＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・ノーベル賞に数学がない理由は恋敵が数学者だったから！？恋文で大金を取られた？
The “Nobel Prize season” has arrived once again. Every year, there’s much discussion about whether Haruki Murakami will win the Nobel Prize in Literature. There was also a past rivalry between Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima over the Nobel Prize in Literature.
This year (2021), the schedule is as follows: the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be awarded on October 4th, followed by the Nobel Prize in Physics on the 5th, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on the 6th, the Nobel Prize in Literature on the 7th, the Nobel Peace Prize on the 8th, and the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on the 11th. The award ceremonies for each prize are scheduled to be held on December 10th, the anniversary of the death of the founder, Alfred Nobel.
The Nobel Foundation, which administers the Nobel Prizes, has announced that, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the awarding of medals and other ceremonies will continue to be held in the recipient’s country of residence, as was done last year.
1. Who is Nobel?
(1) Who is Nobel?
Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist, inventor, and businessman, and the inventor of dynamite.
He developed his father’s ironworks from a simple ironworks into a weapons manufacturer. He obtained 350 patents, but dynamite is his most famous. He amassed a vast fortune through the development of dynamite, earning him the nickname “Dynamite King.”
He used his inheritance to establish the Nobel Prize. The element nobelium, which does not exist in nature, was named after Nobel. His name lives on in modern company names, such as Dynamite Nobel and AkzoNobel (both successors to companies founded by Nobel).
(2) Nobel’s Life
He was born in Stockholm and entered primary school in his hometown in 1841. In 1842, he moved with his family to Saint Petersburg, and thereafter he never received a formal education.
In Saint Petersburg, he received private lessons from chemists such as Dzinin, who focused his attention on nitroglycerin. At the age of 17, he spent two years studying in Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, and the United States, learning chemistry, mechanics, and languages.
During the Crimean War (1853-1856), he helped his father’s munitions factory, learning practical skills such as mine laying. In 1863, he returned to Stockholm and began researching nitroglycerin with his father as an alternative to black powder and guncotton.
Nitroglycerin explodes upon impact or friction, but it does not explode simply by ignition like ordinary gunpowder. Developing a safe and reliable method of detonation was necessary to use it as an explosive. At his laboratory in Heleneborg, Nobel conducted over 50 meticulous experiments, confirming that nitroglycerin needed to be rapidly heated to its explosive temperature (170-180°C) for it to explode.
In 1864, he successfully detonated sealed nitroglycerin using a detonator, earning a patent for the so-called “detonator.” Initially, black powder was used as the detonator, but later mercury fulminate was employed.
In 1866, to solidify the difficult-to-handle liquid nitroglycerin, he began experimenting with absorbent solids. In 1867, he developed dynamite by impregnating diatomaceous earth with nitroglycerin.
During this period, the widespread use of nitroglycerin led to a series of explosion accidents, resulting in many casualties, including Nobel’s own brother, and causing international controversy. Despite these incidents, he continued his scientific and systematic experiments.
In 1876, he developed dynamite rubber, which had greater explosive power, and in 1887, after more than 200 experiments, he developed ballistite, a smokeless nitroglycerin explosive.
Dynamite became a valuable energy source for railways, civil engineering, and military technology during the era of imperialism in Western countries that established industrial capital. Dynamite factories were built in various countries, and in 1886, Nobel founded the world’s first international special company, the Nobel Dynamite Trust, and amassed a vast fortune.
He himself is said to have loved peace and placed his faith in scientific progress. The 355 patents he obtained throughout his life spanned a wide range of fields, and he considered himself a global citizen. He resided in France from 1873, and in Italy from 1891, and died in San Remo in December 1896.
His vast fortune was donated to the Stockholm Academy of Sciences for the promotion of peace ideals and scientific progress, and the Nobel Prize was established.
(3) The impetus for the creation of the Nobel Prize
There’s an interesting anecdote about what sparked the creation of the Nobel Prize.
One day, a newspaper published the following article:
“Dr. Nobel: The man who amassed a fortune by inventing a method to kill more people than ever before in the shortest possible time died yesterday.”
Nobel himself was shocked to read this. After all, he was still alive. This was a major newspaper error, mistakenly reporting the death of Nobel’s brother.
He was deeply shocked, thinking that if he died, his name would go down in history as “the man who invented dynamite and took many lives.”
This incident is said to have been the catalyst for his decision to create the Nobel Prize.
Another theory is that it was triggered by Nobel being deceived by a young woman, Sophie Hess. This will be discussed in detail in section 3, “The story of Nobel being extorted for a large sum of money by a woman after writing her a love letter.”
2. Why there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics
There are several theories as to why there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics.
One theory is that “Nobel had no interest in mathematics,” but another prominent theory is that “a famous mathematician named Arthur von Suttner was on bad terms with Nobel.”
In 1876, Nobel advertised for a female secretary. He was captivated by a woman who applied, Bertha Kinski (1843-1914) (pictured below). She was 33 years old and the daughter of an Austrian nobleman. Nobel was 43 years old and unmarried at the time.
However, Bertha already had a fiancé and soon left Nobel. That fiancé was the mathematician Arthur von Suttner (1850-1902).
One theory suggests that Nobel did not establish the “Nobel Prize in Mathematics” because his rival in love was a mathematician. However, there are also claims that Suttner was not a mathematician.
