The name of Alfred Nobel is synonymous with the prizes that people receive the world over for excelling in a field. It is a rare honor to receive the prize and aspirants all over the world work hard to achieve this distinction. Nobel Prizes, awards are granted annually to persons or institutions for outstanding contributions during the previous year in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, international peace and economic sciences. The yearly prizes are awarded from the interest accruing from a trust fund provided by the testament of the Swedish chemist, inventor and philanthropist Alfred Bernhard Nobel.

Today many as indebted to the generosity of this man who has not failed to serve in death the progress of humanity. According to the will of this generous, "The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency; one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiological or medical works by the Karolin''s Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Sorting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not."

The story of Alfred Nobel''s venture into the world of scientific invention began one day in 1891 when a group of bankers gave an important audience to a young Swede who claimed to have an oil that would blow up the globe. The Swede was not entertained and was unceremoniously turned out. But on hearing about the young Swede Napoleon III invited Alfred for a talk. Alfred returned with a draft of a hundred thousand francs. Thus the foundation of the Nobel Fortune was laid.

Alfred was the third of the four sons. His health was always delicate and his mother fought a constant battle to keep him alive. Most part of his education was done at St. Petersburg Russia. He went to the United States to study mechanical engineering. As a young man he traveled to Europe. Here he fell in love with a girl who died soon after, Heartbroken and dejected he returned to his father''s factory and dedicated his life to the development of the most powerful explosives.

Alfred father Emmanuel Nobel had been tinkering with explosives for a number of years. He was convinced that nitroglycerin had great possibilities as an explosive. In those days it was chiefly used as a stimulant in heart ailments. Alfred and his father observed the erratic behavior of the nitroglycerine. They noticed that sometimes a small jolt could cause it to explode, while at other times a major thud would cause no sensation whatsoever. What were the conditions under which these explosives would explode? These were nagging questions and both the son and the father set out to find the answers together.

Alfred soon learnt that the only sure way of exploding this soup like liquid was to confine it in a stout container and set it off with a primary explosion. From this he evolved the blasting cap- an invention still the basis of the whole nitroglycerine. Though this was a break through, taming the nitroglycerin was a long way off.

With the financial help of Lord Napoleon Alfred and his father once again set out to win the battle against mysterious nitroglycerine. In May 1864, tragedy struck the family as the youngest son of the family. Emil Nobel, along with four other workmen were killed. Old Emmanuel was prostrated and he never did recover from the shock.

Soon the Nobel''s lost the permit to work with explosives and hard times were ahead for the family. The factory cracked down. But Alfred undeterred carried on trying to experiment with the solution. He was determined to show the world that his blasting oil was safe and that it could be tamed. He moved his plant to a barge moored in a lake. He took on the responsibilities of a chemist, manufacturer, book-keeper and demonstrator all in one. So involved was he in his work that he took hardly any time to eat and in the bargain ruined his digestive system for life.

Though Alfred''s aim was to use the "soup" only for peaceful purpose. Within a year the Swedish government was using his "soup" to blast a terminal railway tunnel under Stockholm, and he launched manufacturing companies in four countries.

Alfred''s success at the peaceful handling of the dynamite was short-lived. Nitroglycerine''s reign of terror was about to begin. One morning in 1865, Nobel''s plant in Norway soared skywards. A few weeks later, a worker in Silesia tried to cut the frozen blasting oil with an axe. They found his legs half a mile away. The following April seventy cases of nitroglycerine blew up aboard a ship docked in Panama. Even the wharf and the warehouse nearby were wrecked and another ship badly disabled. A few days later, fifteen persons were killed and a block of buildings in San Francisco by a nitroglycerine explosion in an express wagon. The world opinion turned against Alfred Nobel and on his subsequent business trip to New York he was avoided as one would the plague.

