OSLO, Norway, Dec. 10, 2006
Nobel Winner Urges Defeat Of Poverty
Six Americans, Turkish Writer Join Bangladeshi Peace Prize Winner In 2006 Nobel Ceremonies
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Nobel Peace Prize laureates Muhammad Yunus, right, and Grameen Bank representative Mosammat Taslima Begum hold the Nobel medal and diploma during the award ceremony at Oslo Town Hall, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006. Yunus, often called the banker to the poor, received the Nobel Peace Prize on Sunday for his efforts to relieve poverty as a cornerstone for building peace. (AP Photo/Bjoern Sigurdsoen)
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Craig C. Mello, left, receives the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden during the Nobel Prize award ceremony in the Concert Hall of Stockholm, Sweden, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006. Mello shared the prize for discovering a powerful way to turn off the effect of specific genes. (AP/Jonas Ekstromer/Scanpix)
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Dr. John C. Mather, left, receives the Nobel Prize in Physics, which he shared for his work that helped cement the big-bang theory of how the universe was created. (AP/Henrik Montgomery/Scanpix)
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Photo Essay
Nobel's Night Out
Sharon Stone, Angelica Huston co-host concert honoring Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus.
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Photo Essay
Nobels All Around
Prize winners receive their awards at lavish ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm.
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Interactive
Nobel Prizes
Awards for the world's best in science, economics, literature and peacemaking.
Six American scientists and a Turkish writer charged with insulting his country also received the prestigious Nobel Prizes on Sunday with pomp and royal splendor.
Honored in the twin award ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway, were findings that cemented the big-bang theory of the universe, broke new ground in genetic research and explored the relationship between inflation and unemployment.
Yunus, 66, often called the banker to the poor, shared the coveted award with his creation, Grameen Bank, for helping people, even beggars, rise above poverty by giving them microcredit — small, usually unsecured loans. The Bangladeshi economist is the developer and founder of the concept of microcredit.
The first Nobel laureate from Bangladesh, Yunus and Grameen Bank bard member Mosammat Taslima Begum accepted the $1.4 million prize from awards committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes at a ceremony in Oslo.
View photos of the award ceremonies in Oslo and StockholmReceiving the award on behalf of the Grameen Bank was Bangladeshi woman Mosammat Taslima Begum, a member of the bank's board, who has herself borrowed money from the bank.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Norwegian Royal family including King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon.
In his Nobel lecture Yunus said the world must overcome poverty if it ever wants to achieve peace.
"I believe terrorism cannot be won over by military action. Terrorism must be condemned in the strongest language. We must stand solidly against it, and find all the means to end it. We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of the poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns," he said.
Grameen Bank, set up in 1983, was the first lender to provide microcredit, giving very small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did not qualify for loans from conventional banks.
No collateral is needed, and repayment is based on an honour system, with nearly a 100 percent repayment rate.
Yunus said the idea has spread around the world, with similar programmes in almost every country.
Yunus described the success of the bank which continues to profit from providing loans to poor Bangladeshi women.
"Grameen Bank gives loans to nearly seven million poor people, 97 per cent of them are women, in 73,000 villages in Bangladesh," said Yunus.
"Grameen Bank gives collateral-free income generating loans, housing loans, student loans and micro-enterprise loans to the poor families and offers a host of attractive savings, pension funds and insurance products for its members," he added.
Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes said the award was partially intended as an outstretched hand to the Islamic world in an era where Muslims are often demonized because of terrorism.
"The peace prize to Yunus and Grameen Bank is also support for the Muslim country of Bangladesh, and for the Muslim environments in the world that are working for dialogue and collaboration," he said.
The Nobel Prizes, announced in October, are always presented in the two capitals on Dec. 10 to mark the anniversary of the 1896 death of their creator, Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite and stipulated the dual ceremonies in his will. The first prizes were handed out in 1901.
Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf presented the prizes in medicine, chemistry, physics, literature and economics as trumpet fanfares rang out in Stockholm's blue-hued concert hall.
Awards For Dissident Voices, Innovative Thinking
Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk accepted the literature prize for a body of work that illustrates the struggle to find a balance between East and West. His novels include "Snow" and "My Name Is Red."
Pamuk, 54, was tried earlier this year on charges of insulting his country for acknowledging the mass killing of Armenians in World War I, but the charges were dropped over a technicality.
Swedish Academy permanent secretary Horace Engdahl said Pamuk had made his native Istanbul "indispensable literary territory" equal to Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky's St. Petersburg and Irish author James Joyce's Dublin.
U.S. researchers swept all the Nobel science awards this year for the first time since 1983.
The Nobel Prize in medicine went to Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello for discovering a powerful way to turn off the effect of specific genes.
©MMVI, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
What a beautiful thing that is! I am so very happy for all those impoverished people out who can make something for themselves because of this concept.
Double the award!
However, Yunus does his cause a disfavor in accepting the blood money of a devilish pyromaniac whose name the world shouldn't want to remember or keep alive!
Posted by OlGreyGhost at 01:08 PM : Dec 10, 2006
He was the one who chose to leave his bloody name in the lime light; so that he will have no peace along with those who continue to suffer on account of his devilish inventions.
No one should be taking his blood money; and in this way that pyromaniac's name could be relegated to the garbage heap of history where it belongs.
"Bofors' most famous owner was Alfred Nobel who owned the company from 1894 until his death in December of 1896. He had the key role in reshaping the iron manufacturer to a modern cannon manufacturer and chemical industry."
Posted by OlGreyGhost at 05:24 PM : Dec 10, 2006"
So the telephone and the light bulb are created for a similar purpose as cannon of mass murder? Tsk-tsk.
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus.
This is a great way of putting it.
This is not a communist before you GOP and neo-cons right-wingers throw stones at him and he happens to be a MUSLIM...
Walking-Liar and Wax-Face what do they think of this? Takes too long to make changes? Too eager to get richer, faster. With guns and depleated-Uranium bombs.
Way to go Yunus. Proud of humans like you.
Posted by Agnim
Not so sure Agnim about that. This has to be known to curious people who are looking forward to relief the pain and poverty of other communities elsewhere in the world. Give them the tools to make it happen but not do the same way some religion-based fostering (brainwashing-conditioning-converting) do.
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus."
Well isn't that a curious statement coming from a guy who is taking the blood money 'prize' of a terror-creating guy who didn't just build guns; he built BIG GUNS, cannons to be exact to blow away people in large quantities! LOL