Who was Alfred Nobel ?

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. His father, Immanuel Nobel, was an engineer and inventor who built bridges and buildings in Stockholm

He was reticent about himself, and he confided in no one about his decision in the months preceding his death. The most plausible assumption is that a bizarre incident in 1888 may have triggered the train of reflection that culminated in his bequest for the Nobel Prizes.

They were very successful and became some of the wealthiest persons of their time.

The French newspapers reported Ludvig’s death but confused him with Alfred, and one paper sported the headline “Le marchand de la mort est mort” (“The merchant of death is dead.”) Perhaps Alfred Nobel established the prizes to avoid precisely the sort of posthumous reputation suggested by this premature obituary.

After his return to Sweden in 1863, Alfred Nobel concentrated on developing nitroglycerine as an explosive.

In connection with his construction work Immanuel Nobel also experimented with different techniques for blasting rocks.

Nobel himself, however, remains a figure of paradoxes and contradictions: a brilliant, lonely man, part pessimist and part idealist, who invented the powerful explosives used in modern warfare but also established the world’s most prestigious prizes for intellectual services rendered to humanity.

Several explosions, including one (1864) in which his brother Emil and several other persons were killed, convinced the authorities that nitroglycerine production was exceedingly dangerous.

Alfred’s mother, born Andriette Ahlsell, came from a wealthy family. Due to misfortunes in his construction work caused by the loss of some barges of building material,

. They forbade further experimentation with nitroglycerine within the Stockholm city limits and Alfred Nobel had to move his experimentation to a barge anchored on Lake Mälaren.

Alfred was not discouraged and in 1864 he was able to start mass production of nitroglycerine.

To make the handling of nitroglycerine safer Alfred Nobel experimented with different additives.

Immanuel Nobel was forced into bankruptcy the same year Alfred Nobel was born.

He soon found that mixing nitroglycerine with kieselguhr would turn the liquid into a paste which could be shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes.

In 1867 he patented this material under the name of dynamite.

To be able to detonate the dynamite rods he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be ignited by lighting a fuse.

These inventions were made at the same time as the diamond drilling crown and the pneumatic drill came into general use.

Alfred Nobel became very interested in nitroglycerine and how it could be put to practical use in construction work.

Together these inventions drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work.

The market for dynamite and detonating caps grew very rapidly and Alfred Nobel also proved himself to be a very skillful entrepreneur and businessman.

By 1865 his factory in Krümmel near Hamburg, Germany, was exporting nitroglycerine explosives to other countries in Europe, America and Australia.

Over the years he founded factories and laboratories in some 90 different places in more than 20 countries.

Although he lived in Paris much of his life he was constantly traveling.

Victor Hugo at one time described him as “Europe’s richest vagabond”.

Alfred Nobel also proved himself to be a very skillful entrepreneur and businessman. By 1865 his factory in Krümmel near Hamburg, Germany, was exporting nitroglycerine explosives to other countries in Europe, America and Australia.