NOBEL PRIZES SEASON BEGINS

Nobel Prize announcements kick off this Monday, Oct. 8, 2012. Bo Union III News will be bringing you, the valued reader, updates on all category nominees, until ceremony galas on December 10. This date marks the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, on December 10, 1896, at his home in San Remo, Italy.

 

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 21, 1833. He was a scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author, and pacifist. Yet he is most world renown for his philanthropist legacy.

 

Nobel invented dynamite and patented it in 1867. His chemistry teacher had hinted that he trial nitroglycerin--a chemical compound known for its violent explosions. After numerous false starts, he finally got right. He had mixed nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth--a form of soil. And a much needed dynamite was born. But in one of the experiments, he lost a brother.

 

He made so much money for himself that by age 40, he was a wealthy man. Yet the loss of human life which attended the use of his invention haunted him.

 

Just before he died, he wrote a will. In it, he stated that a handsome portion of his estate be invested in "safe securities". The income accrued from these investments should be given "in the form of prizes to those who during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."

 

In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank added the sixth category--Economic Sciences. The first five categories being Physics, Chemistry, Peace, Literature, and Physiology or Medicine.

 

Five Prizes are handed over in Sweden, in the presence of King Carl XVI Gustaf. The Prize for Peace is received in Oslo, Norway, with King Harald V in attendance.

 

A Prize comes in three parts: a Nobel Medal, a Nobel Diploma, and a cash award.

 

As an author, Nobel probably expressed himself best in aphorisms. I here quote one: "Second to agriculture, humbug is the biggest industry of our age".