Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1948-02-01

1dctS ABOUT mmSelf, ne refused TO
give them. He explained that there
were mo important events in his
life, and added: who has time to
read biographies, and who would
be so naive or SO kind as to be
interested in them? That is. the
question l ask myself in all seri-
BUSINESS"
Not that Alfred Nobel lacked
ambition, but his ambition was di-
rected towards higher goals and
sought its satisfaction in special
achievements. He wanted his in
ventions and his donations to ben
eft mankind. He might have said,
in the words of the philosopher
Bergson: HE who knows with alb
oslute conviction that he has. Gre
ated something good stands above
honors." If Nobel felt, as he nat
urally must have felt, satisfaction
in his triumphs, he kept it to HIM
self, and this silence is in harmony
with his whole manner of living.
The want of personal ties and af-
fections tended to direct his
thoughts and dreams toward hui
mainly as a whole. He was always
interested in metaphysical prob
lens; he admired poets of idealis-
tic tendencies such as the Eng
lishman Shelley and his own coun-
tryman Rydberg, and in the later
years of life he became absorbed
in plans for preserving peace
among nations.
The Inventor of Dynamite
Nobels Indifference to the facts
of his own life has given his biog-
raphers much trouble. We know,
for instance, that at the age of
eighteen he made study trip to
the United States, but where he
went, what he studied and how
long he stayed there we do not
know. Our only clue is a letter,
written in 1852, in which he refers
to 1.-The time 1 was in America
We also know that in the same
period he spent some time in Par
is, but the details are lacking
here also. We may infer that those
trips during the years of his youth
gave him that excellent knowledge
of languages which stood him III
good stood when he cam, to trav-
e; abroad securing patents and
forming companies.
Alfred Nobel was bori. in Stock
holm, October 81, 1888. ii.S first
schovl-years were spent in his ma
tive city, but at the age OF nine
he removed with the family to st.
Petersburg, where his education
was continued inder .tae direction
of a tutor.
After visits to foreign coun-
tics. ne received further practical
trailing in his fathers factory. In
1852 he invented Nobers de tonator,
an excee> lngly important discov-
cry by which t became possible
to utIiize nitroglycerin as an ex-
plosive. In fact it laid the founda-
ton of the entire modern manu-
featuring of explosives. In 1868
he moved to Stockholm in order
to work together with his father,
who had always been interested
in this problem, and together they
set about to utilize the discovery
in a practical way.
In the very beginning terrible
calamity struck them and threat
ened to put a stop to all their
work. They had equipped an ex-
perimental factory in Heleneborg.
Stockholm, but one day when they
were trying out mixture of gun
powder and Observation-Disclosures
of Alfred Nobels inventions-the
factory was blown up and five
persons met their death, among
them the youngest of the Nobel
brothers, Emil. The father was
quite broken by this blow. The
accident aroused public opinion
against the dangerous stuff they
handled, and they were forbidden
to manufacture it within the city
limits. But Alfred Nobel did not
lose faith in the future of his dis
covery. Only a month later he
formed stock company for the