The first complete and source-based biography of Alfred Nobel - an amazing and controversial man who dreamed of world peace, wrote love poems at night and invented dynamite, forever changing the methods of warfare. The book about the creator of the most famous and respected award on Earth - the Nobel Prize - was written by Swedish writer and journalist Ingrid Karlberg. She traces in detail the history of the life of Nobel and his family, immersing us as much as possible in the era and its atmosphere, and for the first time touches in detail on previously hushed and taboo topics: Alfred's long-term secret romance (who never married, but always dreamed of family and home comfort) with Austrian Sophie Hess, as well as the painful family disagreements that followed his death over the will and establishment of the prize. The book is based on a huge volume of previously unknown sources: combining the scientific rigor of the academic level with the curiosity of an investigative journalist, Karlberg worked in the archives of five countries, studied hundreds of documents and thousands of private letters, including those dedicated to the St. Petersburg period of the Nobel family's life (early 1840s - early 1860s).