诺贝尔奖之父

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”（merchantofdeath）。

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。

OnOctober21st，1833，aboywasbornintoafamilyinStockholm，Sweden，whowastobecomeafamousscientist，inventor，businessmanandfounderoftheNobelPrizesaward.HisfatherwasImmanuelNobelandhismotherwasAndrietteAhlsellNobel.TheynamedtheirsonAlfred.

ImmanuelNobelwasanengineerandinventor.Hebuiltbridgesandbuildingsandexperimentedwithdifferentwaysofblasting[爆炸]rocks.ThesameyearthatAlfredwasborn，hisfathersbusinesssufferedlossesandhadtobeclosed.In1837，ImmanuelNobeldecidedtotrybusinesssomewhereelseandleftforFinlandandRussia.

TheFamilyMovestoRussia

Afteratime，ImmanuelNobelsbusinessinSt.Petersburgstarteddoingwell.Hehadopenedamechanical[机械的]workshopthatprovidedequipmentfortheRussianarmy.WithhissuccessinRussia，ImmanuelwasnowabletomovehisfamilytoSt.Petersburg.

In1842，whenAlfredwasnineyearsold，hismotherandbrothers（RobertandLudvig）movedtoSt.Petersburg.Thefollowingyear，Alfredsyoungerbrother，Emil，wasborn.ThefourNobelbrothersweregivenafirst-classeducationwiththehelpofprivatetutors[家庭教师].Theirlessonsincludednaturalsciences，languagesandliterature[文学].Attheageof17，AlfredcouldspeakandwriteinSwedish，Russian，French，EnglishandGerman.

AlfredTravelsAbroad

Alfredwasmostinterestedinliterature，chemistryandphysics.HisfatherwantedhissonstofollowinhisfootstepsandwasnotpleasedwithAlfredsinterestinpoetry.Hedecidedtosendtheyoungmanabroadtostudyandbecomeachemicalengineer.

InParis，Alfredworkedintheprivatelaboratoryofafamouschemist.TherehemetayoungItalianchemist，AscanioSobrero.Threeyearsearlier，Sobrerohadinventednitroglycerine[硝化甘油]，ahighlyexplosiveliquid.Theliquidwasconsideredtoodangeroustobeofpracticaluse.

Alfredbecameveryinterestedinnitroglycerineandhowitcouldbeusedinconstructionwork.WhenhereturnedbacktoRussia，heworkedtogetherwithhisfathertodevelopnitroglycerineasacommercially[商业上]andtechnicallyusefulexplosive.