Alfred Nobel: The Merchant of Death
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Credits:
Host - Simon Whistler
Author - Steve Theunissen
Producer - Jack Cole
Executive Producer - Shell Harris
Business inquiries to biographics.email@gmail.com
Other Biographics Videos:
Joseph Stalin: The Red Terror
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Winston Churchill Biography: In the Darkest Hour
• Winston Churchill: In ...
Source/Further reading:
Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Peace Prize by Kathy-Jo Wargen and Zachary Pullen
Alfred Nobel: Inventive Thinker by Tristan Boyer Binns
Alfred Nobel; A Biography by Kenne Fant
A rich genius has a change of heart after seeing the destructive toll of his inventions.Throw in a suit of armor and you've got the character arc of Iron Man.
Though without quite the same flair and over-the-top theatricality, and really, isn't that what we love him for?
Ironman was actually heavily inspired by Howard Hughes. Hence his father's name is Howard too.
It’s probably where they got Tony’s “merchant of death” nickname. Tony Stark is a knock off.
Alfred came from poverty tho iron man didn’t
i dont mean to be so off topic but does any of you know a way to log back into an instagram account?? I was stupid lost my login password. I love any tips you can offer me.
The thing I found the most interesting was that his father invented plywood.
Nicholas c yeah that surprised me too!
Nautical mines in the 1800s, though. :-)
For real
A very wide variety of options to buy from him. Building something? Plywood. Need to blow something up? Here is an underwater mine.
I'm sorry I have to tell you this but plywood has been around for thousands of years, you know the Raman scutum it was made of plywood
Is no one going to comment on the fact that he sold matches on the street to compensate for his home being burned down?
This is gold
Little Match Boy
Alannis Morissette commented.
lol
"they burned my house down.. I WILL BURN THE WORLD DOWN"
There is an irony in the scientist who worked his whole life at making something extremely hazardous safer to use being called the "Merchant of Death".
Yeah if he had not discovered it then someone else would have , am I right .
Journalism is funny like that.
@Simple Creature , give me a citation on that comment.
@Simple Creature Did you miss the fact that mining was one of the initial focuses of dynamite? Mining and clearing ground for roads used dynamite extensively.
It is getting the backing, Money. If the Japanese atomic reactors that are leaking into the Pacific Ocean were of a different type of reaction they would not have blown up. Nuclear Reactions for making weapons grade products are subsidized instead.
Nobel's invention of dynamite, by making nitro glycerine safer to handle, saved many lives as numerous deaths were atribual to the rough handling of nitro. I fail to see why he would have felt badly about that.
you need to see how the world was before, evrything was built around black powder noble changed all of that with nitroglycerin.
It wasn't dynamite that made him the merchant of death. I am from the swedish city of Karlskoga and like 50% of it is named after him. The biggest industry is weapon manufacturing, and Nobel was the one that got it really going.
@rwsthedemonking I'm sorry? Isn't it THE explosive every army put into grenades, shells and HE bombs?
In making such a dangerous thing "safer" he enabled its large scale use for other destructive purposes. No one wants a bomb that is almost guaranteed to kill you and your side before it ever has a chance of approaching an enemy. Before Nobel got into it nitro glycerine was too dangerous for use in war. No doubt he prevented many train, boat, car and factory explosions and the human/industrial cost associated with that. In modern war dynamite has been completely replaced with better.
No, picric acid and, later the more expensiveTNT was used in shells and bombs, as it was more or less impossible to detonate accidentally. Early attempts to fill shells with dynamite usually resulted in a conventional gun exploding violently. 'Dynamite guns' using compressed air to launch a dynamite-filled shell at low velocity had brief and very limited use at the end of the nineteenth century.
Never would have found out his dad invented Plywood if not for this bio. Love this channel, keep up the good work mate
Try to find out who invented the tyres...
@@Josemarwalkerwho?
Typical human nature. Inventor: "here, I've invented a weapon so terrible nobody will ever use it"! Rest of the world: "hold my beer"...
Since the rest of the world says "Hold my beer", i guess taht means alot of beer for the inventor to hold... and drink while the rest of the world blows itself up. Good move, Inventor
I mean it worked eventually.
@@fuckyshityfuckshit but America invented nuclear weapons, and used them
@@spikethompson2000 That was during ww2. MAD didn't exist back then.
spikethompson2000 And that was the only time it was used against an enemy.
They named the chemical element Nobelium in his honour.
