Who Created The Nobel Prizes?
The Nobel prizes, which are awarded each year for excellence in the fields of literature, economics, medicine, physics, chemistry, and for services to peace, were named after Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel who left provision for them in his will. Nobel had been an innovative chemist who made pioneering discoveries in the field of explosives, finding ways to harness the natural explosive power of nitro-glycerine by mixing it with other substances which would make it less volatile and so much safer to use. His first such invention he called dynamite and it brought him great wealth. By the end of his life, which came in 1896, he owned armaments and explosives factories in many countries. The bulk of his fortune he left to fund the creation of the Nobel foundation and to provide for the annual prizes which would be given. Four institutions, three in Sweden, and one in Norway, were named to adjudicate the awards, and the first Nobel prizes were presented in 1901.
