Born October 21, 1833, Alfred Bernhard Nobel was the Swedish-born chemist, engineer and industrialist who invented dynamite and established the prestigious Nobel prizes. In 1859, after four years in the United States, Nobel returned to Sweden and built a factory to manufacture the explosive nitroglycerin. In 1864 the factory accidentally blew up, killing Nobel’s youngest brother and four others. Two years later, Nobel invented dynamite, a safe and manageable form of nitroglycerin. A pacifist by nature, Nobel hoped that the destructive power of his invention would bring an end to wars. By the time of his death on December 10, 1897, Nobel had acquired a massive fortune. In his will, he left instructions that the bulk of his estate should endow the annual Nobel prizes for those who had most contributed to the areas of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. In 1968, a sixth award for economics was established.
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