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Alfred was born in Sweden in 1837, the son of an inventor who
built bridges and buildings in Stockholm. When Alfred was 9, he
moved to Russia with his family. His father had hired private
teachers so that he and his three brothers could receive the finest
education possible. As a teenager, Alfred studied in the United
States from 1850 to 1852, and he also visited Paris during this
time. It was in Paris that he first learned about nitroglycerin.
Alfred wrote poetry and drama, and at one point in his life had
seriously considered a career in literature. His favorite subject,
though, was chemistry. Remember that as you get closer to the end of
this story.
While in his early 20s, Alfred set up a lab in Stockholm in 1859
with his father and younger brother to experiment with
nitroglycerin. They saw that nitroglycerin had some advantages over
gunpowder and could be used for commercial purposes. As they
conducted their experiments over the years, there was the occasional
lab explosion. Later, in 1864, one of these explosions killed his
brother and several other people.
By 1866, Alfred had invented dynamite, when he was just 29 years
old. He had achieved a far greater level of success than most
inventors his age. He built laboratories in more than 20 countries
all over the world and eventually held more than 350 patents. His
patents included synthetic rubber, leather and artificial silk. The
company that he bought in 1893 is today known all over the world as
a manufacturer of munitions and firearms.
 [to top of second column in
this article]
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With all his success, Alfred liked the idea of some day giving
away his fortune. Maybe he felt a need to atone for the fact that
his most famous invention -- dynamite -- was sometimes responsible
for the deaths of innocent people. He established an annual prize to
reward those who make the biggest contributions to society each
year. What types of contributions did he reward?
They are divided into five classifications:
- physics
- chemistry
- physiology and medicine
- literature
-
peace
If this list looks familiar to you, it's because the Nobel Prizes
contain the same five classifications of prizes.
Yes, the person who invented dynamite is the same person who is
responsible for the Nobel Peace Prize … Alfred Nobel.
Nobel died of a cerebral hemorrhage in his home in San Remo,
Italy, in 1896. The prizes that bear his name were established four
years later, as he had specified in his will.
[Paul
Niemann]
Paul Niemann is a contributing author to Inventors' Digest
magazine, and he also runs MarketLaunchers.com, helping people in
the marketing of their new product ideas. He can be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Last week's
column in LDN:
"Invention
Mysteries pop quiz"
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