Alfred Nobel Age, Biography, Facts & More

Bio
Real Name	Alfred Bernhard Nobel
Nickname	Not Known
Profession	Chemist
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 170 cm in meters- 1.70 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 7”
Weight (approx.)	in Kilograms- 64 kg in Pounds- 141 lbs
Personal Life
Date of Birth	21 October 1833
Place of Birth	Stockholm, Sweden, Norway
Date of Death	10 December 1896
Place of Death	Sanremo, Italy
Age (as on 10 December 1896)	63 Years
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Sagittarius
Nationality	Swedish
Hometown	Sweden, Norway
School	Jacobs Apologistic School, Stockholm, Sweden, Norway & Home tutored
College	Not Known
Educational Qualifications	A Swedish tutor- Lars Santesson taught him Swedish Language, History, World Literature and Philosophy. A Russian teacher- Ivan Peterov taught him fundamentals of Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics. He was taught Chemistry by Professors- Yuli Trapp and Nikolai N. Zinin.
Family	Father- Immanuel Nobel (Inventor) Mother- Caroline Andrietta Ahlsell Brother- Ludvig Nobel, Robert Nobel, Emil Oskar Nobel Sister- Betty Carolina Nobel
Religion	Lutheranism
Ethnicity	Swedish
Hobbies	Reading
Controversies	He was criticized for selling and manufacturing weapons.
Favourite Things
Favorite Subject	Chemistry
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Unmarried
Affairs/Girlfriends	Alexandra (Russian girl) Bertha von Suttner (Czech-Austrian pacifist and novelist) Sofie Hess (from Vienna)
Wife	N/A
Children	N/A
Money Factor
Net Worth	$472 million (approx.)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Alfred Nobel

• Does Alfred Nobel smoke?: Not Known

• Does Alfred Nobel drink alcohol?: Not Known

• He was born to Immanuel Nobel and Carolina Andirette in Stockholm, Sweden.

• His father was a renowned engineer and inventor at that time.

• Alfred Nobel had 8 siblings and was the 3rd son of Immanuel Nobel, however, only Alfred Nobel and his 3 brothers survived past childhood.

• He was a descendant of Olaus Rudbeck (Swedish scientist and writer).

• At a very young age, he became interested in engineering (especially explosives) and started learning the basic principles of engineering form his father.

• When his father’s business failed at the Stockholm, he moved to Saint Petersburg in 1837 and became successful there as a manufacturer of explosives and machine tools.

• His father invented modern plywood & also started working on the torpedo.

• From 1841 to 1842 (for 18 months), he attended Jacobs Apologistic School in Stockholm, the only school he ever attended.

• He met Ascanio Sobrero in Paris (who had invented Nitroglycerin 3 years before) who warned Alfred to use nitroglycerin, however, Alfred became more interested to find ways for making it a usable explosive.

• To study Chemistry, he went to the United States for 4 years when he was 18 years old.

• In 1857, Alfred filed his 1st patent which was an English patent for a gas meter.

• A large chunk of armaments in the Crimean War (1853-1856) was supplied by his family factory.

• After returning to Sweden from Russia, Alfred Nobel devoted his time to the study of explosives (especially to the safe use and manufacture of nitroglycerin).

• In 1863 and 1865, he invented a detonator and blasting cap respectively.

• On 3 September 1864, five people were killed (including his younger brother) in a factory when a shed was exploded which was used for the preparation of nitroglycerin.

• In 1867, Alfred Nobel invented Dynamite, which was safer and easier to use than nitroglycerin. 

• He invented gelignite in 1875, which was even more powerful and stable than dynamite. 

• In 1884, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and in 1893, Uppsala University, gave him an honorary doctorate.

• During his life, Alfred Nobel established more than ninety armament factories and issues 355 international patents.

• When his brother, Ludvig Nobel died in 1888, several newspapers mentioned Alfred’s name in obituaries in error and a French obituary wrote- Le marchand de la mort est mort (The merchant of death is dead).

• When he was in Paris, he used to attend a Church led by pastor Nathan Söderblom- Church of Sweden Abroad pastor Nathan later won Nobel Peace Prize in 1930. 

• He had 3 loves in his life and when he proposed to his first love named Alexandra (Russian girl); she rejected his proposal.

• He also fell in love with Bertha Kinsky (Austro-Bohemian Countess) who became his secretary in 1876. It is said that she had a major influence in adding the Peace Prize among the other prizes mentioned in his will. She also won Nobel Peace Prize in 1905.

• Alfred Nobel had no formal secondary and tertiary level education.

• He mixed Nitroglycerin with an absorbent inert substance that became safer and patented this mixture in 1867 as “Dynamite”.

• He signed his last will on 27 November 1895 and set aside a major bulk of his estate (94% of his total assets; equivalent to 31225000 Swedish Kronor) to establish the 5 Nobel Prizes. The Awards were started in 1901. 

• He suffered a stroke on 10 December 1896 and died at Sanremo in Italy.

• In 1991, Monument to Alfred Nobel was established at Saint Petersburg located along the Bolshaya Nevka River on Petrogradskaya Embankment.