The effect of an erroneous report in a newspaper can be quite effective as a performance piece. The Last will and Testament of Alfred Nobel is an instance in point.Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. He invented dynamite and was the owner of Bofors, which he redirected from its previous role as an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments. He made a lot of money.
In 1888, Alfred’s brother Ludwig died whilst on holiday in Cannes. A French newspaper erroneously published Alfred’s obituary. The obituary stated Le marchand de la mort est mort ("The merchant of death is dead") and went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday”.
Alfred was, to say the least, a bit upset by what he read. As a consequence, whilst in France, on the 27th November 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality. He died of a stroke on 10 December 1896 at Sanremo, Italy. After taxes and bequests to individuals, Nobel's will gave 31,225,000 Swedish kronor (equivalent to about 1.8 billion kronor or 250 million US dollars in 2008) to fund the prizes. There has been a large accumulation of funds since then. On being awarded a Nobel Prize, Each recipient, or laureate, receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money, which depends on the Nobel Foundation's income that year. In 2011, each prize was worth SEK 10 million (c. US$1.45 million)
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