Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel decided to restore his reputation after the death of his brother. Here's how a family tragedy led to the creation of the Nobel Prize.
Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833 into a large family. The future scientist was the third child of eight. The Nobels' family lived in poverty, could not afford good food and medicine. Only four brothers survived to adulthood: Ludwig, Emil, Robert and Alfred himself.
In 1988, 56-year-old Ludwig Nobel died in Cannes. Alfred was badly hurt by the loss of the family – and also by the public reaction.
Some of the newspapers confused the brothers, and on the first pages there were obituaries in which Alfred Nobel was “buried”:
“The merchant of death is dead.”
The scientist was known primarily as the creator of dynamite, a patent for which he received in 1867. The explosive was used for civilian purposes, in mines and factories. But besides dynamite, Nobel patented other, more dangerous inventions: military explosives, explosive jelly and ballistite.
French newspaper obituaries rejoiced that the “blood millionaire” would no longer give the world a dangerous weapon:
“Dr. Alfred Nobel died yesterday and got rich by finding a way to kill more people faster than ever.”
Nobel was shocked that after his death he would be remembered as a world evil. Killing people was not in the plans of the scientist: Nobel adhered to pacifist views all his life.
The chemist decided to fix the situation and make the world a better place. In 1985, the scientist donated most of his fortune to the establishment of the Nobel Prize, which was to award outstanding scientific research around the world.
In his will, the scientist indicated that he gives prizes and monetary awards to the institution of 94% of his assets, or 31,225,000 Swedish kronor.
“These percentages should be divided into five equal parts of the fifth – to the one who will make a significant contribution to the unification of peoples, the elimination of slavery, the reduction of the number of existing armies and the promotion of a peace agreement.”
Nobel specifically pointed out that the race and nationality of the candidate for the Peace Prize does not matter.
“My special desire is that the nationality of the candidate should not influence the awarding of the prizes, so that the most worthy people will receive the prizes, regardless of whether they are Scandinavians or not.”
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