Nobel's full name is Alfred bernhard Nobel, a Swede. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on1June +2 1 year1October, 833, ranking third among the four sons whose parents are still alive. Shortly after Nobel was born, his father went bankrupt in 1837 and left Finland to make a living. A few years later, he moved to Russia and worked in Petersburg, making machines, iron pieces and military equipment. 1842 10 The mother came to Russia with her children from Sweden to live with her father. Nobel received only 1 year formal education before arriving in Russia because of his infirmity. After arriving in Russia, he and his brother were educated by private school teachers in Sweden and Russia, including the Russian chemist Qi Ning (H.H. Зинин, 12 ~ 1888).
1850, Nobel 16 years old. He studied in Germany, France, Italy and North America for two years and became a young man who knows many languages and loves chemistry. After Nobel returned to Russia, this country was involved in the Crimean War against Britain and France (1853 ~ 1856). His father is busy making many military materials, including mines. He and his two brothers also worked in the factory and gained a lot of practical experience. The explosive used at that time was still black powder, and Qi Ning proposed to switch to nitroglycerin. This is an explosive substance made by Italian chemist Sobreiro (A. Sobrero, 18 12 ~ 1888) in 1847. It was first made by the action of nitric acid and sulfuric acid on glycerol. It may explode under vibration, heating, friction or mechanical action. As a result, the Nobel family began the research and manufacture of nitroglycerin.
After the war, the Russian government cancelled the contract with the factory, and his father declared bankruptcy again. He 1859 returned to Sweden, as poor as when he left Sweden. Nobel and his two brothers stayed in Russia to save their family business. During this period, Nobel obtained patents for gas meters, water meters and barometers, which aroused his interest as an inventor.
1863, Nobel returned to Sweden. He and his father got a loan and started the research of making nitroglycerin again. This year, Nobel invented his first epoch-making invention-Nobel patented ignition parts. The initial structure of this igniter is to put liquid nitroglycerin into a metal tube or other sealed tube, and then put a small wooden tube filled with ordinary gunpowder into it, and introduce a fuse from the cover of the small wooden tube, so that the explosion of nitroglycerin is caused by the shock wave of gunpowder explosion in the small wooden tube, rather than relying on direct ignition. This principle is a great progress in explosion science and creates a method to control the initiation of nitroglycerin. 1865, he changed the small wooden tube filled with black powder into a metal tube filled with mercury fulminate [Hg (CNO) 2]. Therefore, the ignition components of Nobel patent are also called Nobel detonators.
Mercury fulminate is a kind of initiating explosive, which was first made by British chemist Howard (E.C.Howard, 1774 ~ 18 16) by co-heating nitric acid, ethanol and mercury in 1799.
1864, Nobel and his father set up a laboratory for manufacturing nitroglycerin in Hellenborg, a suburb of Stockholm. On September 3 this year, an explosion occurred in the laboratory, killing five people, including his brother. He was not present at the time and survived.
The explosion in the laboratory and the death of his brother didn't scare Nobel. He moved the experimental equipment to a barge far away from the city and parked it in the middle of the lake for experiments. 1865, the world's first nitroglycerin factory was built and put into operation in Vinterviken, an isolated area near Stockholm. Nobel was also a director, engineer, accountant and salesman ... and then he built another factory in Kr near Hamburg.
Nitroglycerin is packed in tin cans or glass cans, packed in wooden boards and transported. However, nitroglycerin is still prone to explosion during storage and transportation. On the way from Hamburg to Chile, a ship carrying nitroglycerin was caught in a big storm in the Atlantic Ocean and sank due to an explosion caused by turbulence. In Germany, a factory exploded due to collision during handling, and the whole factory and nearby houses became ruins; In America, a train was blown up. In response to these incidents, the porters refused to move, and the Swedish government and other governments banned the production and transportation of Nobel explosives.
Difficulties and setbacks did not make Nobel yield. He stubbornly carried out the experiment, trying to overcome the obstacles he met. 1867 One day, Nobel noticed that a jar containing nitroglycerin broke when unloading, and the leaked nitroglycerin was absorbed by diatomite to form a solid, which was less explosive than pure nitroglycerin, but safe. Diatomite is a porous siliceous skeleton of tiny marine life remains, which was once used as the lining of nitroglycerin transport tanks to prevent vibration. After many experiments, Nobel decided to mix 3 parts of nitroglycerin and 1 part of diatomite to make a powdery solid, which has 75% explosive power of pure nitroglycerin, but avoids the terrible explosion danger. Nobel borrowed the Greek word dynamis and named it explosive, also known as explosive.
Dynambuy explosive was patented in Sweden and Britain in 1867 and in the United States in 1868. It has been used to build roads, dig canals, dig oil wells and mines, and it has shown its power in the excavation of the Corinthian Canal in Greece, the cleaning of the iron gate canyon on the Danube between Romania and Yugoslavia, and the construction of the railway line in Saint Gotha, Switzerland.
Nobel continued his research on the production of explosives. 1875 One day, he cut his finger in an experiment and coated it with collodion to form an elastic film to protect the wound. He couldn't sleep after a painful night, but he was inspired to make elastic blasting glue with collodion and nitroglycerin. The typical formula is 8% (mass fraction) collodion and 92% (mass fraction) nitroglycerin. This explosive has both the explosive power of nitroglycerin and the safety of explosive.
