Obama becomes the third US President in the history awarded with Nobel Prize

 Barack Obama became the third president in the history of the United States to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. On Friday Obama was awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," stated the Norwegian Nobel Committee pointing to Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The announcement was a shock for Nobel observers as Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. There were some rumors before the ceremony that his name was included into the lists.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

The committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of, and work for, a world without nuclear weapons.

"Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play," the committee said.

Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on climate change.