Alfred Nobel Biography

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish inventor, engineer and industrialist who had obtained a total of 355 patents in his lifetime. He was most well-known for inventing dynamite, and for developing some more powerful explosives and detonators to effectively ignite them. He built a network of almost a hundred factories all over the world to manufacture explosives and ammunition, and amassed a massive fortune from his businesses. In fact, at the time of his death, he was one of the wealthiest persons on the world. Since he was unmarried and childless, there were many speculations about the contents of his last will which he had signed on 27th November, 1895. The contents of his will caused a lot of disappointment to his much hopeful extended family as Nobel had left much of his wealth for the establishment of an international prize fund! As the inventor of dynamite, he had earned the sobriquet, ‘The Merchant of Death’ which deeply traumatized Nobel who was a pacifist at heart. He did not want to be remembered as the reason behind mass destruction after his death, and in order to redeem his posthumous reputation, he left the major portion of his wealth for the establishment of the Nobel Prizes to be awarded for eminence in five different fields, without any discrimination on basis of nationality.