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Alfred Nobel. Photo by Emil 脰sterman (1870-1927).

Top 10 intriguing facts about Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel was a poet and playwright in addition to being an inventor, businessman, scientist, and entrepreneur.

He was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. He is famous for his invention of dynamite as a safer and easier means of harnessing the explosive power of nitroglycerin.

He also developed and exploited other ingenious inventions like rockets, cannons, and progressive powder.

A memorial to him was erected in Saint Petersburg as a result of his extraordinary success.

To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the first awarding of the Nobel Prize, it was dedicated in 1991. Alfred was a Swiss physicist as well and died at the age of 65 on the 10th of December 1896.

Here are 10 Intriguing facts about Alfred Nobel:

1. He bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel prize

The Nobel prize has been running since 1901and when Alfred Nobel left around 31 million Swedish crowns to fund the awards and cover the cost of financial recompense for the winners.

Alfred Nobel was later inspired to donate his fortune to a prize institution that would yearly recognize people who have given the greatest benefit to humankind.

The Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.

His decision to donate a large amount of his wealth to the Nobel prize is credited to him wanting to leave behind a better legacy.

2. He invented dynamite

Portrait of Alfred Nobel. Photo by G枚sta Florman (1831鈥�1900) / The Royal Library.

Alfred Nobel envisioned canals being built faster and he knew that blasting rock, drilling tunnels, and building railroads among other forms of heavy labor would be made easier.

He found out that when nitroglycerin was incorporated into an inert substance that was adsorbent like diatomaceous earth (Kieselguhr).

This made it more convenient to handle, and this mixture he made in 1867 became dynamite.

Dynamite rapidly rose to fame as a more powerful alternative to black powder and is today used in the mining, quarrying, construction, and demolition industries

3. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was founded in 1739 and is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting natural sciences and mathematics.

This in turn strengthens their influence in society and has about 470 Swedish and 175 foreign members. Membership in the academy constitutes exclusive recognition of successful research achievements.

Nobel was an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1884.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences would later select laureates for two of the Nobel prizes which are physics and chemistry.

4. Alfred held holding 355 patents in his lifetime

A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner legal rights to prevent other people from using, making, or selling the invention the owner created for a limited time period in exchange for publishing and enabling the invention鈥檚 disclosure.

During Alfred Nobel鈥檚 Life, He was issued 355 patents internationally and by his death, more than 90 armament factories were established by his business 

5. His father was an inventor

Young Alfred Nobel. Photo by Unknown author.

Immanuel Nobel Alfred鈥檚 father was an inventor much like his son with inventions such as the rotary lathe used in plywood manufacturing.

He was not only an inventor but also a Swedish engineer, architect, and industrialist. He often experimented with nitroglycerin with his sons.

This led to an explosion in his factory leading to the death of his son Emil Oskar Nobel in Heleneborg, Stockholm in 1864.

Immanuel Nobel is also a descendant of Olaus Rudbeck the Swedish scientist and writer, professor of medicine. Alfred inherited his interest in technology from his father who was an alumnus of the Royal Institute of Technology.

6. His brothers founded an oil company

Ludvig Nobel together with his brother Robert Nobel operated an oil company in Baku, Azerbaijan which at one point was producing 50% of the world鈥檚 oil.

He is also credited with creating the Russian oil industry. The oil business lacked technical know-how and scientific methodology. 

Thus Ludvig established technical research labs in Baku. The centers were active and the oil business grew immensely.

7. A synthetic element was named after him

The monument to Alfred Nobel. Photo by Alfred Nobel University, Dnipropetrovs’k.

 The synthetic element named after Alfred is Nobelium. It is a radioactive metal, the tenth transuranic element, and is the penultimate member of the actinide series. It is named in honor of Alfred Nobel who is the inventor of dynamite and creator of the Nobel prizes.

His name and legacy also survive in companies such as Dynamit Nobel the German chemical and weapons company founded in 1865 with headquarters in Troisdorf.

His other company is AkzoNobel the Dutch multinational company that creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide and headquartered in Amsterdam.   

8. Alfred Nobel was an atheist

At first, Alfred Nobel was Lutheran and regularly attended the church of Sweden Abroad during his Paris years.

Alfred became an agnostic. Agnostic is the view or belief that the existence of God, of divine or supernatural beings, is unknown. Alfred Nobel became an atheist later in his life. 

He still gave generous donations to the church even though he lacked belief in the existence of God or any other supernatural things.

9. He was accused of high treason against France

Alfred Nobel. Photo by Public domain.

Alfred Nobel was accused of high treason against France for selling Ballisite to Italy which helped them create explosives for the military.

He moved to Sanremo from Paris which was in Italy. On December 1896 after having moved from France to Italy in 1891.

He died from a stroke. He had left his wealth to his family but left most of it to the Nobel prize awards. He was buried in Norra begravningsplasten, Stockholm.

10. He owned the iron and steel producer company Bofors

 Alfred owned the iron and steel producer company located in Karlskoga, Sweden.

The company originates from the hammer mill 鈥淏oofors鈥�, founded as a royal state-owned company in 1646.

It was a leading Swedish steel producer by the early 1870s. Soon steel began to be used for the manufacturing of guns in Sweden.

Bofors initially just sold cast and forged steel produced by the Siemens-Martin process but it soon started to expand into weapons all under its owner Alfred Nobel.