The occurrence of angina pectoris is a dramatic situation, and in the past, there was no therapeutic intervention that could alleviate the suffering of patients. That changed in 1867 when Thomas Lauder Brunton, a 23-year-old (!) assistant physician, gave a patient suffering from angina pectoris a substance called amyl nitrite to inhale. Around the same time, Ascanio Sobrero, a young Italian chemist, synthesized nitroglycerin and experienced its explosive properties on his own body. Nitroglycerine had better pharmacological properties than amyl nitrite in the treatment of angina pectoris. On the other hand, Alfred Nobel was able to tame the explosive power of nitroglycerin, became a millionaire, and founded the prize named after him. The question of nitroglycerin’s mechanism of action remained a mystery for a long time and was answered in the 1980s: In the body, it is converted to nitric oxide, just like amyl nitrite, which is then responsible for various effects. Archaeological finds in East Asia clearly show that nitrates were used to treat angina pectoris in China over a thousand years ago.