Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Childhood

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm on 21 October 1833. He was the son of Emmanuel Nobel, Jr., an
inventor and engineer, and Andriette Nobel. Through his father, Alfred Nobel was a descendant of the
Swedish scientist Olof Rudbeck and, in turn, the boy was interested in engineering, particularly explosives,
learning its basic principles from his father at an early age. Alfred Nobel's interest in technology was
inherited from his father, a graduate of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Education

His parents were able to send Nobel to private tutors, and the boy excelled in his studies, especially in
chemistry and languages, and learned to speak English, French, German and Russian fluently. At the age of
18 he went to the United States for one year to study chemistry. There he worked for a brief period for the
inventor John Eriksson.

Professional life

After many business failures, Emmanuel moved to St Petersburg in 1837 and became successful as a
manufacturer of machine tools and explosives. In 1857 Nobel filed his first patent, an English patent for a
gas meter, while his first Swedish patent, which he received in 1863, was for "methods of making
gunpowder". He invented modern plywood and began working on the torpedo. Nobel, known as the
inventor of dynamite, also owned the Bofors company, which he converted from metallurgy to chemical
and cannon production. Nobel owned 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous.

Legacy

Throughout his life, Nobel professed pacifist ideas. He believed that if the opponents have a weapon with
which they can instantly destroy each other, they will realize that nothing can be gained from war, and end
the conflict.

After reading a premature obituary that condemned him for profits from arms sales, he bequeathed his
fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes, awarded for the most important achievements in physics, chemistry,
medicine, literature and for contributions to peace. His name survives in modern companies such as
Dynamit Nobel and AkzoNobel, which are descendants of mergers with companies founded by Nobel.