Dorothy Dudley Leal

“ It seems strange that the man who invented and made it his life-work to manufacture that great instrument of destruction, dynamite, should leave his vast wealth to the cause of bringing about universal peace. Yet Alfred Nobel did just this thing. The great problem of making war against war with a few peace prizes has been likened to fighting a city fire with a bottle of rose-water. ”

“ In place of one person, the honor may be bestowed upon a society; or it may be kept back entirely, but each prize must be given once in every five years. Besides the cash prize, each winner receives a diploma and a gold medal bearing a portrait of Alfred Nobel.
The prizes are a real factor in increasing the dignity of a scientific career, and in encouraging such work. The money value is large, but the fame attached to the honor is all but priceless. ”

“ There seems to be a hopeless inequality between the two forces; but time must prove whether these efforts, instituted by Alfred Nobel, shall be successful.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1833. Emmanuel Nobel, his father, was an architect, of an inventive turn of mind, While Alfred was still very young, the family removed to St. Petersburg, where his father established torpedo-works, and, in the service of the Russian Government, at the time of the Crimean War, placed submarine mines in the harbor of Kronstadt, with the assistance of one of his sons, Robert. ”