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FRASIER’S FRIDAY FACT

Volume LXXIII

12/7/2018

Hello everyone,

Happy Friday! Welcome back to Frasier's Friday Fact, where we cherish knowledge and continually build our mental database of useless information to use at parties.

I'm sure you have all heard of the Nobel Prizes - widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in the fields of chemistry, literature, peace activism, physics, and physiology or medicine. The Prizes are awarded every year on December 10th, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

Just who was Alfred Nobel, anyway? Some good-natured philanthropist concerned with the well-being of humankind? Well, he may have had these thoughts - but his idea for establishing the Nobel Prizes came after an unfortunate mix-up.

During his life, Nobel was best known for inventing dynamite, and selling it and other explosives as weapons. After his brother Ludvig died in 1888, a French newspaper erroneously published an obituary for Alfred, titled "Le marchand de la mort est mort", or "The Merchant of Death is Dead." The article was harsh, stating, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday."

Obviously, this disturbed Nobel. He tried to devise a way that he could be remembered differently. And so, he changed his will, bequeathing 94% of his assets to the establishment of the Nobel prizes. That original sum is worth approximately $472 million today.

So instead of the Merchant of Death, Alfred Nobel is remembered as a man who, like us, cherished knowledge. His prize is used to honor those who continually build humanity's mental database of not-so-useless information to use at more than parties.

Stay ever-inquisitive, my friends.

Fraish

P.S. - Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.