Philip Noel-Baker

Philip John Baker was born on November 1, 1889, in Hendon, London, into a devout Quaker family. A brilliant scholar at King's College, Cambridge, he served as President of both the Cambridge Union and Cambridge University Athletic Club. In World War I, as a conscientious objector, he commanded the Friends' Ambulance Unit on the frontlines in France and Italy, earning the Mons Star and Silver Medal for Military Valour.

At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, he captained the British team and won the silver medal in the 1500 meters. Noel-Baker helped draft the Covenant of the League of Nations as principal assistant to Lord Robert Cecil, and in 1945, he served as a key British delegate drafting the Charter of the United Nations in San Francisco.

A British Labour Member of Parliament for 36 years and cabinet minister, he authored the definitive treatise 'The Arms Race: A Programme for World Disarmament' (1958). In 1959, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his lifelong campaign for multilateral disarmament.