Alfred Nobel
1833 – 1896 · Sweden
Known for: Invented dynamite; endowed the Nobel Prizes
“Contentment is the only real wealth.”
Biography
A chemist, engineer and polyglot who held 355 patents, Alfred Nobel tamed nitroglycerine into dynamite and became one of the richest men in Europe, the "merchant of death," as one premature French obituary cruelly called him when it confused him with his brother.
That obituary may have changed history: confronted with how the world would remember him, Nobel rewrote his will and left virtually his entire fortune to endow prizes for those who "conferred the greatest benefit to humankind", in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. Every December 10th, the anniversary of his death, the world's brightest minds gather in Stockholm and Oslo to receive his apology and his challenge.