Alexander Myint San Aung Aris ( my, မြင့်ဆန်းအောင်, ; born 12 April 1973) is the elder son of

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...

and

Michael Aris Michael Vaillancourt Aris (27 March 1946 – 27 March 1999) was an English historian who wrote and lectured on Bhutanese, Tibetan and Himalayan culture and history. He was the husband of Aung San Suu Kyi, who would later become State Counsellor ...

. He is also a grandson of

Aung San Aung San (, ; 13 February 191519 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his goa ...

, who is credited with achieving the independence of Myanmar (although he was assassinated in 1947, six months before the independence). He has been representing his mother, who has been detained by the military junta for years; he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for her, and on many other awards and occasions, he has represented her.

Early life

Aris was born on 12 April 1973 at

Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital is one of the oldest maternity hospitals in Europe, founded in 1739 in London. Until October 2000, it occupied a site at 339–351 Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith, but is now located between East Acton and Wh ...

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to Aung San Suu Kyi and Michael Aris. His younger brother Kim Aris was born in 1977. His family home was in Park Town,

North Oxford North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College. Overview The le ...

. In March 1988, his mother returned to Burma in order to nurse her dying mother Daw Khin Kyi, the wife of

. She did not return to Oxford until June 2012, having been placed under house arrest in Burma for political reasons in 1989.

Education

Aris was educated at two private schools in his home city of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

: at

Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

, a co-educational preparatory school, followed by Magdalen College School, a senior school for boys, which he left in 1990. He graduated from

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

in the United States and received a MSc in

Mathematical Sciences The mathematical sciences are a group of areas of study that includes, in addition to mathematics, those academic disciplines that are primarily mathematical in nature but may not be universally considered subfields of mathematics proper. Statist ...

Life after mother's detention

In 1989, Alexander and his brother Kim were both stripped of their Burmese citizenships by the ruling junta (military government). The two brothers are British nationals. In 1988 when Kim Aris was only 11 his mother had to leave their home in

to look after her dying mother in Burma. In 1991, Alexander's mother

won the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

for her efforts in Burma. At the time, Alexander Aris (age 18) and his brother Kim Aris (age 14) accepted the prize on their mother's behalf. The Nobel Peace Prize's 1.3 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

prize money was used to establish a

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

trust for the Burmese people. Over the years, Aris has accepted many awards and given many speeches on behalf of his mother. They include accepting The Award of the International Human Rights Law Group; welcoming the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Spain; and accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the US. After his father's death in 1999, Aris visited his mother for a short time.

References

External links

Alexander's Acceptance Speech of the Nobel Prize
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aris, Alexander 1973 births Living people People from London British people of Burmese descent British people of Canadian descent British Theravada Buddhists People educated at The Dragon School People educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford British human rights activists British pacifists British democracy activists British civil rights activists Aung San Suu Kyi