Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the Nobel Prize in 1895, recognizing achievements in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
The first prize, awarded on December 10th in 1901, went to Red Cross Founder Jean Henri Dunant, and peace activist Frédéric Passy.
Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite (among many other things), also died on December 10th, in 1896.