Alfred Nobel (1833-1896)

Alfred Nobel was born 31 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. His family was one of engineers, descended from Olof Rudbeck, the best-known seventeenth century genius in Sweden. Nobel’s father, Immanuel Nobel, worked as an inventor and engineer constructing buildings and bridges in Stockholm until he was forced into bankruptcy the same year Alfred was born. As a result, his father moved to Russia when Nobel was nine.
Nobel’s schooling began when his family moved to Russia. He and his brothers were privately tutored with first class education in humanities and natural sciences. When he was seventeen, Nobel was fluent in Swedish, Russian, French, English, and German. He was interested in not only chemistry and physics, but also in English literature and poetry. Immanuel Nobel felt that his son needed to broaden his horizons, so he sent Alfred Nobel to Sweden, Germany, France, and the United States within two years to study chemical engineering. Nobel came to love Paris, France where he worked with the then famous chemist, Professor T.J. Pelouze, in his private laboratory.
In 1852, Nobel returned to Russia to work with his father in the family explosives factory. The enterprise was succeeding very well by supplying the Russian army with munitions. He and his father experimented with the highly explosive compound, nitroglycerine to make it safer for commercial use. Immanuel Nobel and his sons were faced with bankruptcy once again. Nobel, his father and brother left Russia and returned to Stockholm in 1863. Nobel concentrated all of his efforts on developing nitroglycerine as a commercial explosive. Unfortunately, in 1864, an explosion killed Emil Nobel and several

other people. Stockholm authorities forbade further nitroglycerine experimentation within city limits. Nobel was forced to move his lab onto a barge on nearby Lake Mälaren. In this lab, he discovered that by mixing the nitroglycerine with silica, a paste would form that was easily handled and could be shaped into rods of appropriate and shape for easy insertion into drilling holes. This material became known as dynamite when Nobel patented it in 1867. Nobel was only 34 years old when he made this amazing discovery. Also, in order to detonate this explosive paste, Nobel had to invent the blasting cap, which could be ignited by lighting a fuse. These two inventions drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work. Over the years, he founded factories and laboratories in some 90 different places in 20 countries with his ever-growing fortune.

When he was not traveling or dealing with business, Nobel worked constantly in his own laboratories in Stockholm (Sweden), Hamburg (Germany), Ardeer (Scotland), Paris and Sevran (France), Karlskoga (Sweden), and San Remo (Italy). He concentrated on explosive technology but also on other chemical inventions such as synthetic rubber and leather, artificial silk, etc. By the time Nobel was 43 years old, he said he felt like an old man. He had advertised in a newspaper, "Wealthy, highly-educated elderly gentleman seeks lady of mature are, versed in languages, as secretary and supervisor of household." (www.nobel.se). To Nobel, the most qualified

applicant was the Austrian Countess Bertha Kinsky. Although Bertha later married an Austrian Count, she and Alfred remained friends and wrote each other often for many years to come. Over the years, Bertha von Suttner became involved with the peace movement. In 1905, several years after Nobel’s death, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Storting (Parliament).
Many of Nobel’s companies have now developed into industrial enterprises that play a large role in the world’s economy; for example, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), Great Britain; Société Centrale de Dynamite, France; and Dyno Industries in Norway. His first success was dynamite in 1866, but Nobel was a holder of 355patents. Also, he wrote poetry and drama, and even considered becoming a writer.
Nobel had acquired the company AB Bofors in Karlskoga towards the end of his life. Because of this, Björkborn Manor became his Swedish home. On 27 November 1895, Nobel signed his final will and testament at a Swedish- Norwegian Club in Paris. No one would know that his nine million dollar fortune was to be used for prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace until over a year later when Alfred Bernhard Nobel died of a heart-attack in his San Remo, Italy home on 10 December 1896 at the age of 63.