On this day in 1833, Alfred Nobel was born, a Swedish chemist, inventor, industrialist and great philanthropist.
The element number 102 in the periodic table of elements - nobelium - is named after him.
In 1867 he found dynamite, and in 1886 ballistite, one of the first smokeless gunpowder. His inventions were diverse, he patented 355. Although he was most interested in the use of explosives in construction, we are witnesses that his most famous invention is abused on a daily basis.
Although he was most interested in the use of explosives in construction, we are witnesses that his most famous invention is being abused on a daily basis.
How did Nobel get the nickname Death Dealer?
Nobel came up with the idea to use his money for annual awards after his brother Ludwig passed away in 1888, and French journalists mistakenly wrote that Alfred himself had died. Namely, the newspaper published an article entitled: "The death dealer is dead", and it was further written: "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who got rich by discovering the way in which more people can be killed faster than ever before, died yesterday".
When Nobel read this, he began to think about how to improve his image of himself in public and decided to leave his enormous wealth as a pledge to create awards that will bear his name. The Nobel Prizes were created as awards for people who have made a great contribution to humanity in the fields that interested this scientist - physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.
Nobel studied physics and chemistry, and saw the benefits of advancing medicine. It is believed that the award for "peace" was proposed and promoted by his former mistress and secretary Berta Kinski, who herself won the award in 1905, just a few years after it was established.
The awards were first presented in 1901. For chemistry and physics, the awards are given by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, for medicine (and physiology) by the Carolina Institute in Stockholm, and for peace by a commission of five members elected by the Norwegian National Assembly.
He died in 1896 at his home in San Remo, Italy. On the day of his death, December 10, the Nobel Prizes are awarded. It happened that some winners refused the same. In any case, receiving this award is considered prestige.
Five interesting facts about the Nobel Prize
1. Poet Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel went down in history as the inventor of dynamite. But he was also a skilled poet and a lover of Shelley and Byron verse.
He wrote songs all his life, sometimes in his native Swedish, but mostly in English.
"I have no intention of calling my verses poetry. I have written and am writing only for the purpose of alleviating depression or improving my English," Nobel wrote in a letter to a friend.
In 1862, at the age of 29, Nobel questioned his literary talent. "Physics is my field, not writing," he wrote in a letter in French to a young woman.
In the year of his death, 1896, he wrote a scandalous tragedy in four acts, "Nemesis". He was inspired by Shelley's drama "Cenci" about a woman who killed her incestuous father in Rome in the 16th century.
2. Award-winning families
After the first Nobel Prize awards, six children followed in their parents' footsteps and became winners themselves.
The seventh child, Lawrence Bragg, won the award together with his father William for physics in 1915. It was by Nobel standards in his "tender years." He had only 25 of them.
The Kiri family won a total of four awards, and "gained" the fifth by getting married.
Two belonged to Maria Curie, who is still the only person who can be proud of that. She shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre. She won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911.
The eldest daughter, Irena, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband, Frederic Jolie, in 1935.
Irena's younger sister Eva Curie, the only one in the family who did not choose a scientific career, married Henry Richardson, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965, when he was the head of UNICEF.
Swede Gunnar Midal won the Nobel Prize in Economics, and eight years later his wife Alva was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
3. Award winners in absentia
ince 1901, five Nobel laureates have not been able to participate in the awards ceremony in Oslo.
German journalist and pacifist Karl von Osecki was in a Nazi concentration camp when he was declared the winner in 1936.
Chinese dissident Lu Xiaobo was imprisoned in 2010, and Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov was represented in 1975 by his wife, Jelena Boner.
Former Polish President Lech Walesa rejected the invitation to the award ceremony in Oslo in 1983, because he feared that he would not be allowed to return to Poland.
Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest when she won the Nobel Prize in 1991. Although she was allowed to travel to Oslo, she declined the invitation for the same reason as Valens.
4. Why is there no Nobel Prize in Mathematics?
Historians stopped the rumors in the 1980s that Alfred Nobel's partner had an affair with the mathematician Guest Mitag-Lefler, and that this was the reason why the inventor did not want to pay tribute to mathematicians as well.
There are two plausible explanations for why there is no math award.
When Nobel compiled his will in 1895, the prize for mathematics already existed in Sweden and he did not see the need for another one.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the applied sciences were at the mercy of the public and the profession. The contribution of mathematics to humanity was not as obvious as it is today.
5. Posthumous awards
The Statute of the Nobel Foundation from 1974 does not provide for the posthumous award. Before that change, only two people won the Nobel Prize after death.
UN Secretary-General Swede Hammarskjöld of Sweden was killed in a plane crash in 1961, but was declared the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize later that year.
In 1931, the Nobel Prize for Literature was posthumously awarded to another Swede, Erik Axel Karlfelt.
The board awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine to Canadian Ralph Steinman in 2011, not knowing that the doctor had died three days before the winner was announced, and the award was recognized.
He was so genius, and his invention makes our life so easy. We should greatfull to him