The Man Who Invented the Nobel Prize and A Twist of Fate with Dynamite
His name was Alfred Nobel by the way
A Quick Intro to Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, and businessman, famously known for his creation of dynamite and the Nobel Prize.
His life seemed to have been greatly influenced by his father, Immanuel Nobel, an engineer and inventor who initially worked on bridges and buildings before moving on to the production of military arms. Despite some hardships, his father’s businesses generally brought in large amounts of money for the family. Thanks to that wealth, their children were taught by first-class teachers and trained with top professionals.
However, Alfred had a love for poetry and the arts in his younger years, which clashed with his father’s values of what he deemed best. He decided to send his son to train across Europe, where Alfred came to enjoy his time mostly in Paris. He decided to stay there for a while to be taught under the famous chemist, Professor T. J. Pelouze.
That’s when he met the young Italian chemist, Ascanio Sobrero.
The Explosive Discovery of Nitroglycerine
A couple of years before meeting Alfred, Ascanio Sobrero had discovered a compound called nitroglycerine. Sobrero, like any other sane scientist, decided to taste it and found that the tiniest quantities caused strong headaches. Unsurprisingly, a short period after its discovery, nitroglycerine was being used as a headache cure in homoeopathic treatments (of course).
Later, he found (to his unpleasant surprise) that this compound was also quite explosive. Unfortunately, this discovery left some nasty scars on his face.
Enter Nitroglycerine Scene: Alfred Nobel
Eventually, a young Alfred Nobel decided to produce nitroglycerine in Sweden as a commercially useful explosive. Sadly, his younger brother, Emil, and other factory workers were killed in an explosion at his factory.
Despite all that, he founded Alfred Nobel and Company in Germany a year later. This time, he built an isolated factory near Hamburg — a smart decision considering the factory’s buildings were destroyed by explosions, twice. As you might imagine, it wouldn’t have been very pretty if it were in a city.
Of course, Alfred was not a monster. He knew he had to make nitroglycerine somehow safe to handle. He experimented and experimented, until he came up with, and later patented, dynamite.
The Irony of the Relationship Between Nitroglycerine and Mr Nobel
About 20 years after the discovery of nitroglycerine, a Scottish physician, Lauder Brunton used amyl nitrate to relieve angina (heart pain caused by an insufficient amount of oxygen). Around the same time, William Murrell, a Scottish physician, attempted to use nitroglycerine to treat angina and found that (despite its explosive nature) it worked quite well.
Murrell, along with British physician, Fancourt Barnes compared amyl nitrate and nitroglycerine as possible treatments for angina and found nitroglycerine worked best.
However, to stop his patients from literally going out with a bang, Murrel creatively decided to mix 1/100th of nitroglycerine into chocolate before prescribing it. Much more appropriate, but a little weird to imagine medicine (especially exploding medicine) in chocolate.
Now, here comes the irony of Alfred Nobel’s life (maybe you’ve already guessed it). He was prescribed nitroglycerine for his angina a couple of months before his death. To this, he wrote in a letter to a friend:
“Isn’t it the irony of fate that I have been prescribed nitro-glycerin, to be taken internally! They call it Trinitrin, so as not to scare the chemist and the public. Your affectionate friend, A. Nobel”
To that, I say: Yes, Mr Nobel. It’s a huge irony.
Thanks for reading :)
References
- Alfred Nobel — his life and work — NobelPrize.org [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 7]. Available from: https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/alfred-nobel-his-life-and-work/
- Marsh N, Marsh A. A short history of nitroglycerine and nitric oxide in pharmacology and physiology. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol [Internet]. 2000 [cited 2024 Jul 7];27(4):313–9. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10779131/
- Nossaman VE, Nossaman BD, Kadowitz PJ. Nitrates and Nitrites in the Treatment of Ischemic Cardiac Disease. Cardiol Rev [Internet]. 2010 [cited 2024 Jul 7];18(4):190. Available from: /pmc/articles/PMC2885014/
- Award ceremony speech — NobelPrize.org [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 7]. Available from: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1988/ceremony-speech/
