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NOBEL PRIZES ARE AWARDED IN FIVE CATEGORIES – PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE, LITERATURE AND PEACE. IF YOU ARE A PHYSICIST OR CHEMIST OR PHYSICIAN OR AUTHOR, YOU MIGHT NATURALLY BELIEVE THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT PRIZE IS THE ONE IN YOUR FIELD; BUT IF, LIKE MOST ORDINARY PEOPLE, YOU SIMPLY WANT TO LIVE IN PEACE, IT IS HARD TO ARGUE AGAINST THE IMPOR- TANCE OF THE PEACE PRIZE. Berit Reiss-Andersen is chair of the Norwegian No- bel Committee, the five-member committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also a board member of the Nobel Foundation, which has the overall responsibility for all five Nobel Prizes. Reiss-Andersen earned her Candidate of Jurispru- dence degree (a 6-year law degree) in 1981 at the University of Oslo, Norway’s preeminent universi- ty. She was an executive officer at the Norwegian Office of Immigration 1981–1982 and legal advis- er at the Royal Ministry of Justice and the Police 1982–1984. She served as a prosecutor with the Oslo Police District 1984–1987 before entering private practice. She was President of the Norwe- gian Bar Association from 2008 to 2012. She has 45 JOURNAL BERIT REISS-ANDERSEN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE