ORILLIA MUSEUM OF ART & HISTORY
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The Orillia Museum of Art & History's (OMAH) History Speaker Series resumed virtually via Zoom on Oct. 20 with a presentation by OMAH History Committee member Fred Kallin entitled Alfred Nobel and the Canadian Prize Winners.
Kallin’s presentation offered interesting insights into the life of Alfred Nobel, the story behind the creation of the Noble Prize and gave an overview of the Canadians who have been awarded this distinguished Prize.
Who is Alfred Nobel and why did he create these set of prizes that recognize “those who, during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind?”
Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), a Swedish chemist, engineer and inventor who was often remembered as the inventor of dynamite. The presenter said, “people sometimes wonder why a person best known for blowing things up wanted to create a set of prizes to reward the best advances of humanity.”
Kallin offered that Nobel was a “bit of a loner with few good friends” who was known to be a “pacifist” at heart.
He explained that in the 1840s Alfred Nobel’s father, Immanuel Nobel, founded a tool and explosives’ business in St. Petersburg Russia. Alfred Nobel would continue in his father’s line of work and studied under Ascanio Sobrero in Paris. Sobrero was the inventor of the highly volatile nitroglycerin - an explosive that claimed the life of Alfred Nobel’s younger brother.
Dynamite was a less hazardous product which would be widely used in the construction of railways, harbours, canals, building demolition and mining. As a prolific inventor, Alfred Nobel would hold three hundred and thirty-five international patents. His commercial interests also included oil exploration and weapon manufacturing.
Kallin explained that a possible foretelling of Alfred Nobel’s legacy came by way of a misidentification of which of the Nobel brothers had passed away. It was in 1888 that several newspapers incorrectly reported that Alfred had died. Although, it was Ludwig Nobel that had passed away, one article entitled “The Merchant of Death is Dead” was in erroneous reference to Alfred. It was appalling to Alfred that he may be destined to be remembered in this way.
A close friend of Alfred Nobel’s was Bertha von Suttner. She wrote a book entitled Lay Down Your Arms, and would later form the Austrian Peace Movement. Kallin surmised that it was through her influence that Nobel would ultimately create a peace prize.
Kallin explained that in being Europe’s wealthiest man, Alfred Nobel’s hand-written last will and testament caused many challenges for his executors. His residency would ultimately be determined as being the country in which his horses were located.
Furthermore, the Nobel Foundation to which he bequeathed ninety-four percent of his wealth did not yet exist. In the end, the Nobel Foundation and the Nobel Prize owe their existence to the dedicated executor of Alfred Nobel’s estate Ragnar Sohlman.
Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. The winner of the Peace Prize was characterized by Nobel as "the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses."
Kallin profiled each of the 26 individual Canadian Nobel laureates going back to the inception of the Nobel Prize in 1901.
Very recently David Card was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences.
In what is recognized as “one of the 20th century’s most celebrated medical discoveries,” Frederick Banting and his fellow laureate John McLeod, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1923. Kallin commente
d, “If there was a Nobel Prize for generosity, this would certainly qualify.” Banting and McLeod gave away their patent for insulin as they felt their discovery “should belong to the whole world.”
As Kallin explained, “Nobel Prizes are recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious and celebrated ways to encourage, recognize and reward man’s greatest achievements.”
The presentation was well-received, generating many questions from the attendees. If you weren’t able to attend the presentation and want to hear the full story, it is now available on the OMAH’s YouTube channel. Click here to view the presentation.
On Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m., OMAH is hosting the 2021 Carmichael Art History Lecture. This is a fundraiser for OMAH, held each year to honour Group of Seven member Franklin Carmichael, who was born and raised in Orillia on Scott Street.
The Group of Seven: What came next?
Join us to hear Dr. Anna Hudson, a professor, art historian and curator, explore this important time in Canadian art history after the Group of Seven, when a group of painters formed in Toronto with a new humanistic theme in modern Canadian painting, that was passionate about the interests and welfare of people.
Online access to the 2021 Carmichael Art History Lecture is $10.00 per person.
Click here to register for the talk and purchase access by credit card. Or call Monica at 705-326 2159, access is payable by credit card over the phone. Purchases can be made in person at OMAH by cash, debit or credit card from noon to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday. You will be sent a link to the presentation.
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