Nobel, Alfred

Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist and innovator, 1833-1896

Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite, and held 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous. His fortune was used posthumously to institute the Nobel Prize which was first awarded in 1901 in five categories, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available. The synthetic element nobelium was named after him. His name also survives in modern-day companies such as Dynamit Nobel and AkzoNobel, which are descendants of mergers with companies Nobel himself established.

  • (Nobel, Alfred) / Cundill, J[ohn] P[onsonby]. A Dictionary of Explosives.Chatham, 1889.

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