When Ludwig Nobel died in 1888, a journalist, who mistakenly identified the deceased as Alfred Nobel, published his obituary instead. Alfred Nobel was able to see written before him a summary of the achievements of his life. Materially, it had been a great success – he was very rich. He was a scientific genius; he invented dynamite together with the even more potent solution, blasting gelatine, and in 1880 he patented an almost smokeless gun powder that European armies rushed to buy. In his obituary he was described as ‘the merchant of death’. Alfred Nobel was shocked. Was this all his life had been about? Enabling mankind to destroy itself more efficiently?

This chilling incident caused Nobel to work for world peace. He also re-wrote his will. He instructed his executors to convert all his remaining property to cash (it came to $9 million) and to invest it in safe securities, the interest from which would be awarded annually in five prizes to those persons who contributed most to the benefit of humankind during the preceding year. The five categories were physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. Alfred Nobel died on 10 November 1896; since then over 600 Nobel Laureates have been recognised.’ How will you be remembered?

How would you like to be remembered forever… for doing something that was so significant that your name goes down in the history books for all of eternity?

Source: Nicky Gumbel, 30 DAYS: A Practical Introduction to Reading the Bible, 2006, Alpha Publications, p.25