诺贝尔奖之父——阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔

硝酸甘油炸药（又称黄色炸药）的发明者阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔（1833-1896）是一位热爱和平的发明家。他痛恨战争，他发明炸药是为了挽救生命，避免人们因使用其他危险炸药而死亡。他还认为这个发明会令一切战争结束——倘若所有国家都有威力极大的武器，那么各国会发现，战争是不可能的，任何打仗的国家必定会被毁灭。可惜事与愿违，在许多人眼中，硝酸甘油炸药成为了一种极度危险的产品。1888年，当阿尔弗雷德的哥哥路德维希去世时，一张法国报纸误以为死的是阿尔弗雷德，在讣闻中称他是“军火制造商”（merchant of death）。

终生未娶、亦无子嗣的诺贝尔不想在历史上留下如此恶名。他利用巨大的财富创立了诺贝尔奖，用来奖励那些在科学、文学和世界和平等领域作出过卓越贡献的人。

On October 21st, 1833, a boy was born into a family in Stockholm, Sweden, who was to become a famous scientist, inventor, businessman and founder of the Nobel Prizes award. His father was Immanuel Nobel and his mother was Andriette Ahlsell Nobel. They named their son Alfred.

Immanuel Nobel was an engineer and inventor. He built bridges and buildings and experimented with different ways of blasting[爆炸] rocks. The same year that Alfred was born, his father’s business suffered losses and had to be closed. In 1837, Immanuel Nobel decided to try business somewhere else and left for Finland and Russia.

1833年10月21日，一个男孩在瑞典斯德哥尔摩的一个家庭降生。这个男孩日后成为了著名的科学家、发明家、商人以及诺贝尔奖的创立人。他的父亲是艾马纽·诺贝尔，母亲是安德瑞特·阿尔塞尔·诺贝尔，他们为儿子取名阿尔弗雷德。

艾马纽·诺贝尔是一位工程师和发明家。他修建桥梁和房屋，并试验各种岩体爆破方法。阿尔弗雷德出生的那一年，父亲的生意因遭受损失而被迫结业。1837年，艾马纽·诺贝尔决定去其他地方发展，于是前往芬兰和俄罗斯。

The Family Moves to Russia

After a time, Immanuel Nobel’s business in St. Petersburg started doing well. He had opened a mechanical[机械的] workshop that provided equipment for the Russian army. With his success in Russia, Immanuel was now able to move his family to St. Petersburg.

In 1842, when Alfred was nine years old, his mother and brothers (Robert and Ludvig) moved to St. Petersburg. The following year, Alfred’s younger brother, Emil, was born. The four Nobel brothers were given a first-class education with the help of private tutors[家庭教师]. Their lessons included natural sciences, languages and literature[文学]. At the age of 17, Alfred could speak and write in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German.

Alfred Travels Abroad

Alfred was most interested in literature, chemistry and physics. His father wanted his sons to follow in his footsteps and was not pleased with Alfred’s interest in poetry. He decided to send the young man abroad to study and become a chemical engineer.

In Paris, Alfred worked in the private laboratory of a famous chemist. There he met a young Italian chemist, Ascanio Sobrero. Three years earlier, Sobrero had invented nitroglycerine[硝化甘油], a highly explosive liquid. The liquid was considered too dangerous to be of practical use.

Alfred became very interested in nitroglycerine and how it could be used in construction work. When he returned back to Russia, he worked together with his father to develop nitroglycerine as a commercially[商业上] and technically useful explosive.

Moving Back to Sweden

After the Crimean War注 ended, Alfred’s father’s business went badly and he decided to move back to Sweden. After the Nobel family’s return to Sweden in 1863, Alfred concentrated on developing nitroglycerine as an explosive. Sadly, these experiments resulted in accidents that killed several people, including Alfred’s younger brother, Emil. The government decided to ban these experiments within the Stockholm city limits[边界].

Alfred did not give up and moved his experiments to a barge[驳船] on Lake M?laren. In 1864, he was able to start mass production of nitroglycerine, but he did not stop experimenting with different additives[添加剂] to make the production much safer.

Alfred Invents “Dynamite [硝酸甘油炸药]”

Alfred found that mixing nitroglycerine with a fine sand, called kieselguhr[硅藻土], would turn the liquid into paste[糊状物] which could then be shaped into rods[棍棒，杆]. He discovered this in 1866. The rods could then be inserted into drilling[钻孔] holes. Alfred got a patent[专利权] on this material the following year; he named it“dynamite.” He also invented a detonator[雷管] which could be set off by lighting a fuse[引信]. These inventions helped reduce the cost of construction work such as drilling tunnels, blasting rocks, building bridges, etc.

Factories in Different Places

Dynamite and detonating caps[雷管，发火帽] were in high demand[需求] in the construction industry. Because of this, Alfred was able to erect[建立] factories in 90 different places. He lived in Paris but often traveled to his factories located in more than 20 countries. He was once described as “Europe’s richest vagabond[流浪者].” He also experimented in making synthetic[合成的] rubber and leather and artificial[人造的] silk. By the time of his death in 1896, he had 355 patents.

