Transcript
Lindsey Graham (0:00)
There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad free. Listen with Wondry plus in the Wondery app as a member of Noiser plus at noiser.com or in Apple Podcasts. Or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts@intohristory.com. It's the afternoon of September 3, 1864, at a chemical plant in Stockholm, Sweden. 30 year old Alfred Nobel takes a small beaker of pale, oily liquid and holds it up to the light. Alfred spent a lot of time in laboratories like this, conducting experiments for his family's chemical business. But today his hands tremble as he pours a small amount of the yellow liquid into another test tube. Because this substance he holds in his hands is highly explosive nitroglycerin. Eighteen years ago, an Italian chemist was the first to create nitroglycerin in a laboratory. Scientists soon realized that the new chemical could be a useful explosive for the construction industry. But nitroglycerin's highly volatile nature also made it very dangerous to work with. So over the past few months, Alfred's been conducting experiments with the chemical in the hope of making it more stable. If he can make it safer, he figures, his family's business will stand to make a fortune. Alfred gingerly places the test tube in a rack on his workbench. Then he tries to set the beaker down. Just as carefully, a huge explosion rocks the lab and knocks him to the floor. With his head ringing, Alfred climbs unsteadily to his feet. He frowns in confusion because the test tube and beaker are still on the workbench. Only then does Alfred realize that the explosion came from outside the laboratory in another part of the chemical plant. Alfred rushes out of his lab, and at once he can see black smoke rising above the shed where the company's explosives are made. That shed is where Alfred's brother is working. The door is hanging off its hinges, and the thick smoke means Alfred can't see much. He covers his mouth and rushes inside, but he's barely got more than a few feet in before he trips over a large wooden beam that's fallen from the ceiling. Lying underneath it is the lifeless body of his brother. His brother's death won't be enough to make Alfred Nobel give up on his quest to produce a stable, usable form of nitroglycerin. Instead, he'll work even harder, and eventually Alfred's experiments will yield results and make him a very wealthy man. But when the end of Alfred's life approaches, he'll be determined to leave behind a legacy beyond explosives. Alfred will decide to give his name to an award honoring the achievements of humankind, and he'll bequeath his vast fortune to fund it. On November 27, 1895.
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