Lin Yutang, a Chinese national, was Head of UNESCO’s Arts and Letters Division from 1948-1949. Lin was born 10 October 1895, in Changchow, China. He pursued his higher education at St. John’s University in Shanghai; Harvard University, USA; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany; and, Leipzig University, Germany. He earned the following degrees: Bachelor of Arts, St. John’s University (1916); Master of Arts, Harvard University (1922); and Doctorate in Linguistics, Leipzig University (1923).

Lin began his career as an English teacher at Tsinghua University, Peking, from 1916-1919. During this time, he also proposed methods to improve the Chinese indexing system and served on the Preparatory Committee for Standardizing the National Language. Upon returning to China after his studies, Lin became an English Professor at Peking National University from 1923-1926. In 1925, he also served on the Chinese Roman Phonetic Transcription Research Committee. Between 1926 and 1927, Lin moved several times, occupying academic posts and then a post as secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After this period, Lin continued to hold academic positions, but focused mainly on his writing as well as pursuing his invention of a Chinese character-based typewriter. In 1928, he published the English textbooks 'Kaiming English Books'. He began to write for the English-language 'The China Critic Weekly' and was Editor-in-chief of 'Academia Sinica' from 1929-1934. In 1930, he co-founded the Chinese branch of P.E.N. International in Shanghai. Lin founded or co-founded the journals 'Analects Fortnightly,' 'World of Mankind,' 'Cosmic Wind,' and 'Western Winds' in the period 1932-1935. Following the publication of his book 'My Country and My People' in 1935, Lin moved to the United States. His numerous publications from this period, included: 'The Importance of Living' (1937), 'Moment in Peking' (1939) and 'The Wisdom of China and India' (1942).

Lin began his brief career at UNESCO July 28, 1948. He resigned for May 15, 1949. He continued to move between Europe, China and the United States as he pursued his writing and served in various academic positions. Among Lin’s works from this period, he published 'Lin Yutang's Chinese-English dictionary of modern usage' in 1972. Lin died on March 26, 1976 in Hong Kong.

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Netherlands, in 1853. He studied at the University of Leiden, earning a degree in mathematics and physics in 1871. He began teaching at evening schools and at the same time pursued his doctoral research. At the age of 22 he received his doctorate for work on the theory of reflection and refraction of light. Three years later, the University of Leiden created a chair for theoretical physics specifically for him. His studies focus on the theory of light and electromagnetism. In 1902, Lorentz received the Nobel Prize in Physics, together with his compatriot Pieter Zeeman, for “their research into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena.” In 1912 he accepted the post of curator of the physical cabinet at the Teyler Museum, Haarlem, and also became Secretary of the Royal Dutch Society of the Science (Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen). He continued to teach at Leiden until his death. Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) established the Lorentz Medal in his honour in 1926. Lorentz died in Haarlem in 1928.

A polyglot and internationalist, Lorentz was nominated a member of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) in 1923 to replace Albert Einstein. Although Einstein joined again the next year, both stayed members of the ICIC from 1924 on, increasing the total number of ICIC members to fourteen. Henri Bergson, President of the ICIC, had recommended his election at the Council of the LN. In 1925, Lorentz succeeded Bergson as President of the ICIC and held this position until his death. It was on his initiative that in September 1926 the Dutch Committee of Intellectual Cooperation was founded. When he died in 1928, his colleagues Albert Einstein (member of the ICIC) and Jules Destrée (Vice-President of the ICIC) gave his funeral speech.

Born in 1876 in Bordeaux, France, Julien Luchaire was Romanist scholar, politician, and public servant. He was educated at Lycée Henri IV and École normale supérieure, passing the Aggrégation in 1897. He subsequently spent time at the École française de Rome and taught at the University of Lyon from 1900 until 1905. Having published two dissertations on Italian intellectual and political history, he became professor of Italian at the University of Grenoble, a post that he held from 1906 until 1919. In 1907 he founded the Institut français in Florence. After the First World War he served in senior positions at various ministries, and was appointed general inspector of education in 1920.

