Nobel Alfred is an outstanding Swedish scientist, dynamite inventor, academician, experimental chemist, Ph.D., academician, founder of the Nobel Prize, which made him famous all over the world.
Childhood
Alfred Nobel, whose biography is of genuine interest to the modern generation, was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. He was a native of the peasants of the Swedish southern district of Nobelef, which became a derivative of a surname known throughout the world. In the family, besides him, there were three more sons.
Father Immanuel Nobel was an entrepreneur who, having gone broke, dared to try his luck in Russia. He moved to Petersburg in 1837, where he opened workshops. After 5 years, when things went smoothly, he moved his family to himself.
The first experiments of the Swedish chemist
Once in Russia, 9-year-old Nobel Alfred quickly mastered the Russian language, in addition to which he was fluent in English, Italian, German and French. Education boy received at home. In 1849, his father sent him on a trip to America and Europe, which lasted two years. Alfred visited Italy, Denmark, Germany, France, America, but the young man spent most of his time in Paris. There he took a practical course in physics and chemistry in the laboratory of the famous scientist Jules Peluse, who studied oil and discovered nitriles.
In the meantime, the affairs of Immanuel Nobel, a talented self-taught inventor, improved: in the Russian service he became rich and became famous, especially during the Crimean War. His factory produced mines used in the defense of the Finnish fortress of Sveaborg, Kronstadt and Revel harbor in Estonia. The merits of Nobel Sr. were encouraged by the imperial medal, which, as a rule, was not awarded to foreigners.
After the war, orders ceased, the company was idle, many workers were left out of work. This forced Immanuel Nobel to return to Stockholm.
The first experiments of Alfred Nobel
Alfred, who had close contact with the famous Russian chemist Nikolai Zinin, meanwhile, began to closely study the properties of nitroglycerin. In 1863, the young man returned to Sweden, where he continued his experiments. On September 3, 1864, a terrible tragedy occurred: during the experiments with the explosion of 100 kilograms of nitroglycerin, several people died, among whom was 20-year-old Emil, Alfred's younger brother. After the incident, Alfred's father broke paralysis, and for the last 8 years he remained bedridden. During this period, Immanuel continued to work actively: he wrote 3 books, to which he himself made illustrations. In 1870, he was worried about the use of waste from the woodworking industry, and Nobel Sr. came up with plywood, inventing a method of gluing using a pair of wooden plates.
The invention of dynamite
On October 14, 1864, a Swedish scientist took a patent that allowed him to engage in the production of explosives, which contained nitroglycerin. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1867; its production later brought the scientist the main wealth. The press of that time wrote that the Swedish chemist made his discovery by chance: as if a bottle of nitroglycerin had broken during the transportation. The liquid spilled, saturated the soil, resulting in the formation of dynamite. Alfred Nobel did not recognize the above version and insisted that he was consciously searching for a substance that, when mixed with nitroglycerin, would reduce the explosion hazard. Kieselguhr - a rock, also called tripoli, became the sought-after neutralizer.
The Swedish chemist organized a dynamite production laboratory in the middle of a lake on a barge, far from populated areas.
Two months after the launch of the floating laboratory, Aunt Alfred brought him to a Stockholm merchant, Johan Wilhelm Smith, the owner of a million-dollar fortune. The Nobel managed to convince Smith with several other investors to unite and form an enterprise for the industrial production of nitroglycerin, which began in 1865. Realizing that the Swedish patent would not protect his rights abroad, Nobel patented his own rights to the production of nitroglycerin and its sale worldwide.
Discoveries of Alfred Nobel
In 1876, the world learned about the scientist’s new invention - “explosive mixture” - a combination of nitroglycerin with collodion, which had more explosive properties. Subsequent years are rich in discoveries of the combination of nitroglycerin with other substances: ballistitis - the first smokeless powder, then cordite.
Nobel’s interests were not limited to working with explosive substances: the scientist was fond of optics, electrochemistry, medicine, biology, designed safe steam boilers and automatic brakes, tried to make artificial rubber, studied nitrocellulose and rayon. There are about 350 patents claimed by Alfred Nobel: dynamite, detonator, smokeless powder, water meter, refrigeration unit, barometer, military rocket design, gas burner,
Characteristic scientist
Nobel Alfred was one of the most educated people of his time. The scientist read a large number of books on technology, medicine, philosophy, history, fiction, giving preference to his contemporaries: Hugo, Turgenev, Balzac and Maupassant, even tried to write. The bulk of the works of Alfred Nobel (novels, plays, poems) was never published. Only the play about Beatrice Chenchi - “Nemisis”, which was already completed at the time of death, has survived. This tragedy in 4 acts was met with hostility by clergy. Therefore, the entire published circulation, published in 1896, was destroyed after the death of Alfred Nobel, with the exception of three copies. The world had the opportunity to get acquainted with this wonderful work in 2005; It was played in memory of the great scientist on the Stockholm stage.
