Barack Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 and attended Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School from 1991 to 2004. Obama served as an Illinois State Senator from 1997 to 2004 and a U.S. Senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008. He was then elected the 44th President of the United States, serving from 2008 to 2016. After leaving the presidency, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.