Cost of inventing the dynamite

Research Desk

Alfred Bernhard Nobel  ( 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, and businessman. He is known for inventing dynamite. He bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes. He also made several other important contributions to science, holding 355 patents during his life.

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 21 October 1833. He was the third son of Immanuel Nobel (1801–1872), an inventor and engineer, and Andriette Nobel (1805–1889). The couple had eight children. Only Alfred and his three brothers survived beyond their childhood.

As a boy, Nobel displayed an early aptitude for science and learning, particularly in chemistry and languages; he became fluent in six languages including French, German, Russian and English besides his native Swedish.

He embarked on many business ventures with his family. He owned the company Bofors, that produced iron and steel. He had developed the company into a major manufacturer of cannons and other arms.

Nobel devoted himself to the study of explosives, and especially to the safe manufacture and use of nitroglycerin. Nobel's most famous invention was the dynamite.

On 3 September 1864, a shed used by Alfred Nobel for preparation of nitroglycerin exploded at the factory in Heleneborg, Stockholm, Sweden, killing five people, including Nobel's younger brother Emil. Nobel’s licence to manufacture explosives was cancelled then.

Fazed by the accident, Nobel founded the company Nitroglycerin AB in Vinterviken so that he could continue to work in a more isolated area. Nobel invented dynamite in 1867, a substance easier and safer to handle than the more unstable nitroglycerin. Dynamite was patented in the US and the UK. It was used extensively in mining and the building of transport networks internationally.

Nobel was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1884. It is the same institution that would later select laureates for the Nobel prizes. Nobel received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in 1893. Nobel was issued 355 patents internationally, and by his death, his business had established more than 90 explosives and armament factories, despite his apparently pacifist character.

Nobel remained a solitary character, given to periods of depression. He never married, although his biographers note that he had at least three loves.

On 27 November 1895, Nobel signed his last will and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality.

Upon his death, Nobel donated his fortune to a foundation to fund the Nobel Prizes. Nobel Prize was conferred annually to those who have "conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".