On this day, 192 years ago, October 21, 1833 (September 9, 1833 in the lunar calendar), Nobel was born. Noble, Alfred Bernhard, Swedish chemist. Born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833, and died on December 10, 1896 in San Remo, Italy. Nobel went to live in St. Petersburg, Russia with his family in 1842. In 1850, he went to Paris to study chemistry for one year, and then worked under J. Erickson in the United States for four years. After returning to St. Petersburg, he worked in his father's factory. Nobel began studying nitroglycerin in 1859, but the factory exploded in 1864. In order to prevent future accidents, Nobel absorbed nitroglycerin in inert substances, making it safer to use. Nobel called it Dana explosive and was patented in 1867. In 1875, Nobel mixed cotton (cellulose hexanitrate) with nitroglycerin to obtain a colloidal substance called fried gel, which has stronger explosive power than Dana explosive. It was patented in 1876. In 1887 Nobel developed smokeless explosives. He also had many other inventions that were patented by manufacturers of synthetic rubber, leather and rayon. Nobel operated oil fields and explosive production and accumulated huge wealth. At the time of his death, he used most of his estate as a fund, and each year, the interest (approximately US$200,000) was awarded to people who had made great contributions to mankind in the previous year in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. The Nobel Prize was first awarded in 1901. Since 1968, the Nobel Prize in Economics has been added, funded by the National Bank of Sweden.