I know 2 things about Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). That he invented the dynamite (his most popular among 355 patents) and that he was the one behind the Nobel Prize which gives awards in the fields of literature, peace, sciences, economics and medicine. But the more fascinating thing I recently learned about him is what made him change from creating something destructive to promoting peace … what made him decide to spend the fortune he amassed from the dynamite to fund awards the Nobel Prize.In 1888, Alfred Nobel’s brother Ludvig passed away and a French newspaper mistaken Ludvig for Alfred and it ran a long obituary about Alfred. The copy said - "The merchant of death is dead" and it went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.” This horrified Alfred and made him realize that he didn’t want to be remembered that way.
Thanks to that erroneous article, Nobel was given another chance at life and to promote something good even more than 100 years after his death.
