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…

Immanuel and Andrietta Nobel had six children. Four of them survived childhood: Robert (1829-1896), Ludvig (1831-1888), Alfred (1833-1896), and Emil (1843-1864). Two died as infants. Emil, who like his brothers Robert and Ludvig worked for the family business, was killed in a tragic explosion which occurred in Heleneborg, Stockholm on September 3, 1864. Robert Nobel…