Alfred Nobel

At the Swedish-Norwegian Club

Alfred Nobel signed his third and final will at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895, before four Swedish witnesses. He had spent roughly two months in the city working on the document.

It directed that his remaining realisable assets be invested as a fund, with the interest divided annually into five equal prize shares.

Five prizes, and who would choose

Nobel specified prizes for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace, and named in the will itself the Swedish and Norwegian bodies that would select recipients — the peace prize going to a committee of five persons chosen by Norway's Storting.

He expressly directed that nationality not be considered, and named Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Liljequist as executors, with 100,000 Swedish crowns for Sohlman and 50,000 for Liljequist.

The same document revoked his previous testamentary dispositions and requested that his arteries be severed to confirm death before cremation.

No foundation, and no prize, that night

Nothing came into existence beyond a witnessed will. Implementation began only after Nobel's death on 10 December 1896.

The Storting's vote of 26 April 1897 accepted the responsibility assigned to it for the Peace Prize rather than approving the whole will. The Nobel Foundation was established under statutes approved by the Swedish government on 29 June 1900, and the first five prizes were awarded on 10 December 1901.

The economics prize was not among Nobel's categories: Sweden's central bank established it separately in 1968.