Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( äl ' fred bern ' härd nōbel ') () ( 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896 ) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer.

Born in Stockholm, Alfred Nobel was the fourth son of Immanuel Nobel ( 1801 – 1872 ), an inventor and engineer, and Andriette Ahlsell Nobel ( 1805 – 1889 ).

Through his father, Alfred Nobel was a descendant of the Swedish scientist Olaus Rudbeck ( 1630 – 1702 ), and in his turn the boy was interested in engineering, particularly explosives, learning the basic principles from his father at a young age.

Alfred Nobel's death mask, at the Nobel museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

Though her personal contact with Alfred Nobel had been brief, she corresponded with him until his death in 1896, and it is believed that she was a major influence in his decision to include a peace prize among those prizes provided in his will.

The obituary stated (" The merchant of death is dead ") and went on to say, " Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.

In 2001, Alfred Nobel's great-grandnephew, Peter Nobel ( b. 1931 ), asked the Bank of Sweden to differentiate its award to economists given " in Alfred Nobel's memory " from the five other awards.

This has caused much controversy whether the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is actually a " Nobel Prize "

* Nobel, Alfred Bernhard in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

The Life of Alfred Nobel.

* Alfred Nobel US Patent No 78, 317, dated 26 May 1868

* Evlanoff, M. and Fluor, M. Alfred Nobel – The Loneliest Millionaire.

* Sohlman, R. The Legacy of Alfred Nobel, transl.

Alfred Nobel.

* Alfred Nobel – Man behind the Prizes

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My father would have done it if it hadn't been for my mother, who had a fear of being in debt to anyone -- even Alfred Alpert.

Alfred, who was a good deal older than Harry, had treated him like a son, and when Harry decided to stay in business with Lew instead of going with Alfred, Alfred looked on the decision as a betrayal.

The store was their marriage, and when Alfred had to leave it there was nothing to hold them together.

Tessie, everybody thought, was a strong woman, but she was only strong because she had Alfred to lean on.

One day Alfred told him that he had decided to leave everything to me.

Both Alfred Harcourt and Donald Brace had written him enthusiastic praise of Elmer Gantry ( any changes could be made in proof, which was already coming from the printer ) and they had ordered 140,000 copies -- the largest first printing of any book in history.

Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by his death had become the dominant ruler in England.

However, his succession could not have been foreseen at the time, as Alfred had three living elder brothers.

This was in accordance with the agreement that Æthelred and Alfred had made earlier that year in an assembly at Swinbeorg.

They withdrew to Mercia, but, in January 878, made a sudden attack on Chippenham, a royal stronghold in which Alfred had been staying over Christmas, " and most of the people they killed, except the King Alfred, and he with a little band made his way by wood and swamp, and after Easter he made a fort at Athelney in the marshes of Somerset, and from that fort kept fighting against the foe ".

A popular legend, originating from 12th century chronicles, tells how when he first fled to the Somerset Levels, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who, unaware of his identity, left him to watch some cakes she had left cooking on the fire.

The disposition of Essex, held by West Saxon kings since the days of Egbert, is unclear from the treaty, though, given Alfred ’ s political and military superiority, it would have been surprising if he had conceded any disputed territory to his new godson.

Alfred had been on his way to relieve his son at Thorney when he heard that the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes were besieging Exeter and an unnamed stronghold on the North Devon shore.

Wessex's history of failures preceding his success in 878 emphasised to Alfred that the traditional system of battle he had inherited played to the Danes ' advantage.

Alfred analysed the defects of the military system that he had inherited and implemented changes to remedy them.

King Athelstan of Kent and Ealdorman Ealhhere had defeated a Viking fleet in 851, capturing nine ships, and Alfred himself had conducted naval actions in 882.

) Alfred had seapower in mind: if he could intercept raiding fleets before they landed, he could spare his kingdom from ravaging.

And, Offa is not known to have issued a law code, leading historian Patrick Wormald to speculate that Alfred had in mind the legatine capitulary of 786 that was presented to Offa by two papal legates.

The Danish attacks had been particularly damaging to the monasteries, and though Alfred founded monasteries at Athelney and Shaftesbury, the first new monastic houses in Wessex since the beginning of the eighth century, and enticed foreign monks to England, monasticism did not revive significantly during his reign.

A portion of the Danish army settled in Mercia, but at the beginning of 878 the remaining Danes mounted a winter invasion of Wessex, taking Alfred by surprise and overrunning much of the kingdom.

On Epiphany, 6 January 878, Guthrum made a surprise night-time attack on Alfred and his court at Chippenham, Wiltshire.