In 1928, Hans Blix was born in Uppsala, Sweden and attended the University of Uppsala. After graduating from Uppsala, he studied at Columbia University, where he was also a research graduate. Dr. Blix then earned his Ph. D. from Cambridge University in law. In 1959, Dr. Blix became Doctor of Laws at Stockholm University and in 1960 became an associate professor in International Law. In 1987 he received an honorary doctorate from Moscow State University and earned the Henry de Wolf Smyth Award in 1988.
In 1963, Dr. Blix worked as a part of Sweden's foreign ministry and became its head in 1978. He has worked in various offices as it deals with nuclear issues, including a campaign to encourage Sweden to retain its nuclear energy program.
Also in 1961, Dr. Blix started his career with the United Nations as a member of his country's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. He served in this post until 1981. From 1962 to 1978, Dr. Blix was a part of the Swedish delegation to the Confrence on Disarmament in Geneva.
In 1981, Dr. Blix became the director general of the Internation Atomic Energy Agency. He served in this post until he retired in 1997. It was during this time period that Blix was first charged with taking a look at and enforcing a Security Council resolution against Iraq, UN Resolution 687. The IAEA was charged with the inspections of Iraq's nuclear program.
In January of 2000, he was named Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission or UNMOVIC.
Information taken from http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/ExecChair/ExeChBi.htm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2268819.stm