The Nobel Prizes

Alfred Nobel died in Sanremo, Italy, on December 10th, 1896. In his last will, he wrote that much of his fortune was to be used to give prizes to those who have done their best for humanity[人类] in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology[生理学] or medicine, literature and peace.

Not everybody was pleased with this. His will was opposed by his relatives and questioned by authorities[当局] in various countries. It took four years for his executors[执行者] to convince all parties to follow Alfred’s wishes.

In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

移居俄罗斯

一段时间后，艾马纽·诺贝尔在圣彼得堡的生意逐渐好起来。他开了一家机械工场，为俄罗斯军队提供装备。在俄罗斯取得成功后，艾马纽有能力把家人接到圣彼得堡了。

1842年，阿尔弗雷德时年9岁，他的母亲和哥哥们（罗伯特和路德维希）搬到了圣彼得堡。第二年，阿尔弗雷德的弟弟埃米尔出生了。私人教师为诺贝尔家的四兄弟提供了最优秀的教育。他们的课程包括自然科学、语言和文学。17岁时，阿尔弗雷德已经可以用瑞典语、俄语、法语、英语和德语进行对话和写作。

海外游历

阿尔弗雷德对文学、化学和物理最感兴趣。他的父亲希望儿子们能继承自己的衣钵，所以不喜欢阿尔弗雷德对诗歌的热情。他决定把这位年轻人送到国外学习，让他成为一名化学工程师。

在巴黎期间，阿尔弗雷德在一间由一位著名化学家开办的私人实验室里工作。他在那里遇到了年轻的意大利化学家阿斯卡尼奥·索布雷洛。三年前，索布雷洛发明了一种极易爆炸的液体——硝化甘油。人们认为这种液体危险性太大，难以投入实际应用。

阿尔弗雷德对硝化甘油及如何将它应用到建筑方面产生了很大兴趣。回到俄罗斯后，他和父亲一起研究改良硝化甘油，希望让这种炸药在商业和技术上投入使用。

重返瑞典

克里米亚战争结束后，阿尔弗雷德父亲的生意一落千丈，决定搬回瑞典。1863年，诺贝尔一家回到瑞典后，阿尔弗雷德致力于把硝化甘油改良为炸药。不幸的是，这些实验造成了数起意外，导致多人死亡，其中包括阿尔弗雷德的弟弟埃米尔。政府决定禁止人们在斯德哥尔摩市内进行这类实验。

阿尔弗雷德没有放弃，他把实验搬到梅拉伦湖的一艘驳船上。1864年，他已经可以大批量地生产硝化甘油，但他继续进行试验，加入各种添加剂，希望令产品更加安全。

发明“硝酸甘油炸药”

阿尔弗雷德发现，将硝化甘油和一种叫硅藻土的细砂混合后，这种液体会变成糊状物，然后可以造成管状物体。他在1866年发现了这一点。这些管状物可以插入到钻孔中。阿尔弗雷德在第二年获得了这种材料的专利权，他为它取名“硝酸甘油炸药”。他还发明了一种由引信引爆的雷管。这些发明降低了开凿隧道、岩体爆破、修建桥梁等建筑工程的成本。

工厂遍欧洲

由于建筑业对硝酸甘油炸药和雷管有很大需求，阿尔弗雷德得以在90个地方修建工厂。他住在巴黎，但经常要到二十多个国家视察工厂。他一度被称为“欧洲最有钱的流浪汉”。他还试验制作合成橡胶、合成皮革以及人造丝。1896年去世前，他一共获得了355项专利。

诺贝尔奖

1896年12月10日，阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔在意大利的圣雷莫与世长辞。他在临终遗嘱中写道，其大部分遗产将用于设立奖项，授予在物理、化学、生理学或医学、文学及和平方面对人类作出杰出贡献的人士。

但不是每个人都满意这个安排。他的遗嘱遭到亲人的反对，并受到各国当权者的质疑。其遗嘱执行者用了四年时间才说服各方遵照阿尔弗雷德的遗愿行事。

1901年，第一届诺贝尔奖在瑞典的斯德哥尔摩颁发，和平奖则在挪威的奥斯陆颁发。

诺贝尔奖知多少

诺贝尔奖在设立之初只针对五个领域：化学、物理、生理学或医学、文学及和平。

1969年，瑞典国家银行设立“瑞典国家银行纪念阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔经济学奖”，一般通称诺贝尔经济学奖，但实际上并非诺贝尔奖。

诺贝尔奖于每年12月10日——诺贝尔逝世那天举行正式的颁奖典礼。但是奖金获得者名单通常在当年的10月份就由不同的委员会宣布。

除了和平奖，各个奖项只能授予个人。

每年的各个奖项最多可以同时授予三个人。

如果同一个奖项的获奖者多于一人，奖金将被平分。

每年，每个奖项都有100至250人被提名。

提名自己的人会被自动取消资格。