Alfred Bernhard Nobel has come as close as any human to achieving immortality.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1833, this chemist, who was also the author of the prize that bears his name, grew up to be a man of diverse interests. He was a scientist, inventor and first-rate industrialist, amassing a fortune worth almost $9 million by the time of death. Most of this he threw into an account to fund the prize.

Nobel's occupational interest, however, was explosives and munitions. He made a number of important contributions, including the invention of dynamite. But he was interested in any kind of chemical that could explode. One of these research avenues caused a great tragedy to occur in his life. It may have been part of the reason he established the prize.

Alfred Nobel was researching the properties of nitroglycerin, a volatile explosive of great power. Though he didn't invent the stuff (the honor going to an Italian chemist), Nobel did discover a solution to a very hazardous problem. As you may be aware, nitroglycerin is so explosive that the slightest physical jar can detonate it. Many experimenters were maimed trying to understand the nature of this curious instability. Still more were frustrated because it was a very useful explosive, but could not be transferred from one place to another without great risk. Nitroglycerin remained an oddity of the chemist's research bench for a decade and a half.