The history of humanity and science is full of many interesting stories. However, the most interesting story, of course, belongs to Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prizes. As we all know, the Nobel Prizes are considered one of the most prestigious science awards in the world and are held every year. The Nobel Foundation organizes these awards and is named after Alfred Nobel. The strange thing about this story is that Alfred Nobel was the inventor of many explosives, especially dynamite.
The name of one of the 6 Nobel Prizes is the Nobel Peace Prize. In other words, the peace award is given on behalf of the inventor of an invention that aims to kill the most people in the shortest way. So why? In order to answer this question, it is necessary to examine the life of Alfred Nobel a little. Life is full of coincidences. Maybe we wouldn’t be talking about such an award today if Mr. Alfred hadn’t seen the erroneous headline in a newspaper.
Alfred was an enthusiastic, open-minded child:
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite being 8 siblings, only Alfred and his three brothers survived to become adults.
Alfred was a smart boy and had an intellectual background at an early age. St. Petersburg, Russia, with his father and family, where he learned the basics of machine knowledge. He was a 16-year-old chemist when they moved to St. Petersburg and spoke English, French, German, Russian along with Swedish.
For a short time St. After staying in St. Petersburg, he left his father and siblings at his father’s factory and went to Paris to study chemistry. After completing his education, he returned to work in his father’s factory, which was engaged in military production during the Crimean War. However, when the war was over, the factory could not adapt to the peace period and went back to Sweden when it sank. His brothers stayed there to save the factory.
Alfred Nobel learns to control explosives:
When Alfred Nobel returned to Sweden, he began doing some experiments in the laboratory in his father’s estate. Working on black powder, which was the only explosive type at that time, Alfred discovered that when nitroglycerin, a newly discovered substance, was combined with black powder, a much more powerful explosive was formed. He immediately opened a factory to produce nitroglycerin and started working.
Nitroglycerin is an incredibly powerful and difficult to control explosive. Alfred Nobel invented the detonator to maintain control. The detonator paved the way for modern explosives, and Alfred opened a few more factories. However, one of the oncoming factories exploded, killing an incoming group, including Alfred’s brother Emil. But this explosion did not stop Alfred Nobel’s work.
Alfred Nobel, who opened several more factories in succession, invented his groundbreaking invention, dynamite, when he discovered that drying nitroglycerin could be transported much more safely. Dynamite, which he patented in 1868, was much stronger and could be detonated in a controlled manner. In the process, Alfred added to his fortune by establishing a large network to produce dynamite throughout Europe.
Alfred Nobel’s inventions and his depressive loneliness:
Alfred Nobel continued to make new inventions after detonator and dynamite. Smokeless gunpowder, rayon, and faux leather are among his most important inventions. While Alfred’s patent and production wars continued, his brothers got rich by discovering an oil field in Azerbaijan, and together with Alfred, they bought a weapons factory in Sweden. Despite over 350 patents and commercial successes that made his fortune rich, Alfred was always an unhappy man.
Alfred Nobel was always a little depressed and never married. In addition to his revolutionary scientific works, he wrote plays, novels and poems that were never published. He was considered a liberal or even a socialist for his time. There was only one reason why he made all these deadly inventions; that is to stop wars. He believed that his inventions would create a power to stop wars.
It did not happen. How accurate is it to make enormous explosives and think that they will be used for peace? Alfred Nobel, who had a brain hemorrhage as a result of all this fast work pace and internal conflicts, died on December 10, 1896 in San Remo, Italy. Everyone was shocked when his will, which he had entrusted to a bank in Stockholm, was announced.
How did the Nobel Prizes come about?
Alfred Nobel bequeathed the establishment of a foundation in the name of the trade empire with more than 90 factories producing around the world and that this foundation give awards every year. He had prepared such a detailed will that the work of the Nobel Foundation and the Nobel Prizes still continue according to the rules in this will.
You ask why? In 1888, Alfred’s brother Ludvig died, and the French newspapers, thinking that it was Alfred Nobel, had the headline, ‘The merchant of death is dead. ‘. While it is not known for sure, many of his friends said that seeing his obituary changed Alfred. Maybe he wanted to leave a cleaner name for the world.
The Nobel Prizes, which were given in 6 categories in physics, chemistry, literature, peace, medicine and economics, were given for the first time on 10 December 1901. At the ceremonies held every year on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, the economics, physics and chemistry awards are determined by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the medicine award by Karolinska Institute, the literature award by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and the peace award by a five-person committee selected from the Swedish Academy.
The economics prize was not originally one of the bequests, but was added to the Nobel Prizes in 1968. An award may sometimes be given to more than one person, or not at all if there is no suitable person according to Alfred’s will. Award winners receive a special medal, diploma and cash prize. The winner can organize a conference if he/she wishes. Between 1940 and 1942, World War II. The Nobel Prizes were not awarded because of World War II.
Turkish Nobel Prize winners and nominees:
Yaşar Kemal was the first writer to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Yaşar Kemal was nominated for the first time in 1973 and then repeatedly. However, he stated that no matter how many candidates he was, he would only remain as a candidate until his death, and he was right. Leyla Erbil was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002 and became the first woman writer to be nominated for this award. Poet İlhan Berk was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008, when he died.
Working on liquid metal technology in the USA, Dr. Atakan Peker, Professor of Heart Diseases and Diabetes at Harvard University. Dr. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, who developed gene therapy for Alexander disease, Assoc. Bahri Karaçay and Prof. who works on mobile technologies in the USA. Dr. İlhan Akyıldız is among the Turks nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature at the ceremonies held in 2006, breaking new ground in this field. Afterwards, Aziz Sancar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the ceremonies held in 2015, and our chests swelled once again. However, as Yaşar Kemal said, such awards always carry political purposes.
We answered questions such as who is Alfred Nobel, who invented the most powerful explosives in the world, what is the story of the Nobel Prizes, and we talked about the Turkish candidates who were deemed worthy of this important award. You can share your thoughts about the Nobel Prizes in the comments.
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