Editor's note: More than 881 individuals and organizations have been awarded the Nobel Prize since its first conferment in 1901. There have also been “mistakes” in the history of the sacred prize.

Swiss chemist Paul Mueller (Photo/Beijing News)

Award: The invention of the insecticide DDT

This was supposed to be a product to save lives but turned out to be deadly poisonous.

Swiss chemist Paul Mueller was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1948 for inventing the toxic organochlorine insecticide.

At the time, DDT was very effective as a powerful insecticide. Since coming into general use in 1942, the populations of mosquitos, flies, and lice had fallen enormously, crop yields had grown steadily, and the spread of diseases such as macula and typhoid fever had been halted.

Due to the cull of mosquitos, DDT had controlled the spread of malaria and encephalitis, saving more than 50 million lives between 1948 and 1970. Soldiers even splashed DDT directly onto people to get rid of infectious diseases.

However, from the 1960s, scientists began to discover that DDT had an effect not only on pests but, also as a terrifying “biological killer” which did great damage to the environment. DDT is extremely slow to degrade in nature and accumulates in animal bodies. DDT has even been discovered in the blood of penguins in the South Pole. Soft-shelled birds' eggs caused by DDT cannot be hatched.

In the book Silent Spring written by American scholar Rachel Carson, a pioneer of environmental protection, it was said that once ruined by DDT, it was as if an area had been deprived of spring. The book was published in 1962, and is regarded as catalyst for creating awareness of the need for environmental protection. Following the publicity generated by the book, more than 40 bills were released in America to restrict the use of insecticides.

However, nearly 30 years after America's ban on DDT, the World Health Organization advocated that DDT be applied to the fight against malaria, claiming that if used properly, DDT would not cause damage to the environment.