A fortune with two possible uses
Alfred Nobel’s wealth came largely from explosives, including dynamite. The same basic power that made explosives useful for breaking rock could also serve military purposes. That dual use complicated any simple story in which an invention was only a tool of progress: its effects depended on who used it and why.
What Nobel’s will set in motion
In his 1895 will, Nobel directed that most of his estate be placed in a fund. The income from that fund was to support annual prizes for work judged to benefit humanity, including one for peace. After his death, administering the estate and establishing the prize system turned that instruction into an enduring institution.
The peace prize did not erase the origin of the money or settle what Nobel himself intended by creating it. Rather, it gave part of a fortune earned through a technology with both civilian and military applications a different purpose: recognizing efforts toward peace.
The tension remains part of the legacy
Nobel’s bequest is a striking example of how the consequences of technology cannot be separated neatly from its uses. Dynamite could help people do difficult industrial work, but the same destructive force could be directed toward violence. The prizes made that tension visible in the fortune itself: money generated by a powerful tool was used, in part, to honor those working for peace.
