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The Nobel prizes may be one of the most famous and prestigious awards in the world—but who was the man behind them? As I explain in my lectures about Alfred Nobel, the inventor and entrepreneur has left a lasting legacy with the annual prizes he established in 1901 for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace (the Nobel prize for economic sciences was established much later, in 1968).

But life wasn't always so illustrious for Alfred Nobel.

According to Ingrid Carlberg's biography of Nobel, he had a tough childhood in Stockholm. Not only was he poor, but the boy who would become an esteemed scientist—holding 355 patents in his lifetime—was placed in a class for children with learning difficulties at school. Innovation may have run in the Nobel blood, however. Alfred's father, Immanuel, was also an inventor, albeit less successful than his son would become.

Among Immanuel's early creations was a backpack made from foul-smelling rubber that could also serve as a floating device for soldiers who needed to cross a river—and as a pillow on which to sit comfortably. But Immanuel's inventions racked up huge debts and he fled from his creditors to Saint Petersburg in Russia—a place that would play an important role in his son Alfred's later life.

Things improved for Alfred when the Nobel family moved to Russia, where he began working on developing explosives.

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