This October the eagerly awaited list of the Nobel Prize laureates have been announced. But the first Nobel Prize has been awarded many years ago, 120 years ago to be precise, in 1901.
It all started when Swedish magnate Alfred Nobel has bequeathed almost all his vast fortune to reward those who confer the “greatest benefit on mankind” in five disciplines, namely in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. But not in mathematics! Hard to get to know the motive for such disdain for mathematics but the legend has it that the woman Alfred Nobel loved cheated on him with a prominent mathematician, and Alfred neither forgot nor forgave.
The fascinating history of Nobel Prize and captivating and intriguing lives of its laureates, their struggles and triumphs have been the subject of many novels, movies, and biographies that you can find in our collection.