Bonus Episode 3: The Newspaper Error That Sparked the Nobel Prize

When a newspaper mistakenly proclaimed Alfred Nobel dead in 1888, the inventor of dynamite set out to reinvent his legacy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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,

(00:24):
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

(00:45):
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

(01:06):
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

(01:30):
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

(01:53):
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

(02:16):
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

(02:38):
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

(03:02):
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

(03:23):
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

(03:45):
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,

(04:08):
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.

(04:30):
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

(04:51):
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

(05:13):
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

(05:37):
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.