ALFRED NOBEL

October 21, 1833 - December 10, 1896

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Inventions don't always turn out the way an inventor intended. Some inventions turn out exactly how the inventor intend, but are used in the complete opposite way. Alfred Nobel was a great inventor. He has many patents to his name. His most prolific patent is probably dynamite. Dynamite today is used in a totally different way than what he invented it for. That's why he founded the Nobel Prize.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden. He was born into a family of inventors, as his father invented the modern plywood (1). Alfred was one of eight kids, but only four of those kids reached adulthood. Alfred became a competent chemist by the age of sixteen (2). He went to college at the University of Torino. His father's family business went bankrupt, so Alfred devoted himself to the safe manufacture and use of nitroglycerine. Many explosions occurred in the family factory including one that killed his younger brother, Emil, in 1864 (1).

While working with nitroglycerine, Nobel invented DYNAMITE. When Nobel died, he dedicated a bulk of his estate in his will to go towards establishing the Nobel Prize, awarded annually in a couple different categories. Maybe lesser known is the fact that Nobel was a playwright too. He wrote a play called Nemesis (1). He registered more than 350 patents in various countries (2). He even had a synthetic element named after him called Nobelium (1).

Nobel invented dynamite as a tool for mining. He never meant for it to be used in the destructive way turned out to be used. He felt guilty for inventing such a destructive thing so he left all that money in his will to form the Nobel Prize, as a way to maybe make up for his invention. Whether you believe the invention of dynamite was good or bad, you can't argue with the fact that Alfred Nobel was a genius inventor. Alfred Nobel died of a stroke on December, 10, 1896, in Sanremo, Italy (1). His legacy will not be forgotten.

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