Contemporaries describe Alfred Nobel as a gloomy person who preferred urban solitude and cheerful companies to calm loneliness and constant immersion in work. The scientist led a healthy lifestyle, negatively related to smoking, alcohol and gambling.
Being well-off, Nobel was directly inclined toward the Spartan way of life. Working on explosive mixtures and substances, he was an opponent of violence and killings, carrying out colossal work in the name of peace on the planet.
Inventions for Peace
Initially, explosives created by a Swedish chemist were used for peaceful purposes: for laying roads and railways, mining, building canals and tunnels (using blasting). For military purposes, Nobel explosives began to be used only in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871.
The scientist himself dreamed of inventing a substance or machine that possessed destructive power that made any kind of war impossible. Nobel paid for congresses on world peace and took part in them. The scientist was a member of the Paris Society of Civil Engineers, the Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of London. He had many awards, to which he was very indifferent.
Alfred Nobel: personal life
The great inventor - an attractive man - was never married and had no children. Closed, lonely, distrustful of people, he decided to find an assistant secretary and placed a corresponding advertisement in the newspaper. 33-year-old Countess Berta Sofia Felichita responded - an educated, well-educated, multilingual girl who was a dowager. She wrote to Nobel, received an answer from him; correspondence ensued, causing mutual sympathy on both sides. Soon there was a meeting of Albert and Bertha; young people walked and talked a lot, and conversations with the Nobel gave Berthe great pleasure.
Soon, Albert went away on business, but Berta could not wait for him and returned home, where Count Arthur von Zuttner was waiting for her - the sympathy and love of her whole life, with whom she started a family. Despite the fact that Bert's departure for Alfred was a huge blow, their warm friendly correspondence lasted until the end of the Nobel days.
Alfred Nobel and Sophie Hess
And yet in the life of Alfred Nobel was love. At the age of 43, the scientist fell in love with 20-year-old Sophie Hess, a flower shop saleswoman, moved her from Vienna to Paris, rented an apartment near the house and allowed her to spend as much as she wanted. Sophie was only interested in money. The beautiful and graceful "Madame Nobel" (as she called herself), unfortunately, was a lazy person without any education. She refused to engage with teachers whom she was hired by Nobel.
The connection between the scientist and Sophie Hess lasted 15 years, until 1891 - the moment when Sophie gave birth to a child from a Hungarian officer. Alfred Nobel peacefully parted with a young girlfriend and even appointed her a very decent content. Sophie married her daughter's father, but all the while annoying Alfred with requests to increase the content, after his death she began to insist on this, threatening to publish his intimate letters in case of refusal. The executives, who did not want the name of their principal to be fluttered by newspapers, made concessions: they bought from Sophie letters and Nobel telegrams and increased her rent.
From childhood, Nobel Alfred was characterized by poor health and was constantly ill; in recent years, he suffered from heartaches. Doctors prescribed nitroglycerin to the scientist - this circumstance (a kind of irony of fate) amused Alfred, who devoted his life to working with this substance. Alfred Nobel died on December 10, 1896 in his villa in San Remo from a brain hemorrhage. The grave of the great scientist is located in the Stockholm cemetery.
Alfred Nobel and his prize
Inventing dynamite, Nobel saw its use in helping the development of human progress, rather than murderous wars. But the persecution that began with such a dangerous discovery prompted Nobel to think that he needed to leave another, more significant trace. So, the Swedish inventor decided to establish a personal award after his death, writing a will in 1895, according to which the main part of the acquired fortune goes to a specially created fund - 31 million kroons. Income from investments should be distributed each year in the form of bonuses to people who brought the greatest benefit to mankind during the previous year. The interest is divided into 5 parts and is intended for the scientist who made an important discovery in the field of chemistry, physics, literature, medicine and physiology, and also made a significant contribution to maintaining peace on the planet.
Alfred Nobel’s special wish was to disregard the nationalities of the candidates.
The first Alfred Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901: physicist Roentgen Conrad received it for discovering the rays bearing his name. The Nobel Prizes, which are the most authoritative and honorable international awards, have had a huge impact on the development of world science and literature.
Alfred Nobel, whose testament astonished many scientists with his generosity, also entered the scientific history as the discoverer of "Nobelium" - a chemical element named in his honor. The name of the outstanding scientist is the Stockholm Institute of Physics and Technology and the University of Dnepropetrovsk.