No. 202 - Nobel Moment

I was listening to a program on the radio today and someone said that he had a Nobel Moment. Then he went on the explain what he meant.

He was referring to Alfred Nobel, the guy who instituted the Nobel Prizes.

The story he told went something like this:

In 1888 Alfred's brother Ludvig died while visiting Cannes and a French newspaper erroneously published Alfred's obituary instead of Ludvig's. It condemned Alfred for his invention of dynamite. The obituary stated, "The merchant of death is dead." And went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday."

It was Nobel's moment. This event is said to have brought about Nobel's decision to leave a better legacy after his death.

A little more than a decade later Nobel signed his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes. He died a year later. After taxes and bequests to individuals, Nobel's will gave the equivalent of $250 million (in 2008 dollars) to fund the prizes.

The Nobel Prizes are awarded for cultural and scientific advances. The prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901.

I suppose that was a pretty significant moment. I knew about the Nobel Prizes. I did not know about the dynamite.