In April eighteen eighty eight, the French newspaper Le Figaro ran an obituary. It read, a man who cannot very easily pass for a benefactor of humanity died yesterday in Cohn. It was mister Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. Another newspaper reportedly proclaimed the merchant of Death is dead. In fact,
Alfred Nobele wasn't dead. The obituary was a mistake, but it gave him the chance few people get to see how the world regards their legacy, and it may have inspired him to reinvent his Welcome to a special bonus episode of Flashback, I'm Shan Braswell to day, a story about another fateful moment from history. The premature obituary that may have launched the most illustrious prizes on the globe, a journalistic air that may have prompted one hell of
a correction. It was no accident that Alfred Nobel became an inventor and an explosives expert. His father had been the same thing. He'd run armaments factories and built underwater mines for Russia during the Crimean War. Born in eighteen thirty three in Stockholm, Sweden. Young Alfred never earned a degree or attended college, but in addition to absorbing his father's knowledge of explosives, he traveled widely, learned several languages,
and trained under a world renowned chemist in Paris. At the age of twenty four, he obtained his first patent, the first of more than three hundred and fifty he would earn in his life. Nobel's biggest breakthroughs came when he successfully harnessed the destructive power of nitroglystd. It was a key ingredient in his most famous invention, dynamite. Nobel was a workaholic. He never married. He once wrote, my only wish is to devote myself to my action to science.
I look upon all women, young and old, as disturbing invaders who steal my time. Maybe not quite all women. He had a twenty year friendship with his former secretary, a peace activist named birth of On Sittner. More on her in a minute. Nobel's devotion to his work paid off. He eventually presided over more than ninety labs and factories and over twenty different countries across the world. He also once observed, I have two advantageous over competitors. Both moneymaking
and praise leave me utterly unmoved. But there was something that may have left Nobel profoundly affected. Being pronounced dead and criticized for his impact on humanity. The press had actually confused the death of Nobel's older brother Ludwig from tuberculosis with the inventors. That's what afforded Nobel the rare
opportunity to read his own obituary. According to biographer kin Font, Nobel quote became so obsessed with his posthumous reputation that he rewrote his last will, bequeathing most of his fortune to a cause upon which no future obituary writer would
be able to cast dispersions. So in November, the inventor sat down at a desk in the Swedish Norwegian Club in Paris, and, in handwritten Swedish, with no help from a lawyer, penned a four page document that would become one of the most notable last will and testaments in history. I the undassigned Alfred Bernard Nobel, after mature deliberation, hereby
declare the following to be my last villain testament. After disposing of property items to his friends and family, he ordered that the bulk of his estate be invested, and the interest on which is to be distributed annually as prices to those who, during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit to human kind. Nobel died the following year, and the Nobel Prizes were handed out for the first
time in nineteen o one. To this day, the awards are given every December tenth, the anniversary of his death, including most recently in Today, we are celebrating the Nobel Laureates and their outstanding achievements in science, literature, and peace. Their impressive accomplishments are the result of the innovative ideas and hard work, and served as inspiration to us all. That is what Alfred Mabel wanted with his price, true to his wishes. Almost no one today associates the name
Alfred Noble with dynamite or death. It's a great story of mistaken identity and the power of reinvention. But was an erroneous obituary alone harsh enough to prompt the inventor to take his life in a new direction. It remains an open question. Some scholars believe that it was more likely Nobel's friendship with his friend and former Secretary Birtha
von Suttner that inspired his late life transformation. Nobel did not leave von Suttn or anything in his will, but the activists became the first woman ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in a legacy that doubtless would have made Alfred Nobel proud if he'd lived to read her obituary. Thanks for listening, and please stay tuned to this feed for more bonus episodes on fateful moments from history in the weeks ahead. Flashback is written and hosted by me
Sean Braswell, senior writer and Executive producer at Ozzie. It was edited by Maeve mcgarren and produced by Tracy Mraan. Chris Hoff engineered our show. Make sure to subscribe to Flashback on the I Heart Radio app or listen wherever you get your podcasts.