“The merchant of death has died,” announced a French newspaper in April 1888, informing the world that Sweden’s Alfred Nobel, “the man who became wealthy by finding ways to kill as many people as possible faster than ever before”, had gone to the eter- nal hunting grounds. French journalists made a mistake; a mistake that would change the world. That’s because that April it was Alfred Nobel’s brother, Ludvig, who died, while the famous inventor of dynamite became obsessed with his posthumous reputation. He wanted to be re- membered as a good man after his death. And so it was that in 1895 he sat at a table at a Pa- risian café, invited five of his friends to be witnesses – he didn’t trust lawyers – and on four sheets of paper wrote down his most important testament. The ma- jority of his wealth, more precisely 31 million krona (which would today equate to about 377 million eu- ros), he donated to science. “They presented me as an evil ge-
rgovac smrću je umro , objavio je jedan francuski list aprila 1888. godine, obaveštavajući svet da je Šveđa- nin Alfred Nobel, „čovek koji se obogatio pronala- zeći načine da se što više ljudi ubije brže nego ikada ranije“, otišao u večna lovišta. Francuski novinari su napravili grešku. Grešku koja će promeniti svet. Tog aprila umro je rođeni brat Alfreda No- bela, Ludvig, a čuveni pronalazač dinamita postao je opsed- nut svojom posthumnom reputacijom. Želeo je da ga nakon smrti pamte kao dobrog čoveka. I tako je 1895. godine seo za sto u jednom kafeu u Parizu, pozvao pet svojih prijatelja za svedoke, advokatima nije ve- rovao, i na četiri strane napisao najvažniji testament. Većinu
svog bogatstva, tačnije 31 milion švedskih kru- na (što bi danas bilo oko 377 miliona evra), zave- štao je nauci. „Predstavili su me kao genija zla, kao trgovca smrću, a ja sam samo radio za dobrobit čovečan- stva. Jedini cilj mog života bio je da širim zna- nje“, pisao je Nobel, koji je sebe smatrao filan- tropom. Vodio je sve poslove sam, a radnici su ga obožavali. Kako i ne bi kada je svima obezbe- dio besplatnu lekarsku negu. Pred kraj života bio je na čelu 90 fabrika širom sveta. Putovao je od jedne do druge, a kuću u San Remu je smatrao domom. Nikada se nije oženio. Sve žene, stare i mlade, smatrao je uljezima i jasno im to govorio. Sam Nobel o sebi je znao da kaže da mu je najveće dostignuće u životu to što ima či-
nius, as a merchant of death, while I on- ly worked for the benefit of mankind. The only goal of my life was to spread knowl- edge,” wrote Nobel, who considered him- self a philanthropist. He led all works himself, and his workers adored him. How could they not, when he secured free med- ical care for all of them? Prior to the end of his life, he headed 90 factories world- wide. He travelled from one to another, and he considered his house in San Remo as his home. He never married. He consid- ered all women, old and young, as intrud- ers, and he expressed that clearly to them. Nobel would say of himself that his
Kako je jedna novinarska greška dovela do Nobelove nagrade How one journalistic error led to the Nobel Prize
ste nokte i što nikome ne smeta. Smatrao je da mu je najve- ća greška to što nema porodicu, a najveći greh što ne poštu- je bogatstvo. Pred kraj je imao samo jedan strah - da ga ne sahrane živog. Umro je 10. decembra 1896. godine, kremi- ran je, a njegov testament šokirao je svet. Sve je ostavio na- uci. Odredio je sumu kojom će svake godine biti nagrađeni naučnici iz polja fizike, hemije i medicine, kao i književnici i ljudi koji šire mir u svetu. Oni koji su u toj godini dali najvi- še. Njegovom testamentu dodata je jedna mala izmena 1968. godine, kada je švedska centralna banka dodala nagradu za ekonomiju. Sve nagrade sastoje se od medalje i čeka u izno- su od osam miliona kruna (930.000 dolara). Dalja Nobelova familija pokušala je da ospori oporuku, švedskoj kraljevskoj porodici se nije dopalo što novac nije namenjen samo Šveđanima... Ipak, četiri godine nakon smrti Alfreda Nobela, 29. juna, ustanovljena je Nobelova nagrada, a 10. decembra 1901. godine, na godišnjicu smrti, prvi nauč- nici su dobili priznanja. Baš onako kako je želeo.
greatest accomplishment in life was that he had clean fingernails and he didn’t bother anyone. He be- lieved that his greatest mistake was that he had no family, while his biggest sin was having no respect for wealth. Towards the end, he had only one fear – that he be buried alive. He died on 10 th December 1896 and was cremated, while his testament shocked the world. He left everything to science. He deter- mined a sum that would be awarded each year to sci- entists from the fields of physics, chemistry and med- icine, as well as writers and people who spread peace around the world; those who had given the most dur- ing the preceding year. A slight amendment was add- ed to his last will in 1968, when Sweden’s central bank added a prize for economics. All prizes consist of a medal and a cheque in the amount of eight mil- lion krona ($930,000). Nobel’s extended family tried to challenge the will, while the Swedish royal family did not like the fact that the money was not only for Swedes... How- ever, four years after the death of Alfred Nobel, on 29 th June, the Nobel Prize was founded, and on 10th December 1901, on the anniversary of his death, the first scientists received their awards. Just as he had wanted.
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