Butler, Nicholas Murray (1862-1947)

US educationist. His career is intimately associated with Columbia University. He studied at Columbia College (1878-82), before teaching philosophy there (1882-84). On his return from Europe he first taught philosophy and then became first dean of the faculty of philosophy, ethics, and psychology in 1890 when the college became a university. He became president in 1901 and founded a college for the training of teachers. Over a period of 40 years he helped to raise Columbia University to a position of high prestige. He shared the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1931, with Jane Addams, for his role in the creation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Butler was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His publications include The Meaning of Education (1898), True and False Democracy (1907), Philosophy (1911), The International Mind (1913), Building the American Nation (1923), The Family of Nations (1938), and an autobiography, Across the Busy Years (1939).

Butler received many honours, and honorary doctorates at 26 universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and Manchester. He was president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1925-45).