November 27th

On this day – November 27^th 1895 – Alfred Nobel signes his will

Alfred Nobel invented 350 patented items but is most known for inviting dynamite. Nobel filed for his first patent in 1857 at age 24, his first Swedish patent was granted in 1863. Alfreds father was also an inventer and the family firm produced armaments for the Crimean war. Alfred focused on the study of explosives and especially on nitroglyserin. In 1863 he invented a detonator and in 1865 he designed the blasting cap. His younger brother died in an accident where a shed for preparing nitroglycerin exploded, four other died in the accident. Nobel pushed on and focused on improving the stability of the explosives. In 1867 he succeed and created dynamite. In 1888 Alfreds brother Ludvig died and french newspapers published Alfreds obituary. The obituary condemned him for the invention of dynamite and stated "The merchant of death is dead". The bleak picture painted of Alfred bothered him and he decided that his aftermath should be better. His solution was to create different prices where the peace prize is the most known. The other prizes are for physical science, chemistry, medicinal science and literary work in an ideal direction. It was this day in 1895 in the Swedish-Norwegian club in Paris Alfred signed his will where 94% of his assets would go to the prizes. The assets were worth 31,225,000 Swedish Kroner that is when adjusting for inflation 3.1 billion Swedish Kroner in 2012 (472 million USD, 337 EUR). He died of a stroke a year later in 1896.