Nobel biography
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Official Website of the Nobel Foundation - Provides interviews, speeches, Nobel lectures, biographical kunskap on winners, dates of upcoming Nobel Prize announcements.
The Who's Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-2000. Edited by LS Sherby, 4th ed., c2002. Sterling Memorial Library, Starr Main Reference Room AS911 N9 +W53X 2002 (LC)
Nobel Prize Women in Science: their lives, struggles and momentous discoveries. Edited bygd SB McGrayne, 2nd ed., c1998. LSF Q141 M358X 1998, 1993 ed. Sterling Memorial Library, stacks, LC classification Q141 B42X 1993
Nobel Prize Winners. by T. Wasson, c1987 with supplements. LSF AS911 N9 N59
Les Prix Nobel, with biographies, Nobel lectures, some portraits and signatures. From Imprimerie Royale. Kline Science Library 1948-1972 AS911 N9 N636
Lives of the Laureates: twenty-three Nobel economists. Marx Library HB76 L58X 2014 (LC)
Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry.1901-1950 LSF RS 2B 953F, Medical/Historical Library, Morse Reading Room, 2nd flo
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The Nobel prizes may be one of the most famous and prestigious awards in the world – but who was the man behind them? As I explain in my lectures about Alfred Nobel, the inventor and entrepreneur has left a lasting legacy with the annual prizes he established in 1901 for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace (the Nobel prize for economic sciences was established much later, in 1968).
But life wasn’t always so illustrious for Alfred Nobel.
According to Ingrid Carlberg’s biography of Nobel, he had a tough childhood in Stockholm. Not only was he poor but the boy who would become an esteemed scientist – holding 355 patents in his lifetime – was placed in a class for children with learning difficulties at school. Innovation may have run in the Nobel blood, however. Alfred’s father, Immanuel, was also an inventor, albeit less successful than his son would become.
Among Immanuel’s early creations was a backpack made from foul-smelling rubber that could also s
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Alfred Nobel
1833–1896
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Alfred Bernhard Nobel
BORN: October 21, 1833
DIED: December 10, 1896
BIRTHPLACE: Stockholm, Sweden
Who Was Alfred Nobel?
Born in Sweden, chemist Alfred Nobel worked at his father's arms factory as a young man. Intellectually curious, he went on to experiment with chemistry and explosives. In 1864, a deadly explosion killed his younger brother. Deeply affected, Nobel developed a safer explosive: dynamite. Nobel used his vast fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes, which has come to be known for awarding the greatest achievements throughout the world.
Early Years
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden, the fourth of Immanuel and Caroline Nobel's eight children. Nobel was often sickly as a child, but he was always lively and curious about the world around him. Although he was a skilled engineer and ready inventor, Nobel's father struggled to set up a profitable business in Sweden. When Nobel was 4