Dr. Mohamed Mostafa El-Baradei, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was born on June 17, 1942, in Cairo, Egypt). He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 with the IAEA.

El-Baradei was appointed Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1997. He has been appointed to this position for three terms, with the last slated to conclude in November 2009.

He is the son of Mostafa el-Baradei who headed the Egyptian Bar Association. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in law from the University of Cairo in 1962 and a Ph.D in International Law from the New York University School of Law in 1974.

His diplomatic career began in 1964 in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served in the permanent missions of Egypt to the United Nations in New York and in Geneva, in charge of political, legal, and arms control issues. From 1974 to 1978, he was special assistant to the Egyptian Foreign Minister. In 1980, he became senior fellow in charge of the international law program at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. From 1981 to 1987, he was also professor of international law at New York University School of Law.

In 1984, el-Baradei became a senior staff member of the IAEA Secretariat, serving as the Agency's legal adviser (1984 to 1993) and Assistant Director General for External Relations (1993 to 1997).

During his tenure as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, el-Baradei has been conferred many awards for his efforts to ensure that nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes.

On October 7, 2005, el-Baradei and the IAEA were announced as joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for their "efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy, for peaceful purposes, is used in the safest possible way".

El-Baradei is the fourth Egyptian to receive the Nobel Prize, following Ahmed Zewail (1999 in Chemistry), Naguib Mahfouz (1988 in Literature) and Anwar Sadat (1978 in Peace).