I think the most interesting trivia about the nobel prize is really why we have it.
Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite .. That's common knowledge here, but maybe not overseas. Anyways, the story goes that his obituary was wrongfully published before his death and that it condemned him for his contribution to weaponry and new ways to kill people. Maybe he felt he deserved it or thought he had some bad karma going. Either way, he didn't want to be remembered just as the inventor of something that made war possible in new and destructive ways, so he used his resources to set up the Nobel Prizes to be awarded annually after his death.
It sounds a bit like he was forced to by his guilty conscience
Good man, though, that Alfred.