Alfred Nobel Rests in Peace People like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela Aung San Suu Kyi, Kofi Annan, Lech Walesa and Mother Teresa have become famous all around the world ...They are all winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. But none of them would have received their prize and the recognition it brings if it had not been for one Swedish man Alfred Nobel. When Alfred joined the Nobel family company, it had been developing explosives for many years. Alfred's father Immanuel, had started the family fortune by working for the Russian army to produce landmines and sea mines, which are bombs that are put underthe ground or in the water and explode when people move over them. But the family made even more money by manufacturing nitroglycerine, an effective but very dangerous explosive. One day Alfred arrived home to find that his 20-year- old brother, Emil, had been killed in a nitroglycerine The result was dynamite explosion. which became an immediate success all over the worldAlfred Nobel always wanted dynamite to be used for peaceful means. When it was used to blast a path for the Panama Canal in 1914, he couldn't have been happier. Unfortunately, in the same year, World War I started and, when it ended four years later, dynamite had been used to take away the lives of thousands of To see his invention being used men. in this way made him very sad. Some time later, Alfred's older brother Ludwig died. One newspaper accidentally printed fred's obituary instead of his brother's. The obituary described Alfred as a man who had become rich by inventinga weapon of mass destruction. When Alfred read this review of his life, he was horrified and decided to do something about it. He decided that he would use the great fortune that he had made to reward people who had been working to promote good in society. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the person who had done the most, or the best, work to promote friendship between countries, to abolish armies or to hold and promote peace. In 1997, the Nobel Peace Prize went to an American called Jody Williams for her efforts to get landmines banned. E Perhaps now, Alfred Nobel will rest more easily in his grave