History celebrates the worst men. Nobel invents weapons his whole life, but because he donated his wealth, he becomes celebrated even though that wealth was born of death. Cursed wealth bought him Nobelium.
@@newvocabulary go and cry somewhere else
@@newvocabulary because he donated money many scientists all around world became inspired to invent new things for sake of humanity
@@newvocabulary Except dynamite was invented as - and is still used mainly as - a safe method for construction and excavation. That's like blaming Benz when someone runs over you with a car.
@Matt , no dipshit, he specifically designed weapons for the armies of the time.
The first thought in my head when it comes to dynamite is its use in mining and construction. I think it has been far more beneficial through those uses.
And fishing.
There are so many lessons about human nature in this story.
Evan Fields I agree, absolutely fascinating
He would turn in his grave if he saw some of the people who have received the prize.
which people are you referring to?
rodrigo hernandez lets start with recipients from the infamous Nobel Peace prize.. some of which are quite literally the people who incite terror. There are many to mention, with one of the most recent people who did not deserve it being Obama ( before some accuses me of being a “Trumptard”, I do not support Neither the Democratic party nor the republican they are all puppets). For other prestigious prizes such as the Nobel prize for medicine, chemistry or physics I do not have any criticisms whatsoever, those are won by merit.
So you start with the most recent, and leave it at that? Since the answer to Rodrigo's question can only be subjective, why not name some others you feel were not deserving rather than your political ideology, since that was not a part of the question asked, and only seems like a mild excuse for naming the one person that you did.
@@augustortiz Hey again, you said "people" (as in more than one lol) in your comment. could I know about more than just that one (being Barack). Also could you tell me why it is these people are not deserving of the prize. And finally could you provide credible links referring to the actions they took (or are taking) to show the ways in which these people "incite terror" I look forward to a productive discussion
@@rodrigohernandez-rp9qq what did al gore or øbomma do to deserve it?
Having a cup of coffee and watching biographics is the crown jewel of my day.
H_curly I switch the coffee to beer, but yes I agree
Alfred Nobel was a really good man. He was a genius, no less of course, and he never meant for his invention to go torwards war and killing, but he meant it purely for the purpose of mining more efficiently.
well done , outstanding narration and delivery with magnetic voice tone and dramatic presentation but never overcooked. Look forward to seeing many more . Anthony
No one gonna talk about how the news started rumors he was dead and in the paper they did nothing but insult him and call him the merchant of death and was so distraught that he created the Nobel peace prize so his name would be associated with something good?
Meh. Media does the exact same thing today.
Simon, thanks so much for these biographies, I watch them all and they're great.
I suddenly realised that there is so much more in Tony Stark's moniker Merchant of death than just the obvious!!!
Wonderful, wonderful history. I hope that more and more people dicover this gift to us. Thank you sincerely! I can't get enough of these gems of history.
0:45 - Chapter 1 - Early years 2:35 - Chapter 2 - A change of fortune 4:40 - Chapter 3 - The nitro fascination 8:05 - Chapter 4 - Dynamite ! 10:15 - Chapter 5 - Fabulous wealth 11:50 - Chapter 6 - The women in his life 13:25 - Chapter 7 - International businessman 16:50 - Chapter 8 - A shocking realization 18:40 - Chapter 9 - Death & a legacy
This is turning out to be a good birthday. Thanks to Simon and the writers.
I love your bio videos. they pack a lot into a small clip. I think sometimes that short and sweet are much nicer. keep them coming!!!
Military use of explosives is minor compared with their use in mining and construction.
... and safe demolition.
Hmm, tell that to the people that died during war
@@nosuchthing8 I am talking about quantities. Mining & industrial uses of explosives exceed those used in warfare. That does not make warfare harmless. I am just pointing out that explosives are NOT inherently evil, and are needed for modern society to continue to exist.
@@DavidFMayerPhD yeah we got that. Do you get the point that the mad genius, after he was incredibly wealthy and successful, kept on making more and more dangerous explosives? This whole scenario is reminiscent of a fictional character, Lex Luthor, who constantly complains to Superman that if he had been left alone he would have turned his talents to helping mankind. The ironic thing is that if Nobel had not set up his prize system, he would have been forgotten by now. It's through his own perverse notions of grandeur that we revisit what he did. Plus how many of his own family did he kill? Were they truly accidents? I don't think what drove him to work so hard was his humanitarian streak. He wanted to see as much death and destruction as possible. I don't believe for a minute such an incredibly wealthy person could not secure a wife back then either. I suggest you read the biography of Steve Jobs. He had severe issues too .
