A Nobel Prize is considered by most people one of the highest international honours a person can receive.As you know,the prizes were started by a Swedish called Alfred Nobel.He was born in Stockholm,the capital of Sweden.Alfred Nobel was a great scientist.He made two important inventions,and so he became very rich.Although he was rich,Nobel was not a happy man.He never married or had children.Also,he was a sick man during his large part of life.When he died at the age of 63, he left a fund of$9,000,000.The money was to be used in giving prizes to those who made great achievements in physics,chemistry(化学),medicine and literature, and for world peace. The first Nobel Prizes were given on December 10, 1901,five years after Nobel's death.Since then many famous people from all over the world have been given Nobel Prizes for their achievements. Each prize has three parts.The first part is a gold medal.Second,a winner of a Nobel Prize is given a diploma, saying that he has been given the prize.The third part of the prize is a large amount of money---about$40,000. Often a prize is given to just one person,but not always.Sometimes a prize is shared.Itmay be given to two or more people who have worked together.It is also sometimes true that a prize is not given at all if there is no great achievement.In 1972,for example,no Nobel Peace Prize was given.