10th December 1901 First Nobel Prizes Awarded

The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who regretted the damage done by his invention of dynamite, created the awards. When he died in 1896, he directed the creation of a fund, the interest of which was to be distributed annually to those who have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. Five years after his death, the first five Nobel Prizes were awarded. Today, the award is regarded as the most prestigious in the world. Notable winners have included Marie Curie, Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King Jr., Mikhail Gorbachev, and Nelson Mandela.