@@nosuchthing8 "kept on making more and more dangerous explosives" What were these explosives? What were their principal uses?
Love the video one suggestion for another episode is Richard Feynman love the channel 😁👍🏼 great work
The economics prize is not actually a Nobel prize at all, but a prize given out by the Swedish Central Bank in Alfreds Nobels honor, and I guess you could also say, in the same spirit as the rest of the prizes. It is however awarded at the ceremony and administered by the Nobel Foundation, but the prize money, as well as the administrative costs, are paid by the Central Bank.
Paid by the Central Bank through a trust set up by Nobel before his death . It is not the Bank's money , only distributed by the Central Bank .
Which is why when someone that recieves it says "i won the nobel prize for economics" it's hard to argue with them.
14:11-16 min. Priceless ~ ! The pace of your videos is near perfect. Too often, videos of others have to be paused to replay sections far too often. If anything, a tad, tad slower might be good, but certainly no faster. It is a great feat that you include so many details in relatively short videos as well. This makes it so one has time for many of them and no time is wasted. ~ Thank you~!
This of a great video, I like how it covered Both Nobel and his father. This gave me the idea that occasionally you could do a super long upload where it goes through the lives of several people. Not random people obviously but maybe like. Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I
I really liked how he talked about his father too. We don’t hear very often of these stories where the father had a genuinely positive role in the outcome of someone’s life. It’s either, their father was abusive, nonexistent, or never talked about.
to be fair, the nobel prize in economics is not exactly a nobel prize. it's full name is something like "economic prize given at the nobel event" (it's not the exact right name but shoot me I'm too tired to look it up). Because in accordance to Nobel's will they wouldn't be allowed to make it into a category with the others.
Its this The Swedish Riksbank's award in economic science to Alfred Nobel's memory, commonly referred to as the Economics Prize or (informal / misleading) "Nobel Prize in Economics", is a prize that was established by the Swedish Riksbank 1968 in connection with the bank's 300th anniversary.
that's the one! thanks for telling what I'm too lazy to find out myself
"Not exactly"? Try "not even".. The full name is the "Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences". Basically, the Swedish Central Bank bribed the Nobel Foundation into letting them use Nobel's name. In essence, it was a brazen attempt by bankers/economists to legitimise their craft as a "science". Which it most certainly isn't. To borrow a line, I always find it amusing that the same people who laugh at fortune-tellers take economists seriously.
Love this channel, reignited my love of history great work
Always excellent. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thank you for your video's, presently what I tend to be watching most. I have a suggestion; could you do a biography of America's richest family, the DuPonts, instead of any specific individuals? Their lineages and how many DuPonts are out there now would be very interesting. Keep the videos coming, Cheers!
ANY inventors: hey look! i have a new invention that could help people live nicer! ANY government: how fast it kills(be it spoon or spatula)
Si vis pacem,para bellum.
I really enjoy these new videos and the new format.
Love your videos and your podcast... great stuff
His faith wasn't entirely misplaced, he just underestimated the scale at which people would hesitate to go to war, it wasn't anything conventional explosives could achieve, but the concept of M.A.D with nukes is the exactly same idea, and the 20th century is a testament to his philosophy, one marked in the first half by nothing but endless war, and marked in the end half by the games large powers had to play to avoid war in a world with nuclear weapons, and also the most peaceful era in human history, with literally billions who live without ever worrying about a war coming, more than than ever lived when Nobel did.
Love all your content! Keep it up! :)
And as always thank you for the edutainment
Quite a complex character. It's fascinating how handicaps in one direction can often lead to advantages in another. Wonderful if you can cope with such disadvantages.
i love history and all these videos thank u for all the info 💕💕
Awesome video as usual- great work guys! I would _really_ love to see one on Alistair Crowley, it would be very interesting
What a great video. Learned a lot today.
Great work as always, but I'm surprised at the lack of even a passing mention of his facilities at Björkborn, Karlskoga. The town is still known as "Alfred Nobel's Karlskoga". He even ran Bofors (yes, that Bofors) for a number of years.
Can you do an episode on Nikolai's moustache?
😆😂🤣
Wow, Thanks for the video!
Good Work Man.
Excellent , as usual !
Nitroglycerin is not only used for killing. Besides being common in construction, mining, and demolition, it has been used in medicine to treat certain heart conditions as a vasodilator. It has in fact saved countless lives.
Thank you for sharing!!!
