Some people have done so much for humankind that their names write history. Their accomplishments are so important that streets are named after them in tribute.

One such person is Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the father of the Nobel Prize, after whom one of the streets in Sofia's Geo Milev district has been named.

Nobel was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. His father Immanuel Nobel was an engineer and inventor who built bridges and buildings in Stockholm. In connection with his construction work, Immanuel Nobel also experimented with different techniques of blasting rock. Due to financial difficulties, in 1837 Immanuel Nobel left Stockholm and his family to start a new career in Finland and Russia. In order to support the family, Andrietta Nobel started a grocery store, which provided a modest income.

Meanwhile, Immanuel Nobel was successful in his new enterprise in St. Petersburg, Russia. He started a mechanical workshop, which provided equipment for the Russian army. As a result of his successful industrial and business ventures, Immanuel Nobel was able, in 1842, to bring his family to St. Petersburg. There, his sons received a first class education by private teachers. By the age of 17, Alfred Nobel was fluent in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German. His primary interests were in English literature and poetry as well as in chemistry and physics. His father, however, disliked Alfred's interest in poetry and in order to broaden his horizons, sent him abroad for further training in chemical engineering.

For two years, Alfred Nobel visited Sweden, Germany, France and the US. In Paris, he worked in the private laboratory of the famous chemist Professor T.J. Pelouze. There he met the young Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero who, three years earlier, had invented nitroglycerine, a highly explosive liquid.

Although its explosive power greatly exceeded that of gunpowder, the liquid would explode in a very unpredictable manner if subjected to heat and pressure. Alfred Nobel became very interested in nitroglycerine and how it could be put to practical use in construction work. Together with his father, he performed experiments to develop nitroglycerine as a commercially and technically useful explosive. The two returned to Sweden in 1863 and Alfred Nobel concentrated on developing nitroglycerine as an explosive.

Several explosions, including one in 1864, in which his brother Emil and several other people were killed, convinced the authorities that nitroglycerine production was exceedingly dangerous. They forbade further experimentation with nitroglycerine within the Stockholm city limits and Alfred Nobel had to move his experimentation to a boat anchored on Lake Malaren.

In 1864, Nobel was able to start mass production of nitroglycerine. To make the handling of nitroglycerine safer, he experimented with different additives. He soon found that mixing nitroglycerine with silica would turn the liquid into a paste, which could be shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes. In 1867, Nobel patented this material under the name of dynamite.

In order to detonate the dynamite rods, he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be fired by lighting a fuse. These inventions, together with the diamond drilling crown and the pneumatic drill, drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work.

The market for dynamite and detonating caps grew very rapidly and Alfred Nobel proved to be a very skilful entrepreneur and businessman. Over the years, he founded factories and laboratories in 90 different places in more than 20 countries. When he was not travelling or engaging in business activities, Nobel worked intensively in his various laboratories, first in Stockholm and later in Hamburg (Germany), Ardeer (Scotland), Paris (France), Karlskoga (Sweden) and San Remo (Italy). He focused on the development of explosives technology as well as other chemical inventions, including such materials as synthetic rubber and leather, artificial silk etc. By the time of his death in 1896, he had 355 patents.

Many of the companies he founded, have developed into industrial enterprises that still play a prominent role in the world economy, for example Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), Great Britain, Societe Centrale de Dynamite, France, and Dyno Industries in Norway.

Apart from his devotion to inventions, Nobel was also very interested in social and peace-related issues and held what were considered radical views in his era. He continued to have a great interest in literature and wrote his own poetry and dramatic works.

Alfred Nobel died in San Remo, Italy, on December 10, 1896. When his will was opened, it came as a surprise that his fortune was to be used for Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The executors of his will were two young engineers, Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist. They set about forming the Nobel Foundation as an organisation to take care of the financial assets left by Nobel for this purpose and to coordinate the work of the Prize-Awarding Institutions.

Nobel endowed a $9 million fund in his will. The interest on this endowment was to be used as awards for people whose work most benefited humanity. He wanted the profit from his invention to be used to reward human ingenuity. First awarded in 1901, the Nobel Prize is still the most honoured in the world.