Alfred Nobel Timeline

On 3 September 1864, a shed used for preparation of nitroglycerin exploded at the factory in Heleneborg, Stockholm, killing five people, including Nobel's younger brother Emil. The tragedy spurred Nobel to develop safer explosives.

From 1865 to 1873, Nobel lived in Krümmel (now part of the municipality of Geesthacht, near Hamburg), where he established explosive works along the Elbe River.

From 1873 to 1891, Nobel lived in a house on the Avenue de Malakoff in Paris, during which time he continued his inventive work and became one of Europe's wealthiest men.

In 1876, Austro-Bohemian Countess Bertha von Suttner became Nobel's secretary, but she left him after a brief stay to marry her previous lover, Baron Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner. She corresponded with him until his death and probably influenced his decision to include the Nobel Peace Prize in his will.

Image source: Bertha von Suttner

Nobel met Sofija Hess from Celje in 1876 in Baden bei Wien, where she worked as an employee in a flower shop catering to wealthy clientele. Their relationship lasted 18 years, his longest-lasting romance.

In 1888, the death of his brother Ludvig supposedly caused several newspapers to publish obituaries of Alfred in error. One was published on the first page of Le Figaro on 15 April 1888 and retracted the next day. The premature obituaries reportedly prompted Nobel to reconsider his legacy.

In 1891, after being accused of high treason against France for selling Ballistite to Italy, Nobel moved from Paris to Sanremo, Italy, acquiring Villa Nobel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, where he later died.

Image source: Villa Nobel

Sofija Hess eventually converted to Protestantism in 1894 in what has been described as a naive attempt to grow closer to Nobel, toward the end of their long relationship.

By 1895, Nobel had developed angina pectoris, a heart condition that foreshadowed his declining health in his final year of life.

Image source: Angina

On 10 December 1896, Nobel suffered a stroke/intracerebral hemorrhage at Villa Nobel in Sanremo, Italy. He was first partially paralyzed and then died, aged 63. His will set in motion the creation of the world-famous Nobel Prizes.

In 1884, Nobel was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the same institution that would later select laureates for two of the Nobel Prizes.

Image source: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

In 1893, Nobel received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, recognizing his contributions to science despite never having attended university himself.

Image source: Uppsala University

On 27 November 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Nobel signed his last will and testament, setting aside the bulk of his estate—unbeknownst to his family—to fund the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality.

Image source: Nobel Prize

In accordance with Nobel's will, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, honoring outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.

Bertha von Suttner, Nobel's former secretary and longtime correspondent, was awarded the 1905 Nobel Peace Prize 'for her sincere peace activities', vindicating her influence on Nobel's decision to establish the prize.

Pastor Nathan Söderblom, leader of the Church of Sweden Abroad in Paris that Nobel regularly attended during his years living there, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930.

Image source: Nathan Söderblom

Sweden's central bank Sveriges Riksbank celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1968 by donating a large sum of money to the Nobel Foundation to be used to set up a sixth prize in the field of economics in honor of Alfred Nobel.

The 1984 public artwork Nobel Metamorphoses in Troisdorf, Germany—at the time the location of the Dynamit Nobel headquarters—contrasts war death statistics to peace prize recipients since the latter's inauguration in 1901 through a critical lens.

Image source: Troisdorf

Diplomat Thomas Bertelman and Professor Arkady Melua initiated the creation of the Monument to Alfred Nobel in 1989 and provided funds for its construction, on the Petrogradskaya Embankment street where Nobel's family lived until 1859.

The Monument to Alfred Nobel stands in Saint Petersburg along the Bolshaya Nevka River on the Petrogradskaya Embankment, the street where Nobel's family lived until 1859. It was dedicated in 1991 to mark the 90th anniversary of the first Nobel Prize presentation.

In 2001, Alfred Nobel's great-great-nephew, Peter Nobel (born 1931), asked the Bank of Sweden to differentiate its award to economists given 'in Alfred Nobel's memory' from the five other awards established by Nobel himself.

Image source: Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

A biography noting that Nobel was Swedish was published in Sweden in 2003 and has been translated into Slovenian, French, Italian, and Spanish, extending interest in Nobel's life story across Europe.

By 2022, the Nobel Foundation, created to administer Nobel's bequest, had approximately 6 billion Swedish Kronor of invested capital, sustaining the annual Nobel Prize awards long after his death.

Image source: Nobel Foundation