Alfred Bernhard Nobel is a Swedish chemist, engineer and industrialist who invented dynamite and more powerful explosives, and also founded the Nobel Prize.
Biography
The future inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobelborn in Stockholm (Sweden) 10/21/1833. He was the fourth son of Emmanuel and Caroline Nobel. Emmanuel was an engineer who married Caroline Andriette Alzel in 1827. The couple had eight children, of whom only Alfred and three brothers reached adulthood. As a child, Nobel was often sick, but from an early age showed a lively curiosity. He was interested in explosives and learned the basics of engineering from his father. His father, meanwhile, had failed in various commercial enterprises, until in 1837 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he became a successful manufacturer of mines and tools.
Life Abroad
В 1842 г.Nobel's family left Stockholm to join their father in St. Petersburg. Alfred's wealthy parents could now hire him private teachers, and he turned out to be an impatient student. By the age of 16, Nobel had become a knowledgeable chemist, fluent in English, German, French and Russian.
In 1850Alfred left Russia to spend a year in Paris, studying chemistry, and then four years in the United States, working under the guidance of John Erikson, who created the battleship Monitor. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, he worked in his father’s factory, which produced military equipment during the Crimean War. At the end of hostilities in 1856, the company hardly switched to the manufacture of equipment for steamers and went bankrupt in 1859.
Bet on nitroglycerin
The future inventor of dynamite in Russia did not stayand with his parents returned to Sweden, and his brothers Robert and Ludwig decided to save the remnants of a family business. Soon, Alfred began experimenting with explosives in a small laboratory on his father’s estate. At that time, the only reliable explosive used in the mines was black powder. The newly created liquid nitroglycerin was much more powerful, but it was so unstable that it could not provide any security whatsoever. Nevertheless, in 1862, Nobel built a small plant for its production, while conducting research in the hope of finding a way to control its detonation.
In 1863He invented a practical detonator consisting of a wooden plug inserted into a large charge of nitroglycerin stored in a metal container. The explosion of a small charge of black powder in a cap detonated a much more powerful charge of liquid explosive. This detonator marked the beginning of Nobel's reputation as an inventor, as well as his condition, which he will acquire as a manufacturer of explosives.
In 1865Alfred created an improved blasting cap that consisted of a small metal cover with a charge of explosive mercury, undermined either by a blow or by moderate heating. This invention was the beginning of modern use of explosives.
Accident
Nitroglycerin itself, however, was difficulttransported, and he was extremely dangerous to handle. So dangerous that the Nobel plant exploded in 1864, taking the life of his younger brother Emile and other people. Not afraid of this tragic accident, Alfred built several nitroglycerin manufacturing plants for use with his capsules. These enterprises were as safe as the knowledge of that time allowed, but occasional explosions continued to occur.
Lucky chance
The second important invention of Nobel was dynamite.In 1867, he accidentally discovered that nitroglycerin was completely absorbed by porous silica, and the resulting mixture was much safer to use and easier to handle. Alfred - the inventor of dynamite (from Greek δύναμις, "force") - received patents for it in Great Britain (1867) and the USA (1868). The explosive has glorified its creator all over the world, and soon it began to be used when laying tunnels and canals, building railways and highways.
Rattlesnake jelly
In 1870-80-ies the inventor of dynamite AlfredNobel built a network of plants for the production of explosives throughout Europe and formed a network of corporations for their sale. He also continued to experiment in search of the best of them, and in 1875 created a more powerful form of dynamite, the explosive jelly, which he patented the following year. Again, by chance, he discovered that a mixture of a solution of nitroglycerin with a loose fibrous substance, known as nitrocellulose, forms a dense, ductile material with high water resistance and greater explosion power. In 1887, Nobel introduced ballistite, nitroglycerin smokeless powder and a predecessor of cordite. Although Alfred possessed patents for dynamite and other explosives, he was in constant conflict with competitors who stole his technology, which several times forced him to engage in protracted patent disputes.
Oil, weapons, wealth
Nobel brothers, Ludwig and Robert, meanwhiledeveloped newly discovered oil fields near Baku (now in Azerbaijan) near the Caspian Sea and themselves became very rich people. Sales worldwide of explosives, as well as participation in the companies of the brothers in Russia, brought Alfred a huge fortune. In 1893, the inventor of dynamite became interested in the military industry of Sweden, and the following year bought a cast iron smelter in Bofors, not far from Värmland, which became the center of a famous weapons factory. In addition to explosives, Nobel came up with many other things, such as rayon and leather, and in general he registered more than 350 patents in various countries.
Ascetic, writer, pacifist
The inventor of dynamite Nobel was difficulta person that puzzled his contemporaries. Although business interests demanded almost constant travels from him, he remained a lonely hermit who was prone to bouts of depression. Alfred led a solitary and simple life, he was a man of ascetic habits, but he could be a polite owner, a good listener, and a man of an insightful mind.
The inventor of dynamite has never been married, andapparently preferred the joy of creativity to romantic affections. He had an enduring interest in literature, he wrote plays, novels and poems, almost completely unpublished. He had amazing energy, and it was not easy for him to relax after intense work. Among his contemporaries, he enjoyed the reputation of a liberal or even a socialist, but in fact he did not trust democracy, was opposed to the suffrage for women and supported soft paternalism in relation to his many employees. Although the Swedish inventor of dynamite was essentially a pacifist and expressed the hope that the destructive power of his creations would help end the war, his view of humanity and the people was pessimistic.
Testament surprise
К 1895 г.Alfred developed angina, and on December 10 of the following year, he died of a brain hemorrhage in his own villa in San Remo (Italy). By this time, Nobel's business empire consisted of more than 90 factories for the production of explosives and ammunition. His will, drawn up in Paris on 11/27/1895 and deposited at a bank in Stockholm, contained a big surprise for his family, friends and the general public. The inventor of dynamite has always been generous to humanitarian and scientific charities and left most of his fortune in trust to establish the most highly valued international award, the Nobel Prize.
Death of the merchant death
One can only guess about the reasons for this.solutions. He was secretive and did not tell anyone about one of his decisions all the few months preceding his death. The most plausible is the assumption that the strange incident that occurred in 1888 may have triggered a chain of reflections that led to his will. In the same year, Alfred’s brother Ludwig died while in Cannes, in France. The French press reported the death of his brother, but confused him with Alfred, and one of the newspapers came out with the headline "Death Merchant Died." Perhaps the inventor of dynamite instituted prizes to avoid this kind of posthumous reputation expressed by this premature obituary. It is obvious that the established awards reflect his interest in chemistry, physics, physiology and literature. There is also ample evidence that his friendship with the outstanding Austrian pacifist Berta von Suttner inspired him to create a peace prize.
Nobel himself, however, remains a full figureparadoxes and contradictions: a brilliant lonely man, partly a pessimist and partly an idealist who invented powerful explosives used in modern warfare and established the most prestigious awards in the world for the intellectual services rendered to humanity.
