Bernanke is Time Magazine's Person of the Year

Ben Bernanke was praised for his handling of the recession

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve board, has been named Time Magazine's Person of the Year.

The magazine said the recession itself was the story of the year and without Mr Bernanke at the helm it would have been a lot worse.

Mr Bernanke, who is 56, is a former Princeton University professor and an expert on the Great Depression.

US President Barack Obama and the Apple chief executive Steve Jobs were also in the running for the award.

President Obama was last year's winner.

"We've rarely had such a perfect revision of the cliche that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," said Richard Stengel, Time Magazine's managing editor.

"Bernanke didn't just learn from history; he wrote it himself and was damned if he was going to repeat it."