This morning President Obama found out that he was a Nobel Prize Laureate. 1 of over 800 since 1901. In 1895, Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving the vast majority of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.
A historical perspective of Mr. Alfred Nobel
Mr. Alfred Nobel, was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1833 into a family of engineers. He descended from none other than Olof Rudbeck, the best-known technical genius of Sweden's 17th century era as a Great Power in Northern Europe. Alfred's Mother, Andriette (maiden name, Ahlsell) Nobel was the daughter of an accountant.
It made no difference because the same year that Alfred was born, his father, Immanuel Nobel, went bankrupt for the first time, in 1833. Four years later, Immanuel Nobel, established a mechanical workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia, leaving his family behind in Sweden. Alfred was four years old, but Immanuel Nobel needed to provide funds to support his family of six.
Immanuel Nobel's company flourished for a while during The Crimean War (1853 - 1856). Then war ended and the Russian military cancelled their orders, thus causing his father, Immanuel Nobel's company to go belly up, thus the second time that his father went bankrupt.
By then, Alfred was twenty years old. Alfred had studied abroad. He was smart and truly trying to figure out how to save the family. He and his brothers spoke five different languages fluently, having studied in Italy, Germany, France and the United States and were determined to survive and thrive.
Well, Alfred desperately sought out new products to sell in order to make it do what it do.
During those rough times, Alfred's chemistry Professor, Nikolai Zinin, reminds him of the Italian student of Pelouze, Ascanio Sobrero, who had discovered a new explosive called pyroglycerine(nitroglycerine). Now, according to a memorial address by Tore Frängsmyr (The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 26 March 1996), Professor Zinin poured a few drops of the fluid on an anvil, then hit it with a hammer, producing a loud bang. The only problem was that the hammer exploded too! They soon realized that the explosive was too difficult to control - but Alfred and his crew eventually worked it out.
That put the Nobel family back on the block again!
In 1863, Nobel got patents for nitroglycerin(blasting oil) and a detonator (blasting cap). With the help of his father and his brother, after many explosions, got a patent for datomaceous earth - dynamite.
At one point, Alfred's father, Immanuel Nobel became a bit delusional and wanted to take credit for all of Alfred's accomplishments with nitroglycerin, but got a rude awakening when Alfred wrote to his father, letting him know that he'd better wake up and smell the coffee - You see, Alfred Nobel was not the one! He told his father to cut that none sense out, especially since his father's track history had shown that he was famous for bad timing and losing the family fortune, despite the fact that Andriette Nobel kicked in to help the family out. This woman, Alfred's Mom, was a gifted woman, even taking it upon herself to run a milk and vegetable shop while taking care of the children during those rough days. Well, need less to say, Immanuel Nobel had the nerve to imply that he was the one to spear head the nitroglycerine experiments, trying to take the credit for Alfred's hard work. Oh, Alfred wrote one stern letter to his father, Immanuel. And guess what? Immanuel Nobel saw the light and corrected his errors and got with Alfred's program. Unfortunately, his brother Emil and four other people got blown up in one of their experiments.
Ironically, orders started rolling in for the explosives. I mean, everybody wanted some of what blew up the laboratory because, hey, they knew that it worked!
The Nobels' opens labs in Stockholm, Sweden, Hamburg, Germany, United States, Scotland, UK and Paris, France. Mr. Nobel and his family, like the American television show from the 1970's, The Jeffersons, the Nobels' "moved on up!" Again. As the song goes, "Beans don't burn in the kitchen..." You know the rest of the song...Oh, Alfred Nobel was so happy - he bought a lovely home smack dead in the middle of Paris with his new found wealth! He also purchased a home in San Remo, Italy and his native land, Stockholm, Sweden.
The Senior Nobels' got a chance to reap the benefits of having their sons study mathematics, chemistry and foreign languages. Immanuel passed at the ripe age of seventy-one. Alfred loved his Mother, always returning to Stockholm, Sweden for her birthday - never missing one birthday. Ms. Andriette lived to the grand age of eighty-five.
Alfred Nobel was a scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author and pacifist. But he also knew the value of the Kronor (or in our case, the mighty dollar) and learned how to roll with the punches that life had dealt him. As a result, he invested his money wisely and made sure that every Kronor counted.
Let's fast forward.
Alfred Nobel's health started to fail him and the reason was two fold; he didn't trust anyone to run his business, but at the same time, couldn't be in all places at one time. Let's face it, Alfred Nobel was always putting out fires and cleaning up laboratories that had experienced accidental explosions - all a part of the nature of the business that he was in - seemed like all the time. Right?
So, he writes his will, changing it a few times, but ultimately ended up bequeathing sums of money to his relatives and other people close to him, leaving the vast majority of his wealth to "...those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind." Alfred Nobel died peacefully on December 10, 1896, at the age of 63, in San Remo, Italy.
Continuing down to this very day, President Barack Obama is attempting to put America, the beautiful, back on track, one day at a time, thus making " the greatest benefit to mankind."
(researched from http://nobelprize.org/)
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