Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer and businessman who invented dynamite. In his will, he pledged his wealth to create a Nobel Prize.
Alfred was born in Stockholm, Sweden, October 21, 1833 and died in Norra begravningsplatsen, Stockholm, December 10, 1896 at the age of 63 years.
Alfred is married to Bertha von Suttner, his former secretary. Bertha is a peace movement activist who wrote the book "Throw Your Weapons Out".
Biography
Alfred's father was named Immanuel Nobel and his mother was Andriette Ahlsell Nobel. Alfred's father was an engineer and inventor; he built bridges, buildings, and experimented with various methods of rock blasting. Alfred had two older brothers, namely Robert (born 1829) and Ludwig (born 1831).
Simultaneously with the birth of Alfred, his father's business lost and closed. In 1837, Immanuel Nobel decided to try his luck elsewhere and moved to Finland and Russia.
Alfred's mother remained in Stockholm taking care of his family. Alfred's mother, who came from a wealthy family, started a grocery store. From there he was able to support his family.
Immanuel Nobel's Business in St. Petersburg, Russia is starting to climb. He had opened a machine shop that supplied equipment to Russian soldiers. Having succeeded in Russia, Immanuel moved his family to St. Petersburg (1842).
Travels abroad
Alfred speaks and writes fluently in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German. Alfred was very interested in language, chemistry, and physics.
His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and did not appreciate Alfred's talent for poetry. He decided to send his son abroad to study and become a chemical engineer.
In Paris, Alfred works in the private laboratory of Professor TJ Pelouze, the famous chemist. There he met the Italian chemist, Ascanio Sobrero.
After the first three years, Sobrero had discovered nitroglycerin, a highly explosive liquid, which he deemed too dangerous to use.
Alfred became very interested in nitroglycerin and its use in construction work. When he returned to Russia after his studies, he worked with his father to develop nitroglycerin as a commercially and technically useful explosive.
Return to Sweden
After the Crimean War ended, Alfred's father's business retreated and he decided to return to Sweden. After the return of the Nobel family to Sweden in 1863, Alfred concentrated on developing nitroglycerin as an explosive.
Unfortunately, this experiment led to a disaster that killed several people including his younger brother, Emil. The Swedish government decided to ban this experiment within the Stockholm city limits.
Alfred did not stop and continued his experiments on the barge above Lake Mälaren. In 1864, he was able to begin mass production of nitroglycerin, but he did not stop experimenting with various additives to secure production.
The discovery of dynamite
Through his experiments Alfred discovered that a mixture of nitroglycerin with finely ground Kieselguhr would turn the liquid into a paste that could be molded into rods, which were then drilled into boreholes.
This discovery occurred in 1866. Alfred obtained a patent on this material the following year. He named it dynamite. He also invented a detonator or explosive plug that could be ignited with a fuse.
This discovery was made when the diamond crown drill and wind drill came into common use. Taken together, the inventions help reduce the losses of many construction jobs such as channel drilling, rock blasting, bridge building, and so on.
Making Factory
Dynamite and detonator plugs sell well in the construction industry. Because of this, Alfred was able to build factories in 90 different places.
He lives in Paris but travels frequently to his factories in more than 20 countries. He was once described as "Europe's richest traveler".
He worked intensively in San Remo (Italy), Hamburg (Germany), Ardeer (Scotland), Paris and Sevran (France), Karlskoga and Stockholm (Sweden).
He also tried making rubber and synthetic leather and artificial silk. In addition, he also makes gelatin, ballistite, artificial gemstones, and others. Until his death in 1896, he had obtained 355 patents.
Brutal Use of Weapons and Theft Discovery
When he was researching in Paris with one of the young men named Fehrenbach. At that time Nobel had just introduced his new invention, Smokeless Powder. This new discovery was informed about how it was made to a person who claimed to be Poltasia.
After learning that his findings will be used for war purposes, Nobel is angry because his inventions are not used for peace. Nobel was accused of plagiarizing other people's Smokeless Powder, so he was jailed for 2 months and his factory that produced Smokeless Powder was closed.
After Nobel was released from prison, he decided to research in San Remo. Nobel formed a committee called the Gunpowder Committee. One of its members is the British inventor, James Dewar, the inventor of the vacuum bottle.
Nobel always announces his findings to the Committee. And so, since James was a member of the committee, he knew how to make Smokeless Powder. So, James betrayed his close friend by creating a patented Smokeless Powder under the name Cordite.
Death and the Nobel Prize
Alfred died in San Remo, Italy on December 10, 1896. In his last will and testament, he wrote that much of his wealth could be used to reward those who have made committees, humanitarian efforts in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace , physiology and medicine.
Not everyone likes this. His will was contested by his relatives and contested by authorities in a number of countries, and it took four years for his superintendent to convince all parties to live up to Alfred's expectations.
In 1901, the first Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, literature, physiology and medicine were distributed in Stockholm, Sweden and the Nobel Peace Prize in Kristena (now Oslo), Norway.
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