A friend and collaborator of Henri Bergson’s, Luchaire was involved in intellectual cooperation at the League of Nations (LN) from the outset. Together with Paul Appell, head of the French LN Association, Luchaire launched a project on an international bureau of intellectual relations and education, a report of which was handed to LN secretary-general Eric Drummond in 1920. Luchaire’s project was subsequently picked up by Léon Bérard, the French education minister, who convinced President Aristide Briand of the importance of such an organisation at the LN (Renoliet 1999, 14–23). In 1922 he became an advisor to the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC), and in 1923 a member of the French Committee on Intellectual Cooperation. He was one of the driving forces behind the French offer to establish the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) in Paris, and in 1926 became its first Director. During his tenure, the IIIC became widely known as the executive branch of the ICIC and launched a number of influential projects, such as the International Studies Conference (ISC). Starting from 1928 Luchaire was increasingly criticised by his colleagues, which lead to significant organisational changes and eventually his own resignation in April 1930 (Renoliet 1999, p. 87, 109). After Luchaire’s resignation, he was succeeded in 1930 by Henri Bonnet. Luchaire himself was given an advisory position at the ICIC’s Permanent Committee of Arts and Letters. He was also appointed an expert for the enquiry into the state of intellectual life and continued to receive his previous salary during 1931.

Following his work for the League of Nations, he taught at l’École des Hautes Études Sociales, where he also chaired the education department and established a course on International Relations. From 1937 until his retirement in 1941, he once again served as general inspector of education. Luchaire died in 1962 in Paris.

Salvador de Madariaga was born in Corona, Spain, in 1886. He studied at the Instituto Cisneros in Madrid and in France at the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole des Mines. He worked as a railway engineer from 1912 to 1916, and simultaneously engaged in literary and journalistic work in the Spanish press, specialising in French and British affairs. In 1916, he joined the London Times.

He served as a technical Attaché to the Spanish delegation to the Barcelona Conference on the freedom of transit (1921), and began to work at the League of Nations (LN) the same year. He became a member of the Information Section at the LN Secretariat (1921), and went on to head the Disarmament Section from 1921 until 1927. His diplomatic career was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. During the Second Spanish Republic, he served as Minister of Public Education, a post from which he resigned after five weeks to become successively ambassador to the US and France. De Madariaga also continued to represent Spain at the LN for this period. Forced into exile after the defeat of the Republicans, he focused on teaching, historical research, journalism and literature. After the Second World War he was elected president of the cultural department of the European movement, and then served as co-founding president of the College of Europe in Bruges until 1972. He later retired to Locarno where he died in 1978.

A member of the ICIC, de Madariaga was involved in the activities of the Sub-Committee on Arts and Letters during the 1920s, before becoming a member of the Permanent Committee on Arts and Letters in 1931. In 1936 the ICIC selected him as President of the Committee of Directors of the International Museums Office (IMO). A novelist and poet, he participated in the correspondences and interviews, organised and published by the IIIC: Entretiens sur Goethe (1932), Pour une Société des Esprits (1933), L'Avenir de la Culture (1933), L'Avenir de l'esprit européen (1934), L' Art et la réalité. L' Art et l'Etat (1935), Vers un nouvel humanisme (1937) and Le Destin prochain des lettres (1938).

The General Conference approved the creation of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development as a UNESCO Category 1 Institute on 22 October 2009, during its 35th Session.

René Maheu was born in 1905. He was a professor of Philosophy and served as Cultural Attaché in London (1936-1939). After teaching in Morocco (1940-1942) he occupied a managerial post in the France-Afrique press agency in Algiers, before joining the Executive Office of the Resident-General in Rabat. In 1946 he entered UNESCO as Chief, Division of Free Flow of Information. In 1949 Jaime Torres Bodet appointed him Director of his Executive Office. In 1954 he became Assistant Director-General and was UNESCO’s representative at UN Headquarters from 1955 to 1958. Promoted Deputy Director-General in 1959, Acting Director-General in 1961, and in 1962 Director-General, for two successive mandates. He died in 1975.