Untitled Document
 Alfred
Nobel is the founder of the Nobel Prize.
He was a chemist, engineer, and inventor. Nobel is best known
for his invention of dynamite. He also invented
so many other things, including a blasting cap and smokeless gunpowder. He held
355 patents in many different
countries. This week, let’s meet the man behind the Nobel Prize!
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden.
The son of an engineer, Alfred traveled widely as a young man, and
lived in many countries in the world including Sweden, Russia, France,
England, Germany and Italy. By the age of 17, he was fluent in five different
languages. He studied chemistry in Paris and returned
to Sweden in 1859.
In the 1860s, he began experiments with nitroglycerin니트로글리세린
in his father’s factory. He tried many ways
to stabilize this highly volatile material. He discovered that a mix of
nitroglycerin and a fine porous powder called kieselguhr was most effective.  He
named this mixture “dynamite.” It was
five times more powerful than ordinary gunpowder. He established his own factory
to produce it and received a patent in 1867.
Alfred Nobel became known all over the world when the St. Gotthard
Tunnel was built in 1882 in Switzerland, and dynamite was used for the first time on such
a large scale. Later, he set up factories around the
world to produce dynamite and other explosives. Construction
companies, mining companies, and the military ordered large quantities
of Nobel’s dynamite. Sales of dynamite brought
Nobel great wealth.
Although he worked for the majority of his life developing explosives, Nobel
was a pacifist. He had written
several wills during his lifetime.
He signed his last will on November 27,
1895 in Paris.
 He stated
in his last will that he wished about 94 percent of his wealth to
be used to fund awards in different fields of study -- Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology or Medicine, and Peace. He said that the awards
should be given to those who have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. Alfred Nobel passed
away on December 10, 1896. The very first awards were made in 1901
on the 5th anniversary of Nobel’s death. |
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