ALFRED NOBEL’S AMBITION

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 242, 9 July 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

ALFRED NOBEL’S AMBITION

Peace By Dynamite

FOUNDATION OF THE

PRIZES

Thanks to the inventor of dynamite, writers, scientists, and pacifists hate received rewards worthy of their merits without distinction of nationality, says Dominique Andre. Alfred Nobel’s life appears a complete contradiction, if one does not understand bis aims and the manner in which lie desired to make material power assist the ideal of moral progress, in which for him the first stage, the essential stage, was the suppression of wars. Alfred Nobel was born in btockholm in 1833. The following year, Emmanuel Nobel, his father, ruined by a bankruptcy, went abroad, leaving his wife ami three children in Sweden. By 1842 he had succeeded iu re-establishing hi< fortune by working for the Russian Government, perfecting mines, submarines, and other instruments of war. He summoned bis family to Russia, and gave his sons the education of which he himself had been deprived. When the Russian Government repudiated the agreements, and creditors seized the factories, Emmanuel Nobel returned to Swollen. But before this, Alfred, at. 17, was sent to America to complete his en-

gineering studies. On returning to Europe, he made a long stay in France, where, at 20, he astonished everybody by his culture and the precocious delicacy of his judgments. Alfred Nbbel discovered the first explosive, nitro-glycerine, in 1863. The same year he took out his first patent for nitro-glycerine. In spite of (lungers, difficulties, and catastrophes, he continued his research. The first disaster caused by nitro-glycerine affected the Nolieis severely. A new laboratory constructed at Helenborg blew up in 1564. Six persons were killed, among them the youngest son. Emil. The father had a stroke after this misfortune, and lived until 1871 in a sort of dream in which human’ utopias and science were mingled. A little before liis death, he confided to his sou, Alfred, a discovery which should make of the holder of the secret a dictator in questions of war and peace, at least for a few centuries. Alfred resembled his father sufficiently to wish to serve such an ideal, and his brain was better balanced, the means at his disposal

greater. lie experienced setbacks, misunderstandings, scepticism, but never discouragement. In 1566 he discovered a formula to which he gave the name of dynamite, It was a more easily handled form ol nitro-glycerine. Within 10 years dynamite came into general use throughout the world. France was the last country to adopt it. Alfred Nobel established himself m Paris iu 1873. Those who knew him rememlfcr him as a man'very simple and discreet, an ascetic, frequently in ill-health, who lived almost entirely shut up within himself. He did all the good he could for human 'beings, while personally avoiding them as much as possible. He was so absorbed in scientific and philosophic research that he took no heed, of his surroundings and neglected for a long time to furnish his large house, living in camp fashion,until one of his friends persuaded him to call in a furnisher. “Bring in some furniture and arrange it as you like,” he said, refusing to give any more pre-

else Instructions. Meals were no more important to him than furniture. He suffered with his stomach and never felt well except when fasting. He was called “the richest vagabond in Europe.” The heir of a man who had left to him in dying an illusory discovery. It became his programme and his aim to discover something which would make the holder of his secret a dictator ill questions of war and peace. One must realise that in order to form a just opinion of him. He persevered even 'beyond death. That was the key to his character itself by founding the prizes which bear his name; the peace prize was the origin of these foundations. But how did he envisage improvement in human relations? He was liberal iu his views and cousidereil that liberty begins with respect for the ideas of others. To the savages who wish to convert by force, to the brigands' who aspire to the title of conqueror, Nobel wished to oppose an insurmountable barrier: “Fear.” When lie consented to give 400 dollars toward Baroness Von Suttner's pacifist propaganda, he did so with the following words: “I believe you are less in need of money than of a programme. . . .

My factories may’ render war impossible much quicker than your congresses. The day when two armies will be capable, of destroying each other iu a few seconds, all the nations will recoil with horror and disband their armies.”

Noliel cxpoiinded later to Baroness Von Suttner a plun containing the general principles which serve to-day as the basis of the League of Nations; but he did not advocate general disarmament, which seemed to him dangerous. A iopg time before his death, Nobel decided to Jeave the ]x>wer which his wealth represented to humanitarian institutions. To-day, in 1938, it is interesting to recall that he wrote these words to Mme. Von Suttner in 1893: “I should like to leave a part of my fortune for the foundation of a, prize to be distributed every five years, that is to say. six times, because if by the end of 30 years we have not succeedetl in reforming the present system, we shall surely have returned to barbarism?*

Alfred Nobel died in December, 1896. He is buried in Stockholm.