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…

Paul François Barbe became Alfred Nobel’s French partner for many years. As early as 1868, Nobel went into partnership with Barbe for the exploitation of dynamite in France. In 1870, under Barbe’s forceful management, the manufacture of dynamite began in Paulille near the Spanish border, an isolated spot chosen for security reasons. Barbe’s skill in…

Kieselguhr, a diatomaceous earth (diatomite) is a form of silica composed of the siliceous shells of unicellular aquatic plants of microscopic size. Kieselguhr is heat resistant and has been used as an insulator, as a component in toothpaste and as an abrasive in metal polishes. In the chemical industry, it is also used as a…

Immanuel and Andrietta Nobel had six children. Four of them survived childhood: Robert (1829-1896), Ludvig (1831-1888), Alfred (1833-1896), and Emil (1843-1864). Two died as infants. Emil, who like his brothers Robert and Ludvig worked for the family business, was killed in a tragic explosion which occurred in Heleneborg, Stockholm on September 3, 1864. Robert Nobel…

(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…