硝酸甘油炸藥（又稱黃色炸藥）的發(fā)明者阿爾弗雷德·諾貝爾（1833-1896）是一位熱愛和平的發(fā)明家。他痛恨戰(zhàn)爭，他發(fā)明炸藥是為了挽救生命，避免人們因使用其他危險炸藥而死亡。他還認(rèn)為這個發(fā)明會令一切戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)束——倘若所有國家都有威力極大的武器，那么各國會發(fā)現(xiàn)，戰(zhàn)爭是不可能的，任何打仗的國家必定會被毀滅?？上屡c愿違，在許多人眼中，硝酸甘油炸藥成為了一種極度危險的產(chǎn)品。1888年，當(dāng)阿爾弗雷德的哥哥路德維希去世時，一張法國報紙誤以為死的是阿爾弗雷德，在訃聞中稱他是“軍火制造商”（merchantofdeath）。

終生未娶、亦無子嗣的諾貝爾不想在歷史上留下如此惡名。他利用巨大的財富創(chuàng)立了諾貝爾獎，用來獎勵那些在科學(xué)、文學(xué)和世界和平等領(lǐng)域作出過卓越貢獻(xiàn)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[機(jī)械的]workshopthatprovidedequipmentfortheRussianarmy.WithhissuccessinRussia，ImmanuelwasnowabletomovehisfamilytoSt.Petersburg.

In1842，whenAlfredwasnineyearsold，hismotherandbrothers（RobertandLudvig）movedtoSt.Petersburg.Thefollowingyear，Alfredsyoungerbrother，Emil，wasborn.ThefourNobelbrothersweregivenafirst-classeducationwiththehelpofprivatetutors[家庭教師].Theirlessonsincludednaturalsciences，languagesandliterature[文學(xué)].Attheageof17，AlfredcouldspeakandwriteinSwedish，Russian，F(xiàn)rench，EnglishandGerman.

AlfredTravelsAbroad

Alfredwasmostinterestedinliterature，chemistryandphysics.HisfatherwantedhissonstofollowinhisfootstepsandwasnotpleasedwithAlfredsinterestinpoetry.Hedecidedtosendtheyoungmanabroadtostudyandbecomeachemicalengineer.

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

Alfredbecameveryinterestedinnitroglycerineandhowitcouldbeusedinconstructionwork.WhenhereturnedbacktoRussia，heworkedtogetherwithhisfathertodevelopnitroglycerineasacommercially[商業(yè)上]andtechnicallyusefulexplosive.