The same year he demonstrated his explosive for the first time at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey, England. He called this mixture dynamite and received a patent in 1867. In 1866 he discovered that when nitroglycerin was incorporated in an absorbent still substance like kieselguhr (porous clay) it became safer and more convenient to handle. In order to improve the image of his business, Nobel put all his efforts to produce a safer explosive. Unfortunately his name became controversial after many serious accidents in the transit and use of his intrinsically unstable product, including an 1864 explosion at their factory in Heleneborg in Stockholm that killed Nobel’s younger brother Emil, among other casualties. Nobel then built up factories in Hamburg and Stockholm, and soon New York and California. In 1863 he succeeded in exploding nitroglycerin from a distance with a gunpowder charge, and two years later he patented the mercury fulminate detonator which is a critical component for the development of high explosives. As a result the family had to rely on the earnings of his mother, Andriette Ahlsell Nobel who worked at the grocery store.Īfter the family business got bankrupt, Alfred devoted himself to the study of explosives and sought a way to make the aggressive explosion of liquid nitroglycerin somehow more controllable. With the end of the war his father’s weapon’s business collapsed leaving the family poor. During this time he also went to Paris where he was first introduced to nitroglycerin, a volatile, explosive liquid first made by an Italian scientist, Ascanio Sobrero in 1847. He studied chemistry with Professor Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin.Īt the age of 18, he travelled to the United States where he spent four years studying chemistry and also worked for sometime under John Ericsson.

Here young Alfred received his early education by private tutors.

When Alfred was just nine years old, his family moved to Saint Petersburg in 1842, where his father started a ‘torpedo’ works. His father, Immanuel Nobel, an engineer and a prosperous arms manufacturer, encouraged his four sons to pursue mechanical fields. He was the third out of the four sons to the Swedish family. He also constructed companies and laboratories in more than 20 countries all over the world.Ī short Biography on world Famous Scientists and Their Inventions.Īlfred Nobel Biography, Inventions, Education, Awards and FactsĪlfred Nobel was born on Octoin Stockholm, Sweden. He was a great genius who invented dynamite and many other explosives.

He was a Swedish scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author and pacifist. Alfred Nobel Biography: The foundation of the Nobel Prize-that has been honouring people from all around the world for their great accomplishments in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace-was laid by none other than Alfred Nobel.

Alfred nobel biography