RE: Cool Science-y Tidbits
May 29, 2019 at 12:44 pm
(This post was last modified: May 29, 2019 at 12:45 pm by BrianSoddingBoru4.)
We all know that Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and used the fortune resulting from that (and several other rather explode-y ventures) to found and fund the Nobel Prizes. As it turns out, Nobel likely never would have founded the Prizes if not for a newspaper error.
Ludvig Nobel, elder brother of Alfred, was one of the richest men in the world and founded the company that - at one point - produced about half the world's oil. He died of a heart attack in Cannes, France in 1888. Through various and sundry reporting errors, several French newspaper reported that it was Alfred who had died. At least one of the papers published an obituary that was scathingly critical of Alfred, calling him 'the merchant of death' and adding 'Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday'.
Nobel became obsessed with his reputation and founded the Nobel Prizes as a way to polish his legacy. Contrary to some opinions, it wasn't that he was particularly upset over Ludvig's death, as a younger brother (Emil) died along with five other Nobel employees in a nitroglycerin explosion at one of the family's factories, and Alfred when right on building munitions plants.
Boru
Ludvig Nobel, elder brother of Alfred, was one of the richest men in the world and founded the company that - at one point - produced about half the world's oil. He died of a heart attack in Cannes, France in 1888. Through various and sundry reporting errors, several French newspaper reported that it was Alfred who had died. At least one of the papers published an obituary that was scathingly critical of Alfred, calling him 'the merchant of death' and adding 'Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday'.
Nobel became obsessed with his reputation and founded the Nobel Prizes as a way to polish his legacy. Contrary to some opinions, it wasn't that he was particularly upset over Ludvig's death, as a younger brother (Emil) died along with five other Nobel employees in a nitroglycerin explosion at one of the family's factories, and Alfred when right on building munitions plants.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
