Alfred Nobel once quipped, “A merciful doctor should have ended my life at birth.” That ironic self-portrait came with just five strokes: two virtues and three flaws. The Swedish scientist—inventor, engineer, and philanthropist—listed his virtues as keeping his nails clean and not being a burden to others. His flaws, he said, were a lack of family, a bad temper, and digestive troubles. But the story of Nobel goes far beyond that short, wry description.
Starting Capital
Alfred Nobel’s appetite for invention came from his father, Emmanuel Nobel, a graduate of a technical institute. Emmanuel developed a wide range of things, from plywood to torpedoes. He began by making machines to assemble wagon wheels, then invented inflatable mattresses and built floating bridges. After inventing the underwater mine, he transformed the family’s fortunes.
The future inventor of dynamite was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. From the age of nine he lived with his family in St. Petersburg, where his father opened a mechanical factory. Emmanuel Nobel received 25,000 imperial rubles from the military department to set up production of mines, a contract that ensured a profitable future for three generations of the family working abroad. For eight decades, from 1837 to 1918, the Nobel family helped develop Russian industry—metallurgy, machine engineering, oil extraction, and refining.
The Nobel Family (Alfred on the right)
Early Training and Research
Although he attended formal school for only a year and a half, Alfred and his brothers spoke five European languages from childhood and learned natural science at home. After spending seven years in Northern Palmyra, 16-year-old Alfred traveled in Europe and America, and, following his father’s lead, became fascinated with the properties of explosives.
Nitroglycerin, invented in Italy in 1847, provided the basis for Nobel’s experiments in Paris. A memorable meeting with researcher Ascanio Sobrero—who had synthesized nitroglycerin but warned others not to work with it because of its volatility—left a lasting impression on the young scientist. Nobel quickly saw the commercial potential of explosives that were far more powerful than gunpowder. In the 1850s, a safer explosive could have sped up projects like the construction of the Suez Canal, shortening intercontinental freight times.
In the United States, Nobel worked in the laboratory of John Ericsson, an American inventor of Swedish descent. Under Ericsson’s mentorship, Nobel carried out independent experiments and moved closer to the explosive that would bring him fame—and later claim his brother’s life.
Nobel’s Patent for Nitroglycerin
Accidents and Inventions
On September 3, 1864, disaster struck: an experiment to stabilize glycerin exploded at the Nobel factory in Stockholm. The blast killed several people, including Alfred’s younger brother, 20-year-old Emil. The loss devastated their father—he suffered a stroke and never recovered.
Nobel pressed on with his work, and a month after the tragedy he received his first patent. He later secured patents for dynamite and for detonators. He discovered that the explosive force changed when granular gunpowder was added, and the following year he developed a mixture that could be transported safely and would explode only when detonated. For that invention he mixed diatomaceous earth—a stabilizing powder made from the fossilized remains of diatoms (microscopic algae)—with nitroglycerin. He called the new substance dynamite, and it made him very wealthy. “I will be satisfied if one out of a thousand ideas bears fruit,” Nobel once said.
Explosion at the Nobel Factory
After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, demand for dynamite stayed high: construction and mining projects required hundreds of tons. Nobel licensed his patent and opened dozens of enterprises worldwide. The factories operated on a franchise basis, which enriched Nobel and let him stay focused on scientific work.
A Talent for Everything
Across chemistry, biology, medicine, optics, and metallurgy, Alfred Nobel accumulated 355 inventions. He popularized many of them with public lectures that demonstrated the properties of substances and the capabilities of his devices. Nobel developed smokeless explosives such as ballistite and nitrocellulose, explored artificial silk and rubber substitutes, and worked on a pressure-resistant steam boiler, a refrigeration unit, an automatic brake, a gas meter, a water meter, and a barometer. In 1884 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences elected him a member, and in 1893 Uppsala University awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Many people were surprised to learn that Nobel loved literature as much as science. “A hermit without books and ink is already dead in life,” he wrote in a French poem called “Harriet.” Between experiments he wrote poetry and prose without intending to publish. His most famous literary work was a play about the parricide Beatrice Cenci, titled “Nemesis.” The four-act tragedy, based on a real historical figure who killed a Roman aristocrat in the 16th century, was completed late in his life. After his death the church demanded destruction of the print run and accused the author of blasphemy; three surviving copies eventually made a revival of the play possible at the Stockholm Dramatic Theatre in 2005.
Premature Obituary
A strange twist of fate let Nobel see how others might judge his life. In 1888 newspapers mistakenly reported his death, confusing Alfred with his brother Ludwig, who had actually died in Cannes. The premature obituary labeled him a “merchant of death” for profiting from arms sales. The headline about a “millionaire of blood” stung the “dynamite king” and made him rethink the legacy he would leave. Had he devoted his life to science only to be remembered as a “serial killer” or a “world-class villain”?
Nobel never married and left no direct heirs, so he felt no need to consult relatives or friends about his estate. Without telling colleagues or family, he bequeathed the bulk of his multimillion-dollar fortune to a trust that would fund annual awards: the Nobel Prizes.
Nobel Prize Laureate Medal
Shortly before he died, the inventor drew up a will ordering the sale of his business shares and the investment of the proceeds in secure assets. He specified that the income should be distributed annually to people who had made the greatest contributions to humanity in physics, chemistry, and medicine. He also designated prizes for literature and for work that promoted peace and disarmament.
Accusations and Death
After being accused of treason for selling ballistite to Italy, Alfred Nobel moved from France to San Remo in 1891. He died there at the age of 63 from a brain hemorrhage.
“War is the most terrible crime,” the “father of dynamite” told a peace congress in 1889. “So I would like to leave humanity such a safeguard that would protect it for all time.”
Nobel did not build a weapon that could hold the world to account—that task fell to later inventors. The world was not dissuaded by their threats: centuries pass, yet wars continue. Nobel’s companies have continued to profit from arms sales, often still carrying his family name.
