In Petersburg, the family's economic conditions improved, and my father hired a tutor for the three brothers. Although Alfred is the youngest, he is not bad at learning at all, and he is more talented in foreign languages. He learned several foreign languages, such as Russian, English, French and German. He loves Shelley's poems and has a strong interest in literature, which has been with him all his life. He sometimes goes to the factory to play with his brother, and he has a preliminary understanding and interest in gunpowder. Because of his good foreign language, 16 years old, his father asked him to go abroad to learn new knowledge.
He went to Paris, France, studied in the research room of the university during the day, read Shelley's poems at night, and especially appreciated the poem Water Margin. He fell in love with a beautiful girl who fell in love at first sight in the street, but soon after their relationship, the girl suddenly died of illness, which made Alfred very sad. Under the arrangement of his father, he went to new york, USA, and learned mechanical manufacturing and some chemical knowledge from an engineer. The more he studied, the more interested he became. He is determined to devote himself to science. Two years later, he returned to his home in Petersburg.
At this time, the dark clouds of war are gathering, and the tsar hopes to expand his territory to the south and step up orders from factories. 1854 When the Crimean War broke out, a Russian merchant ship was accidentally sunk by a mine laid in the port. The power of explosives made the British and French allied forces who attacked Langstad retreat without fighting, and the mines made by Nobel Factory became famous. The mine invented by Emanuel used black powder invented by China in the 3rd century, that is, saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal powder were mixed together and then put into iron balls. Because black powder has a large amount of smoke, weak explosive power and limited use, Alfred is determined to study a more powerful powder. He learned that nitroglycerin invented by Italian Suo Brelo had strong explosive power, but he gave up his research because of the big explosion in the experiment. He began to study nitroglycerin. 1856, the war suddenly ended. The order was suspended and the factory could not continue. His father sold the factory and returned to his hometown. The Nobel brothers didn't follow their father back, but they stayed and continued their struggle.
1857, Alfred invented the gas meter and got a patent, but it was of little practical value and didn't get any money. Later, his second brother Ludwig bought a small factory, which provided a place for him to continue to study nitroglycerin. After repeated experiments, he found that nitroglycerin can explode when the temperature reaches 170℃- 180℃. But how do you make it explode? By June 1863, 10, he finally made a detonator to detonate nitroglycerin explosive and obtained a patent. He returned to his hometown and started a small factory with his father to produce new explosives. Orders gradually increased and the factory began to get busy. 1On September 3rd, 864, when he was out with his father, the factory exploded, and his younger brother Emil and many workers suffered misfortune, leaving the factory and their home in ruins. Affected by this, his father can't afford to get sick. For a time, nitroglycerin became a scary monster. However, the explosion accident also increased the popularity of nitroglycerin. The company that built the railway placed an order with him, and he was determined to go ahead and never back down. In June 5438+10, a new nitroglycerin company was born. But because people were afraid, they couldn't even afford the land to build the factory, so they had to build the factory on a boat and moved to the suburbs of Stockholm a year later.
The power of nitroglycerin is becoming more and more obvious, and it is used in tunnel construction, canal construction, railway construction and stone mining. Alfred feels that his invention has contributed to mankind and hopes to introduce his products to the world. 1865, he cooperated with others in Hamburg and opened a small factory, which was the starting point of Alfred Nobel Company. His company has gradually expanded, with factories in Austria and Britain, and its products are sold to the United States and Australia. It is widely used, but the safety work has not kept up, and explosion accidents keep happening. Alfred realized that he had to invent safer explosives, so he started a new study. Finally, he found that diatomite is thin and light, can absorb three times of nitroglycerin, and is very strong. When rolled into strips and inserted into rock holes for explosion test, the explosive force is very strong and it becomes a new type of explosive. By 1875, he invented gelatin explosive, which greatly improved the safety factor of explosive. In recognition of his contribution, the Swedish Academy Science Award awarded him the Le Asti Award.
His father died on 1872, and he also felt very tired physically and mentally. He has been in poor health and often falls ill, so he left the busy factory, bought a spacious house in Paris and settled down. At this time, his eldest brother Robert discovered the big oil field in Baku and obtained the right to exploit it. They negotiated with Alfred, and the three brothers established the Nobel Brothers Oil Company. Due to the inconvenient transportation in Baku, his two brothers became the first people in the world to transport oil by pipelines and tankers, thus making Baku's oil exported to all parts of Europe.
Although he left the factory, Alfred's home has a large laboratory where he can continue to conduct extensive research and inventions. He is quite rich and has obtained more than 300 patents, including automatic brakes and explosion-proof boilers. Of course, the most famous is explosives. After studying, he still loves literature, sometimes attending Mrs. Adam's Salon, chatting with literati and artists and writing poems. 1887, he successfully invented mixed smokeless gunpowder, which became the target of military hunting in various countries. France was shocked to learn that he had started to produce mixed smokeless gunpowder in Italian factories, and he was forbidden to carry out all research activities, and he was also forbidden to produce this kind of gunpowder in French factories. Therefore, he left France where he lived for 18 years and moved to San Rimo, Italy. Here, he also obtained patents on rocket launching method, telephone and battery improvement.
Alfred has always cherished the dream of peace. He invented gunpowder, hoping to destroy the war with a deterrent weapon. He hates war, and his wandering life makes him a cosmopolitan person. 189 1 year, he attended the world peace conference held in Bern. Bertha von Sutna, a woman writer whom he had known for a long time, was engaged in the peace movement. He wrote to his wife that he would contribute to their peace movement.
He hasn't forgotten his hometown. 1893 Uppsala University in Sweden awarded him an honorary doctorate. 1894, he learned that the Swedish company Balfoss was about to go bankrupt, and immediately went to visit and took out huge sums of money to help the company tide over the difficulties. Because of this, the directors of this company regarded him as a life-saving fairy and gave him Berg Baolong Castle as their residence. He set up another large research institute here.
His health is getting worse and worse, and he has a serious heart disease. The doctor told him to rest absolutely. Lying in his hospital bed, he wrote two satirical plays against the background of his company's lawsuit failure in Britain. 1895165438+1October 27th, he made the most famous will in the world: I gave all my property, and used its interest to set up five prizes: physics prize, chemistry prize, physiology and medicine prize, literature prize and peace prize. The above awards are expected to be awarded to the most suitable people, regardless of the country. 1896 65438+February 10, Alfred died at his home in San Rimo. He never married.
Through the efforts of his former employee and executor Surman, the Nobel Foundation was established. 190110, Sweden awarded the first nobel prize (1968, the Swedish bank set up the nobel prize in economics). Since then, the Nobel Prize beyond nationality has become the most famous and influential prize in the world. It has also become the best commemoration of Nobel.