Collodion, also called nitrocellulose or nitrocellulose, was first made by German chemist Schoenbein when nitric acid and sulfuric acid acted on cotton in 1846. Cotton contains a lot of cellulose, and collodion is as easy to explode as nitroglycerin, which is unsafe. It was not until 1865 that the British chemist Abel (F.A.Abel, 1827 ~ 1902) discovered that the instability of collodion was caused by the different nitric acid content, and put forward an improved method, that is, washing collodion in alkaline water first, and then drying and molding. The collodion prepared in this way has good stability and is relatively loose, and can be used as an explosive, but it cannot be directly loaded. Collodion is a solution of collodion in alcohol and ether (a volatile, flammable and anesthetic colorless liquid). After the solvent in the solution volatilizes, an elastic film is formed, which has been used to make photographic films. Its English name is collodion, which translates into Colo tincture, which comes from the Greek kolla (glue).
At 1887, Nobel added 10% (mass fraction) camphor to the same amount of collodion and nitroglycerin to make ballistie explosive. The name comes from the crossbow in ancient Europe. This explosive has moderate explosive power, smokeless combustion, stability and safety, also known as nitroglycerin smokeless powder.
Nobel also added ammonium nitrate to the explosive to make ammonium nitrate explosive. Ammonium nitrate is also added to explosive rubber to make ANFO explosive.
Nobel's explosive factories are all over Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States, and have gained huge wealth. He is also engaged in research on rayon, rubber, leather, melting bauxite, making precious stones, improving batteries and telephones. It is difficult to calculate how many patents he has obtained. In cleaning up his personal assets, different countries have approved at least 355 patents. He also invested heavily in Baku (ббб Aky) oil field in Russia, holding a large number of shares, which greatly increased his wealth. He travels for business, between Germany, France and Italy, without a private secretary and lawyer, and often answers letters in person. He was nicknamed the richest tramp in Europe. He has never been married in his life.
1888, Nobel lived in Paris, France. One day, he read the obituary of his death in the newspaper, which mentioned that the deceased invented explosives for the war, resulting in many deaths. He realized that this was confusing the death of his brother Ludvig Nobel with himself. Therefore, he reflected that his motive for inventing nitroglycerin explosive was to develop mines and benefit mankind, but it backfired, which led him to establish an award fund to promote world peace.
Nobel suffered from heart disease and angina pectoris in his later years. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in his villa in San Remo, Italy, at the age of 63. Prior to this, he wrote a will in Paris on the night of1895+065438+127, and used all his property worth 33 million Swedish francs (about 9.2 million US dollars) as a fund, with annual interest as a bonus (about 200,000 US dollars), which was divided into five equal parts and distributed to physics, chemistry and physiology every year. Five years after Nobel's death,19011210, the first Nobel Prize awarding ceremony was held in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway. Before Nobel's death, Sweden and Norway were once a United Kingdom.
The Swedish Academy of Science is responsible for awarding physics and chemistry prizes; The Royal Caroline Institute in Stockholm is responsible for awarding physiology and medicine prizes; The Swedish Bachelor's College is responsible for awarding literary prizes; The Norwegian Parliament elected a five-member committee to award the Peace Prize; The Nobel Consortium is responsible for property management and bonus distribution. It is also stipulated that each award shall not be shared by more than four people.
Since 1968, the economics prize has been newly established. The award aims to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Swedish Bank. The Swedish bank pays a certain bonus every year and provides it to the Nobel Consortium, which is awarded by the Swedish Academy Science Award. It is usually called the Nobel Prize in Economics.
The Nobel Prize includes a gold medal, a certificate and a huge bonus. On the obverse of the medal is a bust sculpture of Nobel, with his date of birth and death marked in Roman characters. The reverse side varies according to the types of prizes. On the back of the prize medal, there is a statue of Isis, an illegitimate child and reproductive goddess in Egyptian mythology. The virgin holds the horn of wealth and scientific wisdom and gently lifts the veil of the goddess.
The bonus amount varies from year to year, and the general trend is to increase year by year. In recent years, it has reached or exceeded $65.438 billion.
The winners of the physical chemistry prize and the physiological medicine prize are determined by the responsible institutions in June 65438+ 10 every year; A prize-winning speech was held on February 8, 65438, and each winner reported his achievements and achievements. On February 9, 65438+, a welcome meeting was held in an exchange building in Stockholm, sponsored by the Nobel Consortium. 65438+February 10, an award ceremony was held, and the King of Sweden presented the gold medal and certificate in Stockholm Concert Hall. 65438+February 1 1 bonus and a dinner party. Peace Prize awarding ceremony was held in Oslo, Norway.
The Nobel Prize started at 190 1, but was not awarded due to World War I 19 16 and 19 17, and was interrupted due to World War II1940 ~1. Up to now,103,500 people have won the prize.
The Nobel Prize has made great contributions to the progress of world civilization, but sometimes it is influenced by political factors in terms of peace prize and literature prize. Although the prizes of physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine have been carefully examined and approved, there are still some mistakes. For example, in 19 17, Bakla (C.Barkla, 1877 ~ 1944) won the physics prize for his discovery of J rays, but such rays did not exist. For another example, in 1926, Danish J. Fibiger (1867 ~1928) won the prize in physiology or medicine for his research on a cancer, which is completely hypothetical.