You may have heard about the Nobel Prize through the media, movies, or TV shows. It is a prize awarded to those with remarkable discoveries and contributions to physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, peace, and literature. But, do you know how it started?
The Life that Shaped Alfred
Alfred was born in Stockholm, Sweden back on October 21, 1833. His father, Immanuel Nobel, was an engineer and inventor. His mother, Andriette Ahlsell Nobel, came from a wealthy family and started a grocery store, which helped with their family's financials.
He and his four brothers were given high-class education through private tutors. By the time Alfred reached 17, he could both write and speak Swedish, Russian, French, English, and German. His interests were literature, chemistry, and physics, but his father wanted Alfred to be just like him. Because of that, he sent Alfred to study abroad.
The Beginning of a Discovery
Nobel's ventures to create dynamite started when his father sent him to Paris to study chemical engineering. He worked in a private laboratory with T.J. Pelouze, who was a famous chemist of his time. He met Asciano Sobrero through the laboratory, the man who invented nitroglycerine.
Alfred saw the potential of the highly explosive liquid and thought about its potential uses for construction. He went back to Russia to develop the chemical into a commercially and technically useful explosive, as mentioned in nobelrprize.org.
The Unfortunate Price of Success
After the Crimean War, there was no need for war materials anymore. That's why Immanuel Nobel's business, which sold those materials, went into bankruptcy. They traveled back to Sweden where Alfred continued his experiments with nitroglycerine.
He managed to discover that fine sand called kieselguhr, when mixed with nitroglycerine, turns into the now-known dynamite. Unfortunately, the experiments caused accidents that resulted in the death of several people, including hid younger brother, Emil.
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Expanding the Business
The invention of dynamite was a huge success. He invented a detonator and blasting cap as well which was set off using a fuse. It came at a time when drilling was generally used. The dynamite was put into the drilled holes which helped with reducing the cost of construction work like drilling tunnels, blasting rocks, and building bridges.
Following the demand for his invention, he was able to put up factories in 90 places, in more than 20 countries. He worked mostly in Sweden, Germany, Scotland, France, and Italy. He even tried making synthetic rubber and leather, as well as artificial silk. Upon his death, he had 355 patents.
A Prestigious Prize is Born
Alfred did not have a family of his own. He did, however, have a very close friend that played a pivotal role in his life. He announced in a newspaper that he needed a secretary. Bertha Kinsky von Chinic und Tettau, an Austrian lady, got the job. Even after she moved back to Austria to marry a count, they still remained friends and exchanged letters still.
His former secretary, now called Bertha von Suttner, wrote a book called "Lay Down Your Arms" in line with her belief in peace. He left his estate an endowment for what we know now as the Nobel Prize, which is an award for peace, physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, and literature, according to Science History.
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