Dimdima
Online Children's Magazine from India
Dimdima
Online Children's Magazine from India
The Versatile Genius
| Fact File |
| Date of Birth-Death : 1833-1896 |
| Country of Birth : Sweden |
| Major Discoveries : Dynamite |
The Nobels were manufacturers of liquid nitroglycerine, a powerful explosive used in mining and construction work.
Liquid nitroglycerine had one major drawback. It exploded easily and was dangerous to handle.
One of the sons, Alfred Nobel, was determined to make nitroglycerine safer.
One day as he was lifting a bottle of nitroglycerine he spilled some of it on the packing material, which was made of fine powder, called kieselguhr. Instead of exploding, it formed a paste with the powder. Nobel discovered that the mixture was still explosive but very much safer to handle.
He called the mixture 'dynamite' and it made a fortune for him. Dynamite became a powerful tool in the hands of miners and road engineers. Alfred Nobel
did not confine his work to the field of explosives.
He also worked in various branches of science like optics,
biology and physiology. By the time of his death in 1896
he had taken out more than 355 patents.
Sadly, when dynamites began to be used in war as explosives, people began to look at Nobel in horror. They called him a 'pedlar of death'.
Sad and embittered, Nobel became a loner. He never married and did not have any close friends.
On his death it was found that he had left the bulk of his enormous fortune for annual prizes in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, physiology, literature and peace.
These are the famous Nobel prizes - the legacy of a great but tortured soul.
EXPLORE MORE...
Get Help or Give Help.
- Do you have a Science Question?
- Post it here and get the answer.
- Some questions posted by others are not yet answered.
- View those questions and answer them.
Dimdima is the Sanskrit word for ‘drumbeat’. In olden days, victory in battle was heralded by the beat of drums or any important news to be conveyed to the people used to be accompanied with drumbeats.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
K. M Munshi Marg,
Chowpatty, Mumbai - 400 007
email : editor@dimdima.com
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
505, Sane Guruji Marg,
Tardeo, Mumbai - 400 034
email : promo@dimdima.com
Dimdima.com, the Children's Website of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan launched in 2000 and came out with a Printed version of Dimdima Magazine in 2004. At present the Printed Version have more than 35,000 subscribers from India and Abroad.