Introduction
Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) – scientist, author and pacifist, but above all the inventor of dynamite and holder of 355 patents – shaped as a human being in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Russian capital where different nationalities and cultures mixed and where science and literature developed in a dynamic interaction between Western European tradition and the aspirations of the Russian intelligentsia. Here are the roots of his international prizes – the Nobel Prizes – which made him world-famous after his death in 1896.
Early Years
Alfred's father Immanuel Nobel was an inventor and builder. When Alfred was five years old his father moved to St. Petersburg, where he set up an engineering factory. Immanuel's wife Andriette and their sons Robert, Ludvig and Alfred joined him in Russia a few years later. Less than a year after her arrival in St. Petersburg, Andriette gave birth to a boy, Emil. After that she had another son and a daughter, but both died as infants.