President of the United States 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University, then moved to Chicago, where he worked with church groups to help communities hit by hard times. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review, and returned to Chicago, where he helped lead voter registration drives. From 1992 to 2004, Obama served as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Obama served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. While there, he passed major ethics reform legislation, cut taxes for working families, and expanded health care for children and their parents. Obama successfully ran for United States Senate in 2004. While a senator, he focused on legislation to reform lobbying, to set controls on conventional weapons, and to bring transparency to government by bringing federal spending online. He began his run for the presidency in February 2007 and was elected the 44th President of the United States in November 2008. On October 9, 2009, Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts to promote a nuclear-weapon free world.