Alfred Nobel is famous for inventing dynamite and other powerful explosives and for founding the Nobel Prizes. His first notable invention was an improved detonator called a blasting cap (1865). He later developed dynamite (1867) and blasting gelatin (1875). These inventions made Nobel extremely wealthy. They also gave him the nickname “the merchant of death,” which first appeared in a premature obituary. (A newspaper had mistakenly thought that Nobel had died when it was actually his brother.)
It is possibly concern over his posthumous reputation that led Nobel to leave the bulk of his fortune in trust to establish what came to be the most highly regarded of international awards, the Nobel Prizes. It is certain that the actual awards he instituted reflect his lifelong interest in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology, and literature. There is also abundant evidence that his friendship with the prominent Austrian pacifist Bertha von Suttner inspired him to establish the prize for peace.