A noble theme

he Nobel Prize was founded by Swedish-born Alfred B Nobel, an engineer and scientist who devoted much of his life to the development of explosives and scientific inventions (including dynamite) for which he held more than 350 patents. Alfred was born in Stockholm in 1833 and made a fortune during his lifetime through his work as an inventor, engineer and chemist. He lived an unassuming life, despite his huge wealth and towards the end of his life, decided that he would like to ensure that he was remembered for something other than inventing substances such as dynamite. His final will, made a year before his death, established a substantial prize fund which he requested should be given to people and organisations who had conferred the ‘greatest benefit on mankind’. In his will, Alfred donated 94% of his assets to establishing the prize. The will caused much controversy at the time, and was contested by Nobel’s family, meaning that the prize was not actually