He spent the rest of his life expanding his businesses, along with his brothers, and engineering new inventions that would help advance science and technology for years to come. His continued work on explosives led to further discoveries, such as blasting gelatin, which he discovered in 1875, and ballistite, which he discovered in 1887. Throughout the late 1800s, Nobel continued building his dynamite factories around Europe and North America. Unfortunately, this led to one of his nitroglycerin factories exploding, causing the death of Alfred’s brother Emil, among others.Īfter this tragic event, Alfred worked to ensure that the safety standards of his factories were up to the regulations known to be effective at the time, but he did continue building nitroglycerin and blasting cap factories.Įventually, in 1867, Nobel invented a new explosive altogether: dynamite, which he named from the Greek word for power.Įxcitingly, this substance, while just as powerful, is much safer to use and handle than nitroglycerin.ĭynamite is the invention that made Alfred Nobel famous, and it became very useful in the formation of tunnels, roads, and railroads. Nitroglycerin alone, however, was still very hard to handle and move without serious danger. Later, in 1865, he developed an improved model of this detonator that he called a blasting cap.
The following year, Nobel designed a detonator that contained black powder and liquid nitroglycerin. But Alfred was interested in exploring it capabilities, so he developed a manufacturing and research facility specifically for nitroglycerin in 1862. This new explosive, nitroglycerin, was dangerous to touch. Nobel wanted to explore further with a new, more powerful explosive. Back then, the explosive used for mining was a type of gunpowder known as black powder. Scientific DiscoveryĪlfred enjoyed conducting experiments with explosives in a laboratory on the Nobel property. After the war ended, Alfred moved back to Sweden to continue his research. Petersburg to work again in his father’s manufacturing factory to assist the military during the Crimean War.
His studies eventually took him to spend a year in Paris at age 18 and then 4 years in the United States.Īfter his education, he moved back to St. With his private tutors, Alfred learned four languages in addition to his native Swedish, and became very good at Chemistry. The new job also allowed Nobel’s family to hire tutors for their children. There, he developed an interested in explosives and wanted to study how they work. When he was young, Nobel helped work in his father’s factory. When Alfred was 9, he and his family moved out to join him. Petersburg to work in an explosives manufacturing factory. The scientist Alfred Nobel, after whom the Nobel Prize is so called, was born in Stockholm in 1833.Īt 4 years old, however, his father, an engineer, moved to St.
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