The Legacy of The Nobel Family

Ludwig quickly built a new company from the ashes of the old. He re-established links with the Russian government and was soon supplying cast iron shell cases. Then he developed a large carriage wheel, which was suitable for the rough conditions on the Russian roads and became a major supplier of gun carriages.  Next, he was awarded a major contract to supply rifles to the Russian army.

Ludwig Nobel. Source: Wikipedia

When Ludwig asked Robert, to find a source of walnut wood for the rifle butts he could not anticipated the consequences.  Robert travelled into the Caucases where the finest walnuts grow. He came to the city of Baku at the height of an oil boom and was hooked.  Using twenty five thousand roubles that Ludwig had given to him to procure the wood supplies he bought an oil refinery!

Robert Nobel. Source: Wikipedia

In the meantime, Alfred was experimenting with explosives. When the young Alfred recieved a private education he was coached in chemistry and literature.  Poetry was his passion and this worried Immanuel who wanted all his sons to become engineers and develop the business.  Immanuel encouraged his son develop an interest in chemical engineering and sent him on study visits to Sweden, Germany, France and the United States.  In Paris, Alfred was introduced to a young Italian chemist who had recently discovered invented nitro-glycerine.  The new chemical was extremely explosive but too unstable for practical use.  Alfred Nobel realised that if he could address the safety issue, then nitroglycerin had a great commercial potential.

While Ludwig and Robert developed an oil business in Russia, Alfred sought to establish an explosives industry.  He worked in Sweden with his brother, Emil and father, Immanuel.  In 1864 Emil died in an explosion and the Stockholm city authorities forbade the use of nitroglycerine in their city.  Alfred tried to work from a barge in a nearby lake, then established a company near Hamburg, Germany for the manufacture of nitroglycerine.  In 1866 he shipped the product to California. The intention was to use the material to blast a tunnel through the Sierra Nevada but a barrel exploded in a Californian shipping office. Alfred Nobel quickly found a solution to the dangerous problem. He mixed nitroglycernine with a ground up powder derived from rocks found near the Hamburg factory and invented dynamite.

Alfred Nobel. Source: Wikipedia

In Russia the oil business went from strength to strength under the leadership of Ludwig.   At one time the company, Branobel, under his leadership was responsible for over 50% of world oil production.  Ludwig established a research institute in Baku which found many new uses for oil.  He made technical improvements to pipelines and refineries and intruded the first oil tanker.  In 1878 the Zoroastrian tanker made its first journey from Baku to Astrakhan.

In 1888 at the age of 57 Ludwig Nobel died while on holiday on the French Riveria. 

In many newspapers his arbituary was confused with that of his brother, Alfred.  Alfred was astonished to read that he was  a”dynamite king” and “a merchant of death who had made a huge fortune by finding new ways to mame and kill”. It was not true, he was still a man who enjoyed the arts, and was still interested in poetry. Alfred responded by changing his will. He decided to leave his fortune for the establishment of prizes that would perpetuate his name in a way that would seem to honour the best in human endeavor. Nobel bequethed 94% of his assets to the prize fund.

Alfred Nobel died in Sanremo on 10 December 1896.  The Nobel prizes are announced in October. They are awarded on his birthday in December.