The Legacy of The Nobel Family

Alfred Nobel comes from a long line of eminent Swedish industrialists.

The Nobel dynastry dates from the eighteenth century.  When Petrus Olofsson from Nobbelav in the south of Sweden went up to Upsala Univesity to study law he signed in as Petrol Olai Nobelius. He retained that name throughout his life.

Petrus married into an accomplished family.  In 1668 he married Wendela Rudbeck.  Wendela was the daughter of the University Chancellor and Professor of Medicine, Olaus Rudbeck.  Olaus conducted pioneering research on the lymphatic system. Olaus had a reputation for being strong minded.  He had an interest in linguistics and was convinced that Sweden was the lost Atlantis.  His father, Johannes Rudbeckius, had been the personal chaplain to King Gustavus Adolphus II. Johannes had a reputation as an organiser.  He set up a system of parish registers across Sweden and developed several schools.  Wendela’s brother, Olof Rudbeck, succeeded his father as a Professor of Medicine at Upsala and became a noted scientist and explorer.  Like his father, he maintained an interest in linguistics.  Olof was convinced that there were close connections between the Swedish and Hebrew languages. 

Three generations later the family was impoverished.  There was insufficient money to provide Immanuel Junior with a formal eduction and he spent his teen age years as a cabin boy in the Mediterranean.  On his return he established a construciton business. A major fire brought down the business in 1833. Alfred Nobel was born that year.   For a while Immanuel tried to fend off creditors, feed his family and restart the business while his wife ran a milk and veg shop.  Then the bankrupt engineer escaped his creditors by moving to Finland and later Russia where he established an engineering company.  It was prosperous.   He was able to give his four sons, Robert, Ludwig, Alfred and Emil something that he had not received himself – a first class private education in St Petersburg. The business developed underwater mines for the Russian government that proved invaluable in the Crimean War (1853-1856).  Among other things Immanuel is said to have invented plywood.

Once the war was over Russia reduced military spend and turned to foreign suppliers. This caused difficulties for the firm.  The creditors were worried about getting their money back and appointed Immanuel’s son Ludwig to lead the company.  Immanuel returned to Sweden to start a new life.