Alfred Bernhard Nobel, who instituted the Nobel Prizes, was born in Stockholm (Sweden) in 1833. His father was an expert in explosives. Alfred was never formally educated, but he had a talent for invention and was a competent chemist at the age of sixteen. After studying chemistry in France and the United States, he went into the
family business of making explosives and set up a small factory near Stockholm in Sweden. A few incidents of blasts in his factory led him to be called a 'mad scientist'.
At that time, nitroglycerine was used as an explosive. It was a very powerful and extremely dangerous explosive. Alfred tried many ways of developing its safer form. By adding a fine, porous powder called kieselguhr, he invented a safe, easily handled explosive. Alfred named the new explosive 'dynamite'. He received a patent for it in 1867. Construction companies, mining companies and the governments of various countries, ordered large quantities of dynamite because of its relative safety and explosive power. He went on to develop other new explosives. Alfred set up factories around the world, which produced a vast range of explosives. The sales of dynamite and other explosives brought him great wealth. He became a millionaire.
