When were the first Nobel Prizes awarded?

Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel, famous for inventing dynamite, left most of his fortune in his 1895 will to fund prizes for those who had conferred the greatest benefit on humankind. He died on 10 December 1896, and the first prizes were presented on the fifth anniversary of his death in 1901. The original five categories were physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Wilhelm Röntgen, discoverer of X-rays, won the first physics prize, while the first peace prize was shared by Red Cross founder Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy. A sixth prize, in economic sciences, was created by Sweden’s central bank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969.