Alfred at the time had brought boxes containing the "soup". He decided to give a demonstration at a quarry and only about twenty people turned up. He wanted to educated the people that if handled properly the "soup" would behave. He poured a little of the terrible oil on a flat piece of iron, and then raised a hammer. The spectators ducked for cover. There was a sharp report but no one was harmed. Nobel in a dry scientific way he explained that only the oil struck by the hammer exploded. One couldn''t blow off the lot without confining it. Then he touched a match to the puddle of oil. It burnt but it did not explode. For two hours Alfred tried to drive home the point that one could make nitroglycerine behave the was one wanted. The crowd was convinced.

Alfred Nobel''s fortunes took a turn for the better and he was swamped with orders. He became a rich man. But he also had to face some hurdles as some countries passed laws forbidding the use of Nobel''s "soup" They thought that a safe nitroglycerine had to be invented that could be easily transported without risk. Alfred Nobel invented what was termed the world over a "safe nitroglycerine." Some say he discovered it by accident.

In northern Germany there was alight, absorbent earth called kieselguhr. One day Nobel''s workers ran out of sawdust and they used the earth in packing nitroglycerine cans. The story is that one of the can''s leaked, and Nobel noticed that the Kieselguhr drank it up like a blotting- paper. Alfred taking up the clue mixed three parts of "soup" with one part of Kieselguhr and his prayers were answered. His dynamite was ready for carting without any risk. The stuff could be kneaded like putty and packed in cartridges and it was safe to ship. Nobel called it dynamite. Within ten years, fifteen Nobel plants were turning out six million pounds annually of the new explosive.

By the time Nobel was forty he was a rich, lonely man, His interest stopped outside his work. He tried to recreate his lost past life but al in vain. He bought a house in Paris. He tried his hand at writing but he could never really decide which language to write in. He was from one to another depending on the topic of discussion. He was also a voracious reader, not only of technical books but of poetry and philosophy as well. He often discussed the latest plays and novels in the letters to his friends. He tried to write two novels that abandoned halfway and but he did manage to write a play.

Alfred''s earlier loss of his lady love made him a total introvert as far as women were concerned. He harbored a more or less cynical attitude towards women in general. In his loneliness he fathomed himself to be the most repulsive man whom no woman could entertain seriously.

Loneliness led Alfred to establish the peace prize. He corresponded heavily in six languages and soon began to feel the need of a secretary. He hated hiring secretaries for he hated dismissing them. In 1876, he tried once more and Bertha Kinsey, a Bohemian countess, answered his advertisement. She was an attractive woman of thirty, well educated and a good listener. Nobel''s gloomy, kindly manner appealed to her. He in turn was also much impressed. But before she actually entered her duties she ran away with the young Baron von Sutter. The couple worked for the Red Cross during the Russo- Turkish war. The Baroness was appalled by what she had see and wrote an anti-war novel. It was at this point that she turned to Nobel for help and the Nobel became a recognized leader of the peace movement. Nobel believed that hi high explosives would put an end to war sooner than the peace meetings because as military weapons became more deadly, horrified nations would disband their troops.

Nobel decided to leave his fortune which was worth two million pounds to a prize for distinguished peace workers, Later he included the prizes for science and literature. He intended these awards as to work as an inspiration for sinking geniuses.

In addition to a cash award, each Nobel Prize winner also received a gold medal and a diploma bearing the winners name and field of achievement . The judges often have divided the prize for achievement in a particular field among two or three people . Dividing the prize among more than three people is not allowed. If more than three people are judged to be deserving of the prize, it is awarded jointly The fund is controlled by the board of directors of the Nobel Foundation. Which serves for two- year periods and consists of six members; five elected by the trustees of the awarding bodies mentioned in the will, and the sixth appointed by the Swedish government. The six members are either Swedish or Norwegian citizens. To further the purposes of the foundation, separate institutes have been established, in accordance with Nobel''s will, in Sweden and Norway for advancement of each of the five original fields for which the prizes are awarded. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901.