Incidentally, Bertha became the first woman to receive the “Nobel Peace Prize” in 1905, after Nobel’s death.
In fact, Bertha was also a novelist and a radical peace activist. She published the novel “Die Waffen nieder!” (Lay Down Your Arms!) in 1889, becoming a pioneer in peace activism.
In 1891, she founded the Austrian Friends of Peace. In 1892, she joined the International Peace Bureau, becoming a lifetime member and serving as its vice-president. Her activities became international, and she published the peace movement magazine “Lay Down Your Arms” (a title taken from one of her books). Her work was greatly influenced by figures such as Henry Thomas Buckle, Herbert Spencer, and Charles Darwin.
Her personal relationship with Nobel continued even after she left her position as secretary, but they became rivals in Nobel’s later years. This stemmed from her advocacy for peace through peace conferences, lectures, and publications—a peace society—while Nobel aimed for the conclusion of security treaties between nations and an organization similar to the current United Nations. Their correspondence continued through letters until Nobel’s death in 1896.
Therefore, it is believed that she had a significant influence on Nobel’s creation of the Peace Prize, and she claimed to have contributed to its establishment, although the Nobel Foundation denied this at the time.
Furthermore, while it was rumored that she would be the first recipient of the Peace Prize, she actually received it nine years after Nobel’s death, in 1905. (It is said that this was because King Oscar II of Sweden at the time disliked her, viewing her as a “radical peace activist.”) “Lay Down Your Arms!” was made into a film in 1914.
3. The Story of Nobel Being Swindled Out of a Large Sum of Money by a Woman He Wrote a Love Letter To
Two months after Bertha left Nobel, the 43-year-old Nobel fell in love with Sophie Hess, a flower shop girl 23 years his junior.
It is said that the Nobel Prize was established partly because Nobel was deceived by the young woman, Sophie Hess.
This is written in “The Legacy of Alfred Nobel: The Story Behind the Nobel Prize,” written by Sohlmann, one of Nobel’s executors.
At the time, it was clear that Nobel would be ostracized for dating a commoner girl 23 years his junior, so he secretly invited Sophie to his home and taught her the intelligence and culture of the upper class.
Sophie became accustomed to a life of luxury and grew increasingly spoiled, but he continued this lifestyle for 15 years, keeping it hidden from the public.
While he was away traveling, Sophie cheated on him with multiple men and even had children with them. Even he, upon learning of Sophie’s pregnancy, decided to break up with her.
After Sophie made their relationship public, she blackmailed Nobel using her diary entries about their life together, extorting large sums of money from him indefinitely. This is clearly a criminal act of blackmail or extortion.
Reflecting on his relationship with Sophie, Nobel wrote a will in 1985 establishing the Nobel Prize, intending to use his fortune meaningfully. The Nobel Prize was subsequently founded in 1901 based on this will.
However, after Nobel’s death, Sophie sold 216 love letters and photographs she received from him to the executor of his will for an exorbitant price, amassing a vast fortune.
The amount Sophie spent freely over 15 years is equivalent to over 22.5 billion yen in today’s money. She also bought him a house in Paris for 230 million yen. After their separation, she blackmailed him using his diaries, extorting 1.5 billion yen per year, and by the time Nobel died five years later, she had collected approximately 7.5 billion yen. In total, Nobel paid Sophie over 30.2 billion yen.
Furthermore, even after Nobel’s death, she continued to receive 1.5 billion yen annually based on his will. She also sold Nobel’s love letters to the Nobel Foundation after his death.
I was shocked by the case of Anita, the Chilean woman who extorted 1.1 billion yen from a Japanese civil servant, but this is on a completely different scale.
4. The “Nobel Prize in Economics” didn’t exist initially; it’s a special award added later.
The “Nobel Prize in Economics” didn’t exist when I was a child.
It was established in 1968 as part of the 300th-anniversary celebrations of the Swedish National Bank, through lobbying the Nobel Foundation.
I remember being impressed when my economics professor said, “I’m also aiming for a Nobel Prize,” when I was a university student. In 1970, Paul Samuelson, author of “Economics,” which was widely used in Japan as an introductory textbook on economics at the time, received the award.
While “Nobel Prize in Economics” is widely used as a common name, the Nobel Foundation states that it is “not a Nobel Prize” and uses the official name described below, or simply refers to it as the “Prize in Economics.”
However, the award is selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, recognized by the Nobel Foundation, and the award ceremony and other general procedures are the same as those for the Nobel Prize.
While the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences approved the establishment of this new Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel’s descendants and the Swedish Academy, which selects the Nobel Prize in Literature, did not agree.
This may be because it “goes against the wishes of the deceased who created the Nobel Prize,” but I also suspect there are concerns about “funding shortages due to the increase in the number of awards.”
Nevertheless, considering that the Nobel Prize has been awarded for over 350 years through the management of Nobel’s legacy (the Nobel Foundation), one can imagine the enormous profits Nobel made from his invention of dynamite.
5. The origin of the company name “Nobel Confectionery” (a side note)
The name “Nobel Confectionery,” well-known for its throat lozenges and other candies, originates from the fact that the company’s founder was acquainted with Dr. Hideki Yukawa. Therefore, at the same time as Dr. Yukawa’s Nobel Prize in Physics award (1949), the company applied for trademark registration of “Nobel,” which later became the company name.
It has no relation whatsoever to the company founded by Nobel.