Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel, who was born in 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden, was one of history’s great innovators. His discovery of dynamite in 1866, in an era of rapid industrial expansion, made him one of the world’s wealthiest men. In addition, he was a man of multiple and varied passions who read in six languages, travelled troughout his life and wrote plays and poetry.

When Nobel died, he left money to fun the Nobel Prize.
He wanted to reward those whose discoveries or innovations have the greatest benefit for mankind. The results and effects have been amazing. For example, if it hadn’t been for the invention of lasers we would never have had innovations such as bar codes in supermarkets.

Novel realised that nationality was not an important issue when giving out prize, so he made it international. At first, Europeans dominated the Nobel Prize, but the complete list of winners shows that the prize has been given to people from all over the world and from every continent. In the last quarter of a century, more than ten winners came form nations that did not even exits in Nobel’s time.