There was a hell lot of hue and cry about Rabindranath Tagore’s missing Nobel Prize, which was found in a dustbin by a paper picker few days later. The episode took me few years back, when a funny incident forced me to read about Alfred Nobel – the inventor of the devastating DYNAMITE, which still is used in landmines that cripples few thousands every year!
There was a hell lot of hue and cry about Rabindranath Tagore’s missing Nobel Prize, which was found in a dustbin by a paper picker few days later. The episode took me few years back, when a funny incident forced me to read about Alfred Nobel – the inventor of the devastating DYNAMITE, which still is used in landmines that cripples few thousands every year!
The incident -
When world-renowned economist Amartya Sen, who guest appeared in India to provide panacea for India’s economical problem and disappeared in no time, was felicitated by Nobel Prize for Economics there was one person from Calcutta who filed a case in the court saying the award which Amartya Sen has got is NOT NOBEL PRIZE and that Nobel Prize for economics is not mentioned in Nobel’s Will at all! (This news was broadcast on NDTV, and I remember the sarcastic smile on Prannoy Roy’s face when he finished reading the news story). I was just wondering, what if the person who filed the case was right? And Yahoo Search helped me to get some vital information.
I got what I wanted. I hit on Nobel’s Will document which clearly read…
"The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics ; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine ; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiology or medical works by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not."
And nowhere in Nobel’s will Economics was mentioned. Hence the person who filed the case was RIGHT!
Who was Alfred Nobel anyways?
Alfred Nobel was born the son of a Swedish construction worker in Stockholm, 1833. Seeing nothing left for him in Sweden, Immanuel (Nobel's father) and his family moved to St. Petersburg in Russia, where a factory was set up, making mines out of gunpowder, for use by the Russian Army during the Crimean War. The demand for this product was high, the business was booming and Alfred Nobel and the other children received an excellent private education whilst in Russia.
Back in Sweden, an explosion involving nitro-glycerine resulted in the death of his brother, convincing Alfred that a safer alternative must be developed. Eventually, he discovered that by mixing nitro-glycerine with silica, the end product could be moulded into cylinder shapes, and was not greatly affected by minor fluctuations in temperature and pressure.
In 1867 he patented the product, calling it dynamite. It was five times more powerful than ordinary gunpowder, and so very quickly became a sought after commodity in the world of mining and construction. Within a few years, Alfred Nobel had increased the production of dynamite from his factories dramatically, and showed his supreme skill as a businessman by being able to sell it all over the world.
There was another explosion in Nobel’s factory later, which killed 100s of employees, and people living in the proximity. This incident developed a guilt consciousness in Nobel, which later transformed him into a pacifist. This complex forced Nobel to drew up a will in later days of his life, he stated that he wished the majority of his nine million dollar fortune to be used to fund awards in different fields of study (Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology and Medicine, Peace). He stated that the awards should be given to ‘those who have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind’.
So what’s the moral of the story?
Do we really need to look at Nobel Prize as the highest honour a person can receive, which was an offshoot of a bomb maker’s guilt that killed/kills and cripples people even today? Thank God Mother Teresa was not conferred with a Nobel Prize!