On October 21st, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden, the industrialist, engineer, and inventor Alfred Nobel was born.  He grew up in Russia and considered himself a citizen of the world.  After spending his early career constructing bridges and buildings in Stockholm, Nobel began researching new methods for blasting rock that had to be removed.  Nobel invented the blasting cap for the detonation of nitroglycerin and dynamite, an extremely powerful combination for blasting rock.  Over the course of his career, Nobel held 350 patents in electrochemistry, optics, biology, and physiology, and was an extremely distinguished scientist.  At the time of his death in 1896, he left behind a nine million dollar endowment fund for scientific research that became the Nobel Awards that are awarded today.

*posted October 17 - October 21, 2005