Alfred Nobel’s name is famous because of the Nobel Prizes: the most honoured prizes in the world in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish Scientist and engineer. The Nobel prizes include a prize which is given to someone who has done extraordinary work to promote peace in our world. But curiously enough, Alfred Nobel was the man who invented such destructive explosives as dynamite, blasting gelatin (more powerful than dynamite), and a new kind of detonator for explosives!
Nobel was also a poet. He believed that literature and science were the most important factors in human progress. Born at Stockholm on Oct 21, 1833, he spent only two terms in school and could not attend a university, his education being taken over by tutors. To complete his education as an engineer, he was sent to the U.S.A. for one year.
Alfred Nobel, like his father, had a genius for invention. He studied explosives, especially nitroglycerin. The powerful jellylike substance which was called the “blasting gelatin” was patented by him along with the dynamite. From the manufacture of dynamite and other explosives, and from the Baku oil fields, Nobel earned immense fortune. But he was in ill-health all his life and he never married. He left most of his money in a trust which was to be used in giving prizes for outstanding work in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature, peace, ( and economics which was added in 1969). Well known organizations select the winners in each field and the Nobel Foundation of Sweden distributes the words.