Alfred Bernhard Nobel (21 October, 1833–10 December, 1896) was born in Sweden. Son of an engineer, he had spent a considerable time studying chemistry in Paris and working in the USA. He is best known for producing dynamite, which is believed to be a safe, manageable and controllable form of nitro-glycerine. He started producing the same in his own established factory, until his brother was killed there in an explosion in 1864. After being deeply shocked, he came up with a safer explosive called gelignite, which was again an important invention.
Later on, he invented a form of smokeless power called ballistite, steel for armour-plating and artificial gutta-percha. He is also famous for obtaining oil from Azerbaijan. Before he died, he expressed the wish to let his money and fortune to be used for offering the yearly ‘Nobel Prizes’ in various fields such as Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Peace and Economics.
