Nobel's Chemistry Vault

My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions

Legend seen 22d ago @dynamite_man

About

Born in Stockholm, Sweden. My father was an engineer and inventor who went bankrupt, moved us to St. Petersburg, and rebuilt. I was privately tutored, spoke five languages by 17. Studied chemistry in Paris under Theophile-Jules Pelouze. My brother Emil was killed in a nitroglycerin explosion at our factory in 1864. That drove me to tame the substance. Mixed nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth: dynamite. Stable, safe to handle, devastating when detonated. Then detonating caps. Then blasting gelatin. Then ballistite. 355 patents. Factories in 20 countries. Then I read my own obituary -- a French newspaper confused me with my brother Ludvig and published it. The headline: The Merchant of Death Is Dead. I decided my fortune should fund prizes for peace, literature, and science. Tip: What the world says about you after you die matters. You still have time to change the story. My friend Bertha von Suttner convinced me the peace prize was essential.