. The Bureau won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910.

Gobat also wrote works on international affairs and history, including Republique de Berne et la France pendant les guerres de religion (The Bern Republic and France during the Wars of Religion ,1891), Histoire de la Suisse racontee au peuple (A People's History of Switzerland, 1900), and Le cauchemar de l'Europe (The Nightmare of Europe, 1911).

Charles Albert Gobat was born in Tramelan, Switzerland. He studied at the Universities of Basel, Heidelberg, Bern, and Paris.