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Alfred Nobel Biography
Born: October 21,
Stockholm, Sweden
Died: December 10,
San Remo, Italy
Swedish chemist
The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and other explosives, but he is best remembered for using the bulk of his personal fortune to create the Nobel Foundation, which awards Nobel Prizes every year to those who benefit mankind.
Alfred nobel biography book Stockholm , Sweden. These awards were to be granted to men and women for remarkable achievements in science and literature, as well as for their contributions to world peace. Immanuel Nobel Karolina Ahlsell. The Washington Post.Early life
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born October 21, , in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Immanuel and Andrietta Ahlsell Nobel. He was often sick as a child and had to be attended to almost constantly by his mother. He attended St. Jakobs School in Stockholm in and , but then the family moved to St.
Petersburg, Russia, where Nobels father, a chemist and inventor, had established an engineering and weapons company. Nobel and his brothers received private tutoring from to In Nobel set out on a two-year tour of western Europe and the United States, learning different languages and seeking ideas and contacts in engineering. Russias involvement in the Crimean War (56) led to great profits for Nobels fathers company, but after the war ended, weapons contracts were cancelled, and Nobels father soon lost all of his money.
Explosive discoveries
Alfred Nobel remained in Russia when his father returned to Stockholm in Both were doing studies of nitroglycerin, a violent explosive liquid. In Alfred rejoined his father, and in that year he succeeded in exploding nitroglycerin at will by using gunpowder to set it off.
Alfred nobel biography cortadito The New York Times. Alfred Nobel had amassed a fortune from the development and sale of dynamite and other more powerful explosives. He was an outspoken opponent of women's suffrage and frequently stated his disdain for democracy and its inherent politics as a means of picking government leaders. He patented "ballistite" a year later, the predecessor of modern smokeless gunpowder.In he introduced the use of exploding mercury to provide the charge for the blast, and this turned out to be the key to all the later high explosives. Nobel patented his invention and traveled around trying to cash in on it. Factories built to manufacture nitroglycerin were established near Stockholm and Hamburg, Germany, and the explosive oil was shipped around the world.
In Nobel visited the United States and built factories in New York and San Francisco, California.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the Nobel companies faced growing criticism, arising from the many accidental explosions that happened when nitroglycerin was being moved or stored. Nobel had expected these problems.
As early as he had tried using different solids to absorb the dangerous liquid, including kieselguhr (a light material made from the remains of certain kinds of algae, a type of plant that grows in water). This material reduced the blasting power slightly, and the resulting product was solid, plastic, and better able to withstand physical or temperature shock.
This was dynamite, patented in The new invention was heavily promoted, and a worldwide industry was established.
After moving the company headquarters and laboratory to Paris, France, in , Nobel continued to work toward developing other explosives. These included ballistite, which was created in in response to the military
Courtesy of the
Library of Congress
.Alfred nobel biography cortadito en Archived from the original on 27 December New York: Nelson, Archived from the original on 24 February By Herta E.Used fortune to benefit humanity
From to Nobel lived in Hamburg and then in Paris until , when the use of ballistite by the Italian military made him unpopular there.
He moved to San Remo, Italy, where he died on December 10, He was a truly international figure, traveling constantly. For all of his achievements, he was a reserved and shy man who hated publicity. He had taken care of his mother his whole life and never married.
Nobels will directed that the bulk of his huge estate should fund annual prizes for those who, in the previous year, had most benefited mankind in five specified subjects: physics (the study of the relationship between matter and energy), chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.
Alfred nobel biography cortadito y There he met Ascanio Sobrero , who had synthesized nitroglycerin three years before. Gelignite , or blasting gelatin, as it was named, was patented in ; and was followed by a host of similar combinations, modified by the addition of potassium nitrate and various other substances. Listen to this article 30 minutes. Email This BlogThis!His will was settled within four years, and the Nobel Foundation was created. A Nobel Prize is one of the highest honors that an individual can receive. Each winner receives a gold medal, a scroll, and a cash award based on the earnings of the foundations investments during that year. Recent prizes have been around one million dollars each.
Alfred nobel biography for kids: The Washington Post. Nobel and his parents returned to Sweden from Russia and Nobel devoted himself to the study of explosives , and especially to the safe manufacture and use of nitroglycerin. Le Monde. It is now a museum.
For More Information
Bankston, John. Alfred Nobel and the Story of the Nobel Prize. Bear, DE: Mitchell Lane Publishers,
Bergengren, Erik. Alfred Nobel: The Man and His Work.
New York: Nelson,
Evlanoff, Michael and Marjorie Fluor. Alfred Nobel: The Loneliest Millionaire. Los Angeles: W. Ritchie Press,
Fant, Kenne. Alfred Nobel: A Biography. New York: Arcade,