THE STORY BEHIND THE PRESTIGIOUS AWARD ON OUR PLANET.

"The merchant of death is dead. Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than even before, died yesterday". Thus ran an obituary in a French newspaper in the year 1888. This news was false, because the person who had died was actually Ludvig Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. But the mistaken obituary shocked Alfred Nobel for another reason- he came to know that his public image, after his invention of dynamite, was a 'merchant of death'. Alfred Nobel felt upset and disgusted by this profile and he wanted to leave a worthy legacy for Mankind. When he actually died in 1896, Nobel left behind a will, leaving 94 percent of his fortune to be used to create a series of prizes, known as Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards given in the intellectual realm for exceptional contributions in certain selected fields. These coveted prizes are annually awarded by Swedish and Norwegian institutions. The foundations for the Nobel Prizes were laid in 1895, when Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize. Alfred Nobel instructed that most of his fortune be set aside as a fund for the awarding of five annual prizes. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honouring men and women from all around the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, literature, physiology and medicine, and for contributions to peace. The first distribution of the prizes took place on 10th December 1901, on the fifth death anniversary of Alfred Nobel. In 1968. an additional award in Economic Sciences was introduced by Sweden's central bank in the memory of Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in 1969. Today, the Nobel Prize is the most prestigious award on our planet.