Monday, Oct. 21, 2002

People

By Michele Orecklin

JIMMY CARTER Peace

Almost everyone agrees that Jimmy Carter was not our best President, but as former Presidents go, he's tops. This was confirmed when the Nobel Committee recognized him for his "untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." The committee acknowledged the role he played while President in the 1978 Camp David accords, when he forged a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and for the work he has done since leaving office in 1981. In 1982 Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center, which promotes human rights, democracy and health care. He has traveled the world from East Timor to Haiti mediating conflicts and monitoring elections, and promoted Habitat for Humanity, an organization that builds housing for low-income families. Though Carter, a Democrat, received a congratulatory call from President George W. Bush, the honor was not devoid of politics. In its statement the committee noted that "in a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international cooperation based on international law." Committee chairman Gunnar Berge said the choice of Carter, who opposes unilateral U.S. action against Iraq, should be interpreted as criticism of the Bush Administration's hard-line policy on Iraq.

IMRE KERTESZ Literature

It is hardly surprising that Hungarian novelist Imre Kertesz, 72, is not well known in the U.S.: only two of his books have been translated into English. But he is also somewhat of a stranger in his native country. His low profile may be in part because of the dense themes in his writing. Sent to Auschwitz at age 14 in 1944, Kertesz was transferred to, and subsequently liberated from, Buchenwald in 1945. He returned to Hungary only to endure communist rule for four decades. In his novels and essays he revisits the Holocaust, pondering, in the words of the Nobel Committee, "the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history." Kertesz is grimly accepting of these ghastly events. His 1975 novel, Fateless, concerns a young boy shipped to Auschwitz who survives by conforming in thought and behavior. Within hours of the Nobel Prize announcement, his books sold out at Hungarian bookstores.

DANIEL KAHNEMAN Economics

In the field of economics, theoretical models are predicated on people behaving rationally. Daniel Kahneman proved otherwise, perhaps because he is not an economist. A professor at Princeton University, Kahneman, 65, is a cognitive psychologist. In his studies he has shown that people are not particularly wise about assessing probability. His work, he has said, was inspired by such curiosities as finding that when polled, subjects said they would travel 20 minutes to save $5 on a $15 calculator but not spend the same time to save $5 on a $125 jacket. Kahneman won the prize, according to the committee, for "having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science." Upon learning that he had won, Kahneman locked himself out of his house, proving again that rational thought and economics don't always go hand in hand.