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Alfred Nobel |
Exactly 110 years ago, on November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed a will dedicating most of his wealth to the establishment of an award bearing his name.
One year later, on December 10, 1896, Nobel passed away, and the will took effect. During the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Nobel’s death, I had the opportunity to present a handwritten portion of his will regarding this award in the newspaper KH and ĐS published on December 31, 1996.
However, that was only a part of the will related to the award; the complete will was not available for collection at that time. In August 2005, I had the chance to visit the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, and the grave of Alfred Nobel. During this visit, I obtained the complete will of Alfred Nobel and details related to it.
A Glimpse into Alfred Nobel
At Alfred Nobel’s grave, I noticed a commemorative stone shaped like a tower, with golden lettering at the top stating ALFRED NOBEL 1932 – 1896.
Next to the base of the tower on the right side, the names of his parents are inscribed. His father was Immanuel Nobel, and his mother was Andrietta Ahlsell.
In 1842, when Nobel was just nine years old, he followed his father to the capital of Russia. There, his father opened a weapons factory to supply the Russian Tsar in the war against the Anglo-French coalition. Influenced by this, young Alfred developed a passion for chemistry and learned to speak Russian. After Russia’s defeat, the Nobel family returned to Sweden.
By the age of 30, Nobel was a skilled chemical engineer, focusing on an invention that could help solve problems related to blasting mountains, digging canals, and road construction. This was nitroglycerin, a substance invented in 1846 but very dangerous due to its volatility, which hindered its practical application. When detonated, it could produce gas 13 times the volume of the original substance and propel materials at a speed of 7,500 meters per second.
Three years after researching this substance, in 1866, Nobel managed to stabilize it and created a safer explosive known as Dynamite. As a businessman, he established factories in various countries to produce this explosive. Over time, he acquired around 300 patents. From his factories worldwide, Nobel became a millionaire of his time, with a fortune exceeding 500 million USD.
However, while his inventive life was prosperous, he faced misfortune in his personal life. In his autobiography written when he was 54, he noted: “I have no family to anchor me, no friends to cherish, and no enemies to hate.”
The Birth of the Nobel Prize
In 1876, at the age of 43, Nobel was still a lonely man. He placed an advertisement in a newspaper in Vienna, Austria (where he had a factory), seeking a companion: “An older, educated, wealthy man living in Paris invites a middle-aged woman who knows several foreign languages to be his secretary and housekeeper.”
At that time, a woman from Austria approached him. Although she was of noble descent, she faced financial difficulties and had to work as a tutor to make a living. Unfortunately, after learning more about her, he found out she was already promised to another, and so his search for a life partner and assistant was unsuccessful.
Later, he met a 20-year-old Jewish girl named Sofia Gherx, a poor flower seller in Vienna. She agreed to move to Paris with him. There, he rented a villa for her with staff. However, this girl was more interested in fashion and could not learn French, which disappointed Nobel. After over ten years of their relationship, he encouraged her to marry, and later in his will, he allocated her an annual allowance of 6,000 Florins.
When I found the original will at the Nobel Museum, I saw a section stating that he had prepaid the bank in Vienna an amount of 150,000 Florins for her. This ensured she would continue to receive this allowance for over 20 years.
Beside the tombstone under his parents’ names, Nobel also inscribed the name of his brother Emile Nobel, who died in an explosion at one of his factories due to his own negligence.
Perhaps he felt that the enormous wealth he had accumulated over more than half a century of hard work was not only due to his intellectual efforts but also tied to the blood and sacrifice of his own family. And perhaps because he had no wife or children, he dedicated most of his fortune to establishing an award in his name.
The Nobel Prize
The complexity of the will lies in the fact that Alfred Nobel did not have it notarized nor did he submit it to a law office. It was a handwritten document consisting of four pages of school notebook paper. Only four friends were named as witnesses in the will.
In the will, he entrusted his devoted assistant Ragnar Sohlman and another appointed person to execute the will and allocated a considerable amount of money for them to carry out this task.
On December 10, 1896, when the will was opened, many relatives were astonished because they had expected to inherit much more. This substantial estate, once compiled, amounted to 33,200,000 Kronor, equivalent to 1.4 billion Francs (in 1987). He allocated funds to create five prizes, and scientific documents announcing the will only quoted the first sentence and this segment: Here is the portion of the will related to the Nobel Prize:
| I, the undersigned, Alfred Bernhard Nobel, declare my carefully considered intentions regarding my estate upon my death as follows: The funds derived from my estate will be managed in the following manner: The majority of this money will be invested by those executing my will in the safest manner and will become a capital whose annual income will be used to create awards for those who have made the greatest contributions to humanity in the previous year. The income will be divided into five equal parts and distributed as follows: – One part will be awarded to the person who has made the most important discovery or improvement in the field of Physics. And the final part will be awarded to the person who has made the greatest or best contribution to the friendship between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the organization and promotion of Peace Conferences. The Physics and Chemistry prizes will be awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Physiology and Medicine prizes will be awarded by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and the Peace prizes will be awarded by a committee of five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. It is my urgent wish that there will be no discrimination based on nationality in awarding the prizes, and that the most deserving person may or may not be of Nordic origin. Paris, November 27, 1895. |
The Nobel Prize has been awarded since 1901. To date, more than 750 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists, writers, and peace activists worldwide. Recipients of the prize not only bring honor to themselves but also glory to their homeland. This is the largest scientific award in the world, promoting the development of human scientific endeavors.
Nguyễn Phúc Giác Hải
