Alfred Bernhard Nobel, a Swedish inventor and philanthropist, bequeathed most of his vast fortune to a trust that he designated as a fund from which annual prizes could be awarded to the individuals and organizations that had achieved through invention or discovery which would have the greatest benefit to humanity in a particular year. According to the legend, Nobel's death had been erroneously reported in news paper, and that the focus of the obituary was the fact that Nobel had invented dynamite. When he read this objective summary of his life, the great chemist, it is said, decided that he wanted his name to be remembered for something more positive and humanitarian than inventing an explosive that was a potential weapon. He rewrote his will in 1895, thereby establishing, with the original amount of nine million dollars, the Noble foundation as the legal owner and administrating agent of the funds and instituting the prizes that are named after him. Statutes to govern the awarding of the prizes, were written, along with guidelines for operating procedures. Five years after Nobel's death, the first five prizes, worth about forty thousand dollars each, were to be awarded.