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Nobel Prize Winner for Dynamite Invention

Why is the date of Alfred Bernard Nobel’s will commemorated? His will left the bulk of a vast fortune amassed from the invention of dynamite and other explosives to the establishment of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1867, at age 34, Nobel was granted a patent for dynamite and over the next 29 years of his life he became fabulously wealthy from the manufacture of explosives. His will, dated November 27, 1895, provided for a trust to establish 5 prizes in the fields of peace, physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature. Recipients of the prizes were to receive a gold medal, a citation diploma, and cash awards of from $30,000 to $40,000. A sixth award in economic science was added in 1969. (Selected Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations - #9129).