10 December 2000

After the death of Alfred Bernhard Nobel on this day in 1896 it was revealed that his will left his fortune, made from exploiting his inventions of the explosives dynamite, smokeless powder, and gelignite, to fund a series of prizes for work promoting the welfare of mankind. The Nobel Foundation was formed, and the first prizes were awarded on the fifth anniversary of his death.

The 1901 Winners were Jacobus Henricus Van't Hoff in Chemistry; Sully Prudhomme (pen-name of René François Armand) in Literature; Jean Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy split the prize for Peace; Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in Physics; and Emil Adolf von Behring in Physiology or Medicine.

You can check out this years ceremonies and browse through the acceptance speeches of previous recipients at the Nobel Foundation site at http://www.nobel.se.

1520 - German reformer Martin Luther publicly burned Pope Leo X's bull "Exsurge Domine" which demanded that Luther recant his "protestant" heresies, including that of justification by faith alone rather than through purchased indulgences or other papal favors.

1593 - Italian archaeologist Antonio Bosio first descended into the subterranean Christian burial chambers, located under the streets of Rome. Bosio was dubbed the "Columbus of the Catacombs" and his books long remained the standard work on the underground tombs of the early Roman Church.

1898 - The Treaty of Paris was signed between the US and Spain, giving the US her first extra-continental territory. Spain relinquished control over Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the US, the treaty recognized that Dewey had captured the Philippines for the US in the six-month conflict, and the US agreed to pay Spain $20 million in compensation for the Philippines.

1936 - Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to pursue a relationship with a married American woman, the only British monarch to voluntarily surrender the crown. He subsequently became the Duke of Windsor, his brother was crowned George VI. His official statement was, "I, Edward, do hereby declare my irrevocable determination to renounce the throne for myself and my descendants."

Wyoming Day, Wyoming - commemorates the 1869 passage of legislation in the Wyoming Territory legislature extending suffrage to women, proclaimed in Title 8 of the Wyoming code as being the first such action in legislative history.

Human Rights Day, United Nations member countries - Commemorates the 1948 adoption of General Assembly resolution 217 A (III), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The lengthy document opens, "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,..."

Nobel Prize Awards, Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden - On the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death on this day in 1896, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded at Oslo (currently at City Hall). The prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature, along with the more recent Sveriges Riksbank (Bank of Sweden) Prize in Economic Sciences, are awarded at Stockholm (Stockholms Konserthus).

1815 - Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, English mathematician - Born at Piccadilly, Middlesex, England to the 6th Lord Byron, the poet, and his wife Annabella, her parents separated two months alter and Ada never met her father. Educated by tutors and her own curiosity, primarily in math and science as her mother feared she would end up a poet like her father. Learned of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in 1834. Married William King, the 8th Baron King, in 1835, became the Countess of Lovelace in 1838 when King was created earl. Translated an article by the Italian Menabrea about Babbage's work, showed the translation to Babbage who suggested she add her own notes - which ran to three times the length of the original. Wrote and published a plan for using the Analytical Engine, which was never actually built, to calculate Bernoulli numbers, which is recognized as the first computer prgram. Her health deteriorated and she died at age 36, as did her father, at Marylebone, London on 27 November 1852.

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss.
     - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am inferior of any man whose rights I trample under foot. Men are not superior by reason of the accidents of race or color. They are superior who have the best heart - the best brain.
     - Robert Green Ingersoll

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is my country.
     - Benjamin Franklin

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Copyright 2000 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely. Please forward the complete message including this copyright notice.