Nobel lived his last days in the solitude of San Remo, Italy. He spent most of time working on synthetic rubber and artificial silk. His heart began to give out and he had a laugh when the doctors prescribed nitroglycerine. When his brother, who had made a fortune in oil died, the French papers thought that it was Alfred Nobel. Alfred had the peculiar satisfaction of reading his own obituaries. They were not complimentary. The French Government, had earlier on put restrictions upon his work when they were told that Alfred had sold some of the smokeless powder to Italy. On 10 December, 1896, he died.

Alfred Nobel - Timeline

1833 Alfred Nobel is born in Stockholm, Sweden. His father, Immanuel Nobel, goes bankrupt.

1837 Immanuel Nobel travels to Finland and then to St. Petersburg, Russia where he starts a mechanical workshop; his family is left in Sweden.

1842 The Nobel family is reunited in St. Petersburg.

1850-1852 Alfred Nobel goes to Paris and works for one year in the laboratory of T. Jules Pelouze. Travels to Italy, Germany and the U.S.

1853-1856 The Crimean War rages.
The Nobel Company first flourishes, but then undergoes bankruptcy as the war ends and the Russian military cancels orders.

Desperate search for new products. Zinin, Alfred Nobel's chemistry teacher, reminds him of nitroglycerine.

1860 Alfred Nobel starts his experiments with nitroglycerine.

1863 Obtains first patent on nitroglycerine (blasting oil) as an industrial explosive. Develops and patents an igniter (blasting cap) for triggering the explosion of nitroglycerine. Moves to Stockholm and continues experiments.
1864 Emil, Alfred Nobel's brother, is killed during the preparation of nitroglycerine at Heleneborg, Stockholm.

Nobel continues experiments and founds Nitroglycerin AB in Stockholm, Sweden.

1865 Alfred Nobel improves blasting cap and moves to Germany to set up Alfred Nobel & Co. Factory in Krümmel near Hamburg.

1866 Establishes the United States Blasting Oil Company in the U.S.

Violent explosion destroys the Krümmel plant. Experimenting on a raft anchored on the river Elbe, Alfred Nobel tries to make nitroglycerine safer to handle. Finds that the addition of kieselguhr turns nitroglycerine into a dough that can be kneaded, and calls it "dynamite".

1867 Alfred Nobel obtains patent for dynamite.

1870 Establishes Société général pour la fabrication de la dynamite in Paris, France.

1871 British Dynamite Company (Ardeer, Scotland, UK) is founded. In 1877 the company name was changed to Nobel's Explosives Company.

1872 Immanuel, Alfred Nobel's father, passes away.

1873 At the age of 40 Alfred Nobel is a wealthy man. He moves to Paris and settles at Avenue Malakoff.

Manufacture of nitroglycerine and dynamite starts at Ardeer.

1875 Alfred Nobel invents blasting gelatine in Paris. Patented it in 1876.

1876 Dynamitaktiengesellschaft (DAG), formerly Alfred Nobel & Co (Hamburg, Germany), is formed.

Alfred Nobel advertises for a housekeeper/personal secretary, meets with Bertha Kinsky von Chinic und Tettau (later von Suttner) and hires her. She leaves her employment after a short time and becomes a leading peace activist.

1880 Dynamite Nobel is formed by the fusion of Nobel's Italian and Swiss companies.

1881 Alfred Nobel buys an estate and laboratory at Sevran outside Paris.

1885 German Union formed by fusing DAG and a group of German dynamite companies.

1886 Nobel-Dynamite Trust Co, (London, UK) a cartelle of DAG and Nobel's Explosives.

1887 Obtains patent for blasting powder "ballistite" in France.

1889 Andriette, Alfred Nobel's mother, passes away.

1891 Alfred Nobel leaves Paris and settles in San Remo, Italy after dispute with the French government over ballistite.

1893 Alfred Nobel hires Ragnar Sohlman whom he later named executor of his will and testament.

1894 Alfred Nobel buys a small machine works, Bofors-Gullspång and a manor (Björkborn) at Karlskoga, Sweden.

1895 The third and last will of Alfred Nobel is signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris.

1896 Alfred Nobel dies in his home in San Remo, Italy on December 10, 1896.