Why did Alfred Nobel create the Nobel Prize?

Question

I think it is because he felt bad that he had killed so many people with his inventin of dynamite. Is this true? If not, then why? Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

I guess he did not create the Nobel prize. Actually, I heard that he realised the bad affects of the dynamite and he donated all his assets to the society. So, in his great memory, Government created Nobel Prize. I may be wrong, but I read this somewhere...

Answer 2

I dont know for sure but I am fairly certain that it is called the Nobel Peace Prize because Nobel's invention, dynamite, had an incredible impact on the world for it's applications in construction. Many of the great feats of engineering (like the transcontinetal railroad) in the 1800s would have been far harder without dynamite. Before it all anyone had was black powder, which was far inferior to dynamite.

Answer 3

you have a damaging information of historic previous. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. He was hoping it would be used for non violent purposes, like demolition of dilapidated homes, yet new it would be exploited for conflict. He invented the Nobel Peace Prize to sell peace. He by no potential had this form of ridiculous concept that dynamite could be an explosive so damaging that it would make conflict unthinkable. Neither did the boys who invented the device gun, the aircraft, or the atom bomb.

Answer 4

The reason for the peace prize is less clear. Many say it was to compensate for developing destructive forces. But his explosives, except for ballistite, were not used in any war during his lifetime, Tore Frangsmyr wrote in a portrait of Nobel published by the Swedish Institute in Stockholm in 1996.

This quote is from the following article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/health/26docs.html?pagewanted=all

Answer 5

Don't think that is true at all. Not too many people running around killing other people with dynamite. He just invented dynamite. I don't think it is true that he created the Nobel Prize either. That wouldn't be really humble would it?

Answer 6

Yes that's the basic idea. However it wasn't so much that people used stick of TNT to kill people. TNT was used as an explosive charge for bombs and shells. Since Nobel had originally developed it to save lives by providing them with a safer, more stable tool for mining and rail road building, he was somewhat horrified to discover his invention also made a very useful tool for war.

So he used the money he made through his patent to establish the Nobel prize.

Answer 7

You are right the first time.