New Delhi: The Nobel Prize is unarguably one of the most prestigious awards in the world. It has five separate prizes which are awarded to those who, in the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The Nobel Prize is given in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Literature, Peace and Physiology or Medicine. Also, a sixth prize for Economic Sciences is frequently included. Considered the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields, the Nobel Prize was established on November 27, 1895, by Alfred Nobel after whom the prize is named.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish inventor, chemist, engineer and businessman. He invented dynamite and also bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes. He made many important contributions to science and held 355 patents in his lifetime.
Born on October 21, 1833, in Sweden’s Stockholm, Alfred Nobel’s father was an inventor and engineer. His father was a Royal Institute of Technology alumnus in Stockholm and was an engineer and inventor who built bridges and buildings and experimented with different ways of blasting rocks. Alfred Nobel learnt from him from a very young age.
The inventions of Alfred Nobel
In 1867, Alfred Nobel patented the dynamite when he found that nitroglycerin was safer to handle when incorporated in an absorbent inert substance like kieselguhr. He demonstrated it for the first time in 1867 at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey. He first named it “Nobel’s Safety Powder”, but later named it dynamite after the Greek word for “power”. Later, he invented a more powerful explosive than dynamite which was called Gelignite, or blasting gelatin and he patented it in 1876. It brought Nobel great financial success and he later invented ballistite, which led to the birth of modern smokeless powder explosives and is still used as a rocket propellant.
The establishment of the Nobel Prize
There is a popular unverified story behind the origin of the Nobel Prize. In 1888, his brother Ludvig’s death supposedly caused several newspapers to erroneously publish obituaries of Alfred. He was criticised for his inventions of explosives and it apparently led Nobel to change his legacy. It is said that he posthumously donated the majority of his wealth to establish the Nobel Prize to leave a better legacy. However, whether the obituary actually existed is debatable. On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his testament at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris and donated the majority of his estate to establish the Nobel Prize.
The Nobel Prize is given in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Literature, Peace and Physiology or Medicine. Also, a sixth prize for Economic Sciences is frequently included. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
