(1843-1914) Bertha von Suttner Bertha von Suttner (née Countess Bertha Kinsky) was an Austrian noble woman, author and peace activist. She came to work as a secretary for Alfred Nobel in Paris in 1876. After only a couple of months she left her job and returned to Vienna to get married. Bertha von Suttner maintained…

(1812-1888) Ascanio Sobrero Italian chemist who discovered nitroglycerine. Ascanio Sobrero worked as an assistant to Professor J. T. Pelouze in Paris and then became professor of chemistry in Turino, Italy. His face was badly scarred as a result of an explosion in the 1840s. He considered nitroglycerine to be far too dangerous to be of…

(1801-1872) Immanuel Nobel Father of Alfred Nobel. Self-taught inventor and building contractor in Stockholm. Immanuel Nobel grew up in a poor family who could not afford any formal education. His father taught him how to read and write. At the age of 14 he became a sailor. Exactly what Immanuel did after his return to…

Nitroglycerine is an explosive liquid which was first made by Ascanio Sobrero in 1846 by treating glycerol with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid. The reaction which follows is highly exothermic, i.e. it generates heat and will result in an explosion of nitroglycerine, unless the mixture is cooled while the reaction is taking place.…

(1805-1889) Mother of Alfred (1833-1896), Robert (1829-1896), Ludvig (1831-1888), Emil (1843-1864) and two children who died as infants. Andriette Nobel (maiden name Ahlsell) was a gifted woman, daughter of an accountant. In 1827 she married Immanuel Nobel and for a couple of years the two lived in Stockholm under reasonable economic conditions. In 1833 Immanuel…

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Production of Dynamite at Krümmel Year Metric Tons 1867 11 1868 78 1869 185 1870 424 1871 785 1872 1,350 1873 2,050 1874 3,150

The manager’s house in 1880. Alfred Nobel also stayed here during his visits. View of the Nobel site and the river Elbe around 1880. The Nobel site around 1905. Entrance to the factory around 1908. The manager’s house is seen to the right. Loading of powder at Krümmel in 1915.

by Birgitta Lemmel In 1865, soon after production at his very first company – outside Stockholm – had got started, Alfred Nobel left Sweden for Hamburg with the aim of creating a company for the production of blasting oil (the brand name for ) in Europe. He had been encouraged to set up business in…

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