Nobel, Bodily Weak, was Strong in Mind and Will.
Physically weak, of nervous, high strung and exceptionally sensitive disposition, Nobel was endowed with a strong will, unbounded energy, and wonderful perseverance; he feared no danger and never yielded to adversity. Many would have succumbed under the misfortunes which befell him, but the succession of almost insurmountable difficulties, the explosion of his factory, causing a general scare and dread of the deadly compound he was making, the loss of his younger brother, to whom he was devotedly attached, the consequent paralysis of his father, and his mother’s grief and anxiety, could not deter him from pursuing his aim. His temerity frequently verged on foolhardiness, as when he was going to his father’s works one day at St. Petersburg, and finding no boat to take him across the river, he swam to the opposite bank of the Neva. The co-existence of impulsive daring with sensitive timidity was a striking feature in his character. He frequently demonstrated the value and safety of his explosives with his own hands, although he was particularly susceptible to headaches caused by bringing nitro-glycerine in contact with the skin; these headaches affected him so violently that he was often obliged to lie down on the ground in the mine or quarry in which he was experimenting. On one occasion when some dynamite could not be removed from a large cask he crept into it and dug the explosive out with a knife. Many other incidents could be related of the fearlessness he displayed when the success of his invention depended entirely upon his demonstrations of its safety, which in those days had not yet been thoroughly proved.
Nobel died in 1896, at the age of 63; after providing legacies to relatives and friends he left about $12,000,000, its income to be annually divided into fifths, each fifth to be awarded for the most important discovery or improvement in chemistry, physics, physiology, or medicine, and for the work in literature highest in the ideal sense. In distributing these prizes no considerations of nationality prevail.