Nobel Prize; Blood Money

 Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist,inventor and engineer whose life in age of industrial expansion led him to become one of the most powerful industrialist of his time.

The name Nobel conjures up a sense of international human achievement, yet ,paradoxically, the man who gave his name to the most highly regarded peace award also invented dynamite and was considered by many to be the arch-type of a mad scientist.

  Born in Stockholm, Alfred was well-educated, with a passion for literature and poetry. But his father sought a more pragmatic career for his son, sending him abroad to study chemical engineering. Nobel became fascinated with workings of nitroglycerin, a highly explosive liquid that was, at that time, too unstable to be useful. Returning to St Petersburg,he continued to work with the explosives, aiding and supplying the Russian army via the family business.

  During the 1860s, having returned to Sweden, Nobel began developing this volatile compound – a dangerous activity fraught with tragedy and travail. And explosion in 1864 at a factory he built killed several people, including his own brother Emil. Following this, the Swedish authorities decided nitroglycerin production was too dangerous to be conducted within Stockholm city limits and Nobel was forced to work from a barge on lake Malaren. Nevertheless, he patented dynamite, a paste mixture of nitroglycerin and silica. he also developed a blasting cap to aid detonation, and a smokeless gunpowder, ballistite. In 1889, these inventions, which greatly assisted the expansion of construction industries and brought Nobel massive wealth, and were swiftly used as weapons of mass destruction.

  Alfred Nobel was a private, hardworking man who spent much of his time travelling throughout the western world. towards the end of his life, he had amassed a vast fortune. Nobel bitterly rued the fact that his invention was used as weapon of mass destruction and death. And as a gesture of atonement, his will dedicated his entire fortune to those who had conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. He bequeathed around $9million to be administered as annual prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, peace and literature; reflecting the fields of his interest that concerned him most. Although the will was contested by surprised relatives, Nobel final wish was realised in the birth of the Nobel foundation in 1901, with the first  five  prizes awarded on the fifth anniversary of his death. A sixth category for economics was instituted in 1969. Given annually except during war years. The Nobel prize is considered to be the most prestigious honour attainable in human achievement.

  Now I know why some people refuse the award.