World famous chemist, industrialist and inventor of dynamite. All in all Nobel held 355 patents and after his death his enormous fortune instituted the world renowned Nobel Prize.Born in Sweden Nobel spent his youth in Russia, later on he studied in Paris and the US. Nobel was highly intelligent and fluent in five languages including Russian and German.
Influenced by his father’s long timework in explosives and of the many deaths caused by testing, Alfred vowed to develop a safer explosive, Dynamite. Although his great invention came to be used in many conflict situations Alfred Nobel was an advocate of peace. This dualism can be said to be the basis for the Nobel Prize "for those who have conferred the greatest benefit of mankind". Nobel died on December 10th 1896 and since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been given out in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.
The final demand from Alfred Nobel was that he wanted to be cremated. This however was a new conviction that was both unusual and controversial at the end of the 19th Century. His gravestone has the shape of a grand obelisc and is made of gray granite. On a shelf on the gravestone, there are two crossed torches; this is a symbol of fire extinguishment.