Professor
Irwin Abrams was one of the world's leading authorities on the
Nobel Peace Prize, and is regarded as one of the groundbreaking
pioneers of peace research. In the mid-1930s he went to Europe
to do research for his Ph.D. dissertation on the history of European
Peace Societies, and met with many of the leading contemporary
scholars and leaders of the many national and international peace
movements. His dissertation won him the Charles Sumner Peace Prize.
This experience greatly influenced his already liberal outlook
and his commitment to nonviolence and pacifism convinced him and
his wife to become Quakers (The Society of Friends). As a conscientious
objector during World War II, he worked with the American Friends
Service Committee, helping to train relief workers. After the
War, he became a history professor at Antioch College and promoted
the concept of studying abroad as a valuable way for students
to broaden their worldview and gain an understanding and appreciation
of other cultures. After retiring, he began writing about the
Nobel Peace Prize as a way to educate and inspire future generations
by bringing to light the words and actions of the world's most
honored peacemakers.