Do Ivailo of Bulgaria "The peasant who became an emperor"
Any chance of a video on Field-Marshal Mannerheim of Finland? A truly interesting character who had a great impact in international affairs
Please make a video about Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim! He is the greatest Finn that ever lived and had such an interesting life
Simo Hayha would disagree
@Weedus Exactly! Häyhä was only a soldier while Mannerheim lead the whole army both in the civil war and 2nd world war
and in the begining he couldnt speak finnish cause he was swedish aristocracy.
@@12345678981010 Finnish Swedish aristocracy. Swedish was his mother tongue but he was also fluent in Russian, French and German.
PhoenixofPrometheus He was the commandering chief of the whole finnish army so Simo Häyhä would definetly agree
Excellent video and presentation! This was a lot better than a dull storyteller from Swedish radio.
Thank you for a great history lesson it was really good
Actually nitroglyrecin is commonly used now days for the heart condition angina pectroris. It may have prolonged his life, instead of shortening it
Hey Simon! Have ever considered doing a program on the Black Donnellys of Canada! Might make an entertaining biographical! I thoroughly enjoy all you various programs and your podcast! Keep up the excellent work!
I would love to see a video on Jake Lamotta. From what I've read about him, he had a very interesting life both in and out of the Boxing ring. I would love to see the Biographics video take on the events of his life and the man himself. I love these videos and I greatly appreciate the effort and research it takes to make them.
I love story time with Simon!
Great vid
Great video
Brilliant; that's how all learning should be done.
In his defence he was sorta right. He just underestimated the destructive power needed. Nukes are so powerful we'll likely never have a significant war again.
1xoACEox1 Unless there is an accidental launch of a nuclear-warhead equipped missile. This apparently has almost happened on more than one occasion.
As long as there is long range rocket capable carrying nukes then politicians will need to think twice about throwing the first rock. Just look at the tiny country of North Korea.
There was also the time the Israelis attacked and sink the USS Liberty and the American thought it was the Egyptians and scramble jets with nukes to bomb Cairo only to have called-off mid way
The human race will be decimated sooner than you imagine, catastrophe is closer than ever. We have the capacity to destroy ourselves utterly even without pathogenic input.
@@HeavySmoker22 It's ironic how we strive to advance as humans only to destroy ourselves at the end.
Dynamite wasn't really even used in war, it was far to sensitive to load in shells, and would degrade over time making it dangerous to store for long periods so militaries never really adopted it, he formulated a type of smokeless powder but so had multiple countries in europe around the same time, I really don't see why he was vilified, but some one like Browning was hailed as a genius inventor
my view, explosives like any other tool, have both benevolent and malevolent uses, his creation made mining more efficient and safer once its use was learned and understood.
Nobel lived quite the ironic life. Selling matches to stay alive after his house burned down, reading his own obituary and hearing people rejoice of his demise, and creating weapons of destruction in the name of peace--hoping it would end war. Years later, we get the Manhattan project just to build bigger bombs. His legacy of irony continues!
Mate, your are just great!!!
As a rocket scientist and chemist myself I love this duude, he was great
Rocket scientist? Are you sure you don't mean rocket surgeon? I mean, it's not brain science. 😉
This is really good.
Great bio! Can we have a video about Milton Friedman?
Hi Simon. I love TOP TENZ and this channel. I have kearned so much from watch both shows. Off this topic, fo you have other shows and could you please do more as far as the ww1 in depth and european monarchies like Romanov actullay all monarchs no rush. If you were my professor I would have paid more attention in school!!!!!! Thank you. P.s. Pick othet topics on both shows. I'm sure I'll like whatever you pick. KEEP UP THE AWESOME JOB.
cool video! I live near one of Nobels old factory sites and oftenwalks by there, now I know his backgruond to!
Brilliant telling of Nobel's story.
Thank you for this video I now see him as this idealist genius
Did not know about this🤔 Interesting!☺
Could you do a video on Fransisco Franco?
Si VIVA MI GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO
Edgy Anglo The 2nd great idea
@@punkyquah6312 thanks :-)
Thank you very much
Look at Nikolai's MOUSTACHE!
imagine the power of the static over that moustache, it can mine bitcoin for itself.
"Who with the what now? "-ur so adorbs.
Good Stuff!....more!
"almost died after the first week of his birth": Jesus, I bet his mum did too, squeezing him out for a week!
and I thought it`s only me who thought wow the first week? How long did it take to get born no wonder he was sickly. I heard of up to 48 hours of labour but weeks wow. poor mother
Stephanie perhaps he ingested just a bit of his mycomium.
