Harvard's Nobel Laureates in Peace

The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War was founded in Boston in June of 1980 by four Harvard physicians—Bernard Lown of Harvard School of Public Health, and Herbert Abrams, Eric Chivian, and James Muller of Harvard Medical School. The organization was only five years old when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work creating an awareness of “the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare.”

Ralph Bunche received degrees from UCLA and Howard University before earning a Ph.D. from Harvard. Bunche studied colonial policy in West Africa. and racial segregation in the U.S., and was a prominent figure in the early civil rights movement. Involved in the formation and early administration of the United Nations, Bunche served as mediator in Palestine in 1948-1949. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his success in bringing about a cease-fire.

After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard Divinity School, Henry Cadbury accepted a faculty position at the University. He proposed the formation of the American Friends Service Committee—a Quaker relief organization—to spearhead relief activities in Europe after World War I. Under Cadbury’s leadership, the AFSC became involved with Black schools in the South, in settlement houses, and in depressed areas of Appalachia. Cadbury accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee.