Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-01-26

The official denial given 10 the
statement In a German newspaper
that the president Of the United
States. King Constantine OF Greece,
and Switzerland as a nationJ were
candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize,
affords a fitting opportunity for re-
calling. in the midst of the greatest
OF all wars, the romance Of a bene-
faction whose founder did as much
10 make war terrible as any man who
ever lived
by curious piece Of irony the foun-
der OF the Nobel. Peace Prize was
the inventor OF dynamite! Alfred Ber-
nard Nobel, the man who left a fort
unet Of nearly two millions sterling
in order TO reward those who have
rendered most service TO their fellow
creatures, was OF Swedish origin, hav-
ing been born at Stockholm on 0cto-
Der u. 1893. His father. a man of
considerable eminence in his own
day, was the founder OF the Nobel
firm. He was educated as an archi-
tect and became professor OF geom-
etry. but failed TO find the true bent
of genius till he went to Petrograd,
where he undertook the manufacture
of torpedoes and established great
engineering and shipbuilding WORKS.
There he proSpered for nearly 20
years, until after the Crimean war the
enfee0led resources of the Russian
government no longer afforded him
sufficient business TO make it worth
his while to remain on the Neva. He
m hafn
himself to the study and the fabri-
cation OF explosives Between 1861
and 1862 he discovered a method of
preparing nitro-glycerine which rem
dered it possible to make practical
use of it. In October, 1863, Alfred
Nobel, the son, took out the first pat
ent for the manufacture Of an explo-
sive compound Of nitrO-glycerine and
of ordinary powder. In 1864 he took
out a second patent, but for some
years the use of nitro-glycerine was
attended by many accidents. One of
the worst of these took place in
Brussels in 1868, when the Belgian
representative OF the firm and nine
other persons were blown to atoms.
An explosion near Tyne,
when the sheriff, Mr.. Mawson, and
several others lost their lives, Great
ed a great prejudice in England
against the use Of this high explosive,
and various proposals were made in
many countries for prohibiting its
use.
Dynamite Invented .....
In 1867. however, Alfred Nobel in |
vented dynamite, compound of nitro
glycerine with Kieselguhr. very fine
ly powdered siliceous substance. and
from being the most dangerous, nitro
glycerine thus compounded became
one of the safest of all explosives.
About 1899 Nobel patented ballistite,
the first Of the high explosives which
the era of the smokeless
powder that was destined to effect so
rapid a revolution in the methods of
war ..---.. ..@.e... i.
As the result of his prodigious suc-
cess in the development of gigantic
business--the manufacture of explo-
sives-which revolutionized modern
industry, Alfred Nobel acquired for.
tune which was estimated on his
death at 100000 pounds sterling. He
viey as to the unwis-
dom of leaving large sums to heirs,
and in order to carry out his ideas
the distribution of wealth,
he made a will in which he left the
whole of his fortune to form fuEd,
the annual interest of which was to
be divided into five annual prizes of
$40 900 each. The prizes were to be
awarded equally among the men who
made the greatest discoveries in the
domains of physical science, chemis-
try, or medicine, tho writer 'who pro-
duced the greatest work Of literature
Of an idealistic tendency" and, final
", to the man who shall have done
the most or the best work for the
of nations, the suppression
Dr. reduction Of standing armies, and
The formation and propagation Of
peace congresses"
Needless almost to say 1t is the
peace prize which has attracted by
lar the most attention throughout the
world. 1t was intended to be last
N Y,,nnnmonf 70 Nnhol'c douafi0r IN