A rich genius has a change of heart after seeing the destructive toll of his inventions.Throw in a suit of armor and you've got the character arc of Iron Man.
Literally what I was thinking
Try Fritz Haber co inventor of the Haber-Bosch process as a way of manufacturing ammonia used to feed the people yet kill them at the same time, he was a man of great dichotomy
The first time I heard the story of Fritz Haber I thought it was the most tragic story I'd ever heard. He was a patriot who sacrificed everything to develop a tool to save the lives of his countrymen (which is how he viewed the gas weapons) and ended up dying in exile. His ammonia process was supposed to be a solution to famine but it also prolonged a war. It is also responsibe for earths current population crisis. I've since heard other versions that put him in a less positive light. Whatever the truth, his life would make for an interesting one.
@@myronwilde491 his story is definitely an interesting, especially when you consider the fact that nearly every single person on this planet owes their lives to him. Also, fun fact, his story is so impressive and important that he has a heavy metal song in his name. Father by Sabaton.
i wish i watched this when i was in primary school so inspiring . Scored an A in chemistry but i am an accountant today
"Bertha was extremely attractive"... huh? Where?
My2t1c the next crazy uncouth bird was pretty hot even by today’s standards
🤣
Big Bertha !
*shows the picture of miscarriaged pokemon*
Simon has form in this area. Troglodytes are fawningly described as physical masterpieces. Go figure. Dude should have gone to Specsavers, maybe a new sponsor.
0:41 - History Buff flashbacks!
This incredible man believed that man would see how lethal dynamite could be and no longer desire to fight one another. I dream of the day my world view becomes that optimistic.
Can you make a video about Nicolae Ceaușescu,the leader of Romania from 1965-1989
Could you do a video on Richard Feynman?
Story goes that one of his "great loves" was in love with a mathematician. This is why there is no Nobel Prize for Maths, but there is for Statistics. The Fields medal is the equivalent to the Nobel Prize in Maths.
pardon me... not Statistics, but Economics.
Oh Simon! On the same theme, perhaps you should do a video on Robert Oppenheimer.
Alfred Nobel’s prediction that the mass destruction enabled by high explosives would make war unpalatable finally came into existence with the discovery of nuclear fission and fusion and the proliferation of nuclear weapons during the 20th century. Nobel was a bit too early in his prediction.
Very true, good ideas David, nice seeing logic on the internet
Nuclear weapons haven't made war unpalatable.. all they've succeeded in doing is making sure that war doesn't escalate to the point of using such weapons.. so far, at least. We've come damn close to it a couple of times, *despite* knowing the consequences.
@@Garryck-1 I think the people of Japan know very well the consequences of nuclear weapons. I will take some time now to dwell on your thoughts to better understand your point of view
@@kennethsenstad3873 I know there are arguments over the use of the nukes, but ironically enough, not only did those nukes save a million lives during WWII, but it very likely saved hundreds of millions more. The deaths the Japanese experienced showed the true horrors of what such a bomb entails.
You’ve done an outstanding job with this channel. My only suggestion would be to add less dramatic music in the intermissions between periods of life, and maybe throw in some witty humor that can be found on the Today I Found Out Channel. Just suggestions though, keep up the good work
Thank you for the video. However, may i know if it is august 21st as per mentioned or october 21st as per displayed?
One of the people to benefit from nitroglycerin as medicine was a young boy who went from a chicken farmer to racecar driver and engineer would be the genius Carol Shelby. The man who made beat Ferrari and gave the mustang some real muscle
Would love to see a bio on Ivan the Terrible or Anastasia Romanova, enjoyed the video a great deal
4:05 it is absolutely true to me
One weapon to end all wars and ensure peace. The prelude to chaos
Please do a video on Daniel o Connell
Very recommendable
*Dynamite Intensifies*
finnaly thank you for talking about 1 of our most underated swedes, how diffrent the world would have been without his inventions.
So interesting that he was administering nitro to himself in the end and what do we still use to this day, in case of symptoms of heart attack or stroke? Nitroglycerin. He was just probably using too much, but it was the right line of thinking.
9:25 "Nobel invented the blasting cap...Alfred knew that a fuse could not be used to detonate nitroglycerine" ...Wrong nitroglycerine will detonate with a fuse, it was the dynamite that could not be detonated with a fuse. 16:21 The French forbade him from ever working in their country again. 20:51 Alfred signed the will at the Swedish Norwegian club in Paris
Good catch, but pure nitroglycerin was too unstable to be used with a blasting cap safely.