【明報專訊】The 2010 Nobel Prizes are to be presented on 10 December 2010. The award of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (中國異見人士劉曉波) has greatly displeased the Chinese government. Liu's wife has been held under house arrest. The Nobel Committee has announced that, unless Liu or his wife attends the ceremony, an empty seat will be reserved on the stage. This is the first time the Committee has made such a decision.
Alfred Nobel (1833-1896)
Alfred Nobel, who instituted the Nobel Prizes, was a Swedish chemist, engineer and inventor. Nobel is best known for his ingenious invention of dynamite, an explosive material of which one of the active ingredients is nitroglycerine (硝化甘油). Nobel owned Bofors, a world-renowned Swedish iron and armament manufacturing company that dates back to 1646. A man of great wealth, Nobel indicated in his last will his enormous fortune be used to establish the Nobel Prizes.
