Nobel was born in Stockholm in 1833 into a family of engineers and inventors. He held 355 patents, owned Bofors (a major armaments manufacturer), and amassed enormous wealth through his inventions. When his brother Ludvig died in 1888, a French newspaper mistakenly published Alfred's obituary, condemning him as a man who had grown rich by finding ways to kill more people faster. Some historians suggest this premature epitaph haunted Nobel for his remaining years. He died of a stroke in San Remo, Italy, in 1896, leaving behind a will that would take five years to execute due to its complexity and the resistance of family members who had expected to inherit the fortune.

The executors of Nobel's will, Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, faced enormous challenges. The will was vague in places, legally contested, and required coordinating with institutions across Sweden and Norway. They established the Nobel Foundation as a private organization specifically to manage the finances and administration of the prizes. King Oscar II promulgated the Foundation's statutes in 1900. The first prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel's death. Among those honored was Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen, discoverer of X-rays. The Foundation has been headquartered in Stockholm ever since, growing from an initial endowment of 31 million Swedish kronor to assets exceeding 5.2 billion kronor by 2020.

The Foundation does not choose laureates itself. Instead, it coordinates with prize-awarding institutions: the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences handles Physics and Chemistry, the Karolinska Institute awards Physiology or Medicine, the Swedish Academy determines Literature, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee selects the Peace Prize. Economics, added in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden, is technically not a Nobel Prize but is administered alongside the others. The Foundation's role is financial stewardship and organizational coordination. Tax exemptions in Sweden since 1946 and in the United States since 1953 have helped the endowment grow. Prize money increased tenfold from 1 million kronor in the 1980s to 10 million kronor by 2008.

Beyond the annual prizes, the Nobel Foundation hosts Nobel Symposia on topics ranging from prostaglandins and string theory to the Cold War. These gatherings bring together leading minds to address breakthroughs in science and matters of cultural significance. The Foundation vigorously protects the Nobel name and reputation, taking legal action against unauthorized uses of the brand. When controversies arise around the prizes themselves, the Foundation maintains its position as administrator rather than arbiter, leaving scientific and literary debates to the prize committees. The institution Nobel created continues to fulfill his unusual bequest: transforming the profits of destruction into celebrations of discovery, healing, and peace.