Facts about Alfred Nobel's life

By Leon Buengel

Alfred Nobel was born on 21st October in 1833 in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. After his birth he left Sweden and went to join his father, who was living in St. Petersburg while building, in collaboration with the Norwegian government, some ironworks for the Russian army. By the age of just seventeen years, Alfred already spoke five languages: German, English, Russian, Swedish and French. In 1859 he left Russia with his father and went to live in Sweden again.

Back in Sweden, Alfred had a private teacher. He had a great talent for chemistry and physics but was also interested in English literature. Unfortunately, his father did not approve of this enthusiasm and sent Alfred away on an exchange for two years. During this time, he travelled to Sweden, Germany and the United States, and also to France, where he met Ascanio Sobrero, who had invented nitroglycerine three years earlier, although its effects had led him to stop his experiments because they were too dangerous for humans. Nobel was very interested in this explosive and conducted many experiments. From 1860 to 1864 he worked in the Dortmund Dorstfeld mountain laboratory, where he continued with his experiments but improved their safety by inventing detonation in 1864. Nevertheless, there were many accidents - for example, Alfred’s brother and one other person died while they were in the same room as him. Nobel’s laboratory exploded during one experiment and he was the only survivor. After these accidents, he had to leave Stockholm; he built two laboratories, one in Sweden and the other near Hamburg. In 1865 he succeeded in mass producing nitroglycerine.

Nobel tried many ways of making nitroglycerine safer. He added other elements to it but nothing worked, until, however, he found the solution by accident. While nitroglycerine was being transported in a van, a bottle of the liquid spilt some nitroglycerine and it fell to the floor of the vehicle. There the liquid mingled with the dirt to form a previously unknown mixture. The driver told Nobel about the story and, in 1867, he patented the invention, known as dynamite.

Nobel was not merely the inventor of dynamite. He worked on other substances, such as smokeless powder (also patented). After some problems with the French government he had to leave his Paris base and lived in Italy until he died.

Nobel was against war but had the idea that the existence of a dangerous weapon such as dynamite would prevent conflict and lead to peace. He therefore produced large quantities of Dynamite. Other people, however, saw in his invention an opportunity to wage war more intensively.

In 1884 he was admitted to the Swedish Academic Institute. On 10th October 1896 he died in Seramo, Italy.

Nobel Prize: to use the proceeds of his invention, he said just before he died that money should be awarded to those who exert a good influence on others. So, people who have changed the world have received part of his endowment.

There are various types of Nobel Prizes.

For Physics: awarded to the creator of the most interesting invention in this field.

For Chemistry. awarded to the creator of the most interesting invention in this field.

For Medicine: awarded to the creator of the most interesting development in this field capable of helping a great many people.

For Literature: awarded to the creator of the most idealistic body of work.

For Peace: awarded to a person or organization responsible for enhancing peace between the nations of the world.

In Economic Sciences: not one of Nobel’s original prizes, but created in 1968 in Nobel’s memory by the Swedish central bank.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was awarded jointly to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene".

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 was awarded jointly to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki "for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis".

The Nobel Prize 2010 for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Robert G. Edwards for his work on ”in vitro fertilization (IVF)”.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".

Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was named winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

The professor of economics at MIT, Peter Diamond, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He shared the award with Dale T. Mortensen of Northwestern University and Christopher A. Pissarides of the London School of Economics.

Banksy: art or vandalism

By Oliver Afonso

Banksy is the pseudonym of a British graffiti artist whose identity is unknown. He paints graffiti with a distinctive technique on street walls in cities all over the world.

According to the graphic designer Tristan Manco, "Banksy" was born in 1974 and grew up in Bristol, England. He is the son of a photocopier technician. He began to paint in the 1980s, during Bristol’s aerosol boom. His style is similar to that of Blek le Rat, although Banksy himself considers Blek, who began painting in Paris twenty years before him, the superior artist.

Banksy is critizised by other street artists because he charges ONGs such as Greenpeace and firms such as PUMA for his paintings. He also sells pictures in art galleries through his agent. He has published several books featuring paintings from different cities. In 2010 his first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, was launched at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

None of Banksy’s graffiti can be seen in Barcelona, because BCNNETA erased them from the walls on which they were painted. In Madrid a Banksy imitator painted a graffiti on the wall of the cinema in which his film opened in October 2010.

The attack of the World Trade Center

By Leon Buengel

'There is no belief in God, on whom one can rely to justify such crimes'

The day of the attack started well. Blue sky. The sun was shining. The morning seemed to be innocent. But in that morning more than 3000 people lost their lives.

8:45 An airplane (Boing 767) was hijacked by a terrorist and flew at a flying speed of 700 km/h on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower. In the moment of hitting against the tower the airplane exploded and a huge fireball went out of the tower. Parts of the broken plane fell to the ground and killed passer's by. The tower swayed like it never had. The people in the tower burnt, because of the heat and the Kerosin of the airplane made everything melt. Even the lifts with the people inside.

9:02 Another hijacked airplane (Boing 767) flew at a top speed of 700 km/h in direction of the south tower. A tragedy because there were still over 31.000 liters of Kerosene in the plane. Here the people burnt after the impact of the plane. Everything burnt. Experts later found out that the force of the impact was more than 32.600 Kilonewton. The south tower swayed very much too, but one stairwall wasn't destroyed by the impact so some people could leave that horrible place. The rest were immediately killed or burnt until they were dead.

9:35 An airplane flew into the Pentagon, the most important military headquarters of the North-Americans. Luckily, only some people were killed and a little part of the Pentagon was destroyed.

10:02 Another hijacked plane exploded in Pittsburgh. The objective wasn't clear, as some people in the airplane attacked the terrorists so they couldn't complete their plan. The terorrists were Arab. Some people think that they got their money from Osama Bin Laden but we can't know for certain.

10:05 The South Tower broke down. The North tower 13 minutes later. Both of the towers buried many people under them.

After the attack many things changed. The fire brigade has the number 911 on their cars and if you want to call the police you have to phone 911.

One month after the attack the United States and the British Empire started a military attack against Afghanistan.

Here are some opinions of the people after the attack :

-Before my eyes, a part of our floor broke down . I managed to get out of the stairwell. A few minutes later, everything collapsed.

-Building parts were flying through the air, broken glass, paper was everywhere. Suddenly I saw the landing gear of an airplane crash on the road.

-A man and a woman jumped together hand in hand from the flame into the depth. A cruel picture.