Alva Myrdal (1902-1986)

Awarded the Prize “for owing to her magnificent work in the disarmament negotiations of the United Nations; she has made such a notable contribution to the task of informing world opinion on the problems of armaments of arousing the acceptance by the general public of their joint responsibility for the train of events.”

Swedish diplomat author. Myrdal was born on January 31, 1902 at Uppsala, Sweden. She graduated from the University of Stockholm in 1924. After a career as a teacher, she served as Principal Director of the United Nations Department of Social Welfare became Director of the UNESCO Department of Social Sciences in 1951. From 1955 to 1961 she served as ambassador to India, Myanmar Sri Lanka. In 1962 she was elected to Parliament as a Social Democrat was named head of the Swedish delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Conference. Myrdal died on February 1, 1986 at Ersta, near Stockholm.