Today is December 10th, which also means it’s the Nobel Day, the day when the Nobel prizes are given out by the king of Sweden, and the big Nobel dinner ceremony is held. But who was Alfred Nobel and why did he decide to donate his wealth? If you want to find the answers to those questions or if you are just interested in the Nobel Prize ceremony and history then make sure to continue to read the article.
Today is not only the Nobel day, but it’s also BloomCissi’s birthday so please wish her a happy birthday!
In 1888 Alfred Nobel’s brother, Ludvig Nobel, died, but multiple newspapers accidentally reported that Alfred Nobel had died, describing him as “The merchant of death” which was not the way Alfred Nobel wanted to be remembered. Nobel decided to donate the majority of his wealth to found the Nobel Prize, in hopes of leaving behind a better legacy.
All Nobel Prizes, except the peace prize, are presented in Stockholm, Sweden while the peace prize is presented in Oslo, Norway. The annual Nobel Prize Award ceremony is being held on December 10th which is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. The prize award ceremony in Sweden is held at Stockholm Concert Hall and here the winners of the Nobel prize in chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature and economic science get their awards by the King of Sweden. After the prize ceremony, they will travel to the Stockholm City Hall where the Nobel banquet is being held in the Blue Hall. The banquet in Sweden is attended by the Swedish royal family as well as 1300 other guests. The Swedish royal family, the winners and their partners, members of the Swedish government and their partners, members of the Nobel Foundation and the Nobel committees and their partners are all seated at the table of honour, which is therefore considered the most prestigious table to sit at during the Nobel banquet. In Norway, the Nobel peace banquet is located at the Oslo Grand Hotel and is attended by the Norwegian royal family and the winner of the peace prize as well as some other guests.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born 21st October 1883 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was a Swedish chemist and inventor and is most known for inventing the dynamite. Alfred Nobel’s parents, Immanuel Nobel, who was an inventor engineer, and Karolina Andriette Nobel, had eight children in total but due to poverty only four of the sons in the family survived past childhood. In 1837, after Immanuel Nobel’s business plans had failed, he decided to move to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where he became quite successful with his inventions. In 1842 the rest of the family also moved to Saint Petersburg. Now when the family no longer lived in poverty they could afford private tutors for Alfred Nobel and he showed outstanding results in his studies, particularly in chemistry and language. Nobel became fluent in four languages; English, French, German and Russian. Later on, he went on to study chemistry with Nikolai Zinin. In 1850 he went to Paris to further his studies, where he met Ascanio Sobrero who a few years earlier had invented nitroglycerin.
Alfred Nobel became interested in finding a safer way to control and use nitroglycerin. In 1859 Alfred Nobel, his parents and his youngest brother Emil moved back to Stockholm. Back in Stockholm Alfred Nobel continued his search to find a way to control nitroglycerin. To do this, he hired a factory in Heleneborg, Stockholm. In September 1864 a shed used for the preparation of the nitroglycerin exploded and resulted in the deaths of five people, including Alfred Nobel’s brother Emil. However, Alfred Nobel did not let the tragedy get in his way, and in 1867 he invented dynamite, which is a substance that is safer and easier to handle than nitroglycerin.
During his last years alive he lived in Sanremo, Italy. On December 10th 1896 Alfred Nobel suffered a stroke which resulted in his death. He is buried in Norra Begravningsplatsen (roughly translates to: The north graveyard) in Stockholm.
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