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Article: Time trip.(Nobel Prizes)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- November 5, 2004
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The Nobel Prizes were the brainchild of Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896) of Sweden, an accomplished scientist, businessman, and engineer. Nobel had more than 350 patented inventions.
Nobel's greatest scientific achievement was the invention of dynamite in 1867. Named after dynamis, the Greek word for "power," dynamite made it easier, safer, and cheaper to blast through rock and earth. The experiments leading up to dynamite's invention were anything but safe, however--Nobel's younger brother was killed in an accidental explosion, and several of the inventor's factories combusted during his career. At the time of his death, Nobel was a millionaire. He owned 93 ...