"FOR YOUR EYES ONLY" - Guns, Gadgets and Girls

For Your Eyes Only  -  Guns, Gadgets and Girls

 

Ian Fleming was the creator of universal spy James Bond 007.  Bond films have a reputation of being wholesome entertainers. 

I'm Bond.....
James Bond..!!  The ubiquitous introduction by himself is a  two liner which is a craze among James Bond fans.

James Bond guzzling his Vodka Martini is an eye treat.  The Bond girls are always an eye candy.  The Bond’s unfailing gun shots often hits the bull's-eye.  All these happenings are for your eyes only.

The quick reflexes of the lover boy spy James and the bevy of beauties chasing him all over the globe was quite interesting, entertaining and amusing with electrifying chills, thrills, adventure and blazing bullets.  James Bond not only un-lock the treasure safe vault but also the key to the heart of his lady love.  We can witness that the electronic gadgets of James Bond getting more and more spine chilling and innovative film after film.  The clever handsome playboy-hero is there for you to rave about with his admirable histrionics.  

Needless to say that the Bond villains with their gangster molls give a chase for the money effecting chilling adrenaline gushes through their magnanimous presence often chewing the guns and electric wire  with their metallic teeth.

 






                                         

 The spy on an espionage mission often ends up under the spread bed linen with the gorgeous women and enjoying stimulating steamy sex.  Bond machismo is glorified with the continental beauties he bed with as a part of his mission.  The Bond’s Secretary in the Secret Agents’ office always teases the handsome spy James about his penchant for girls and guns.   The Boss of Secret Agents, CIA often sees off James on a mission with most advanced weapons and microchip gadgets. 


The great gambler James Bond racing with the fast cars and speed motor boats sporting sophisticated weapons are good enough to thrill you with sure adrenaline shots.  The spy often raiding the aerial routes in parachutes and wind planes are often visible in a Bond movie.  The cockpit stunts too are amazing to watch and enjoy.

The mushrooming internet sites and James Bond fan clubs gives testimony for his immense popularity with the masses. 

The patriotic spy ends up with eliminating the bad elements of the society involved in terrorizing the world and wanting to destroy the very own peaceful fabric of the nations.  The fuming pistol barrel of James Bond smells angst and gun powder to thwart the evil designs of the anti national elements. He often steps on the crocodiles while chasing the villains and sends them reeling out of the blues.  The non stop action in Bond movies includes automobile chases and  thrilling underwater battles.

Over the last 50 years a number of Hollywood actors essayed the role of James Bond 007.    Sean Connery, Barry Nelson, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig all of them played the charismatic and irresistible spy James Bond 007.

The Bond girls were most alluring and bewitching beauties.  Ursula Andres played Bond’s lady love in Dr. No wearing a white bikini for the first time in a Bond movie.  The Bond’s irresistible charm is that of a lady killer and the beauties often fall for him and end up in his arms and then to her boudoir.

All in all there are 24 Bond films so far.  I would like to present here the movie titles of James Bond for your eyes only –

IAN  FLEMING   -

 

Ian Fleming, in full Ian Lancaster Fleming    (born May 28, 1908, London, England—died August 12, 1964, Canterbury, Kent), suspense-fiction novelist whose character James Bond, the stylish, high-living British secret service agent 007, became one of the most successful and widely imitated heroes of 20th-century popular fiction.

The son of a Conservative MP and the grandson of a Scottish banker, Fleming was born into a family of wealth and privilege and was educated in England, Germany, and Switzerland. Before settling down as a full-time writer, Fleming was a journalist in Moscow (1929–33), a banker and stockbroker (1935–39), a high-ranking officer in British naval intelligence during World War II, and foreign manager of the London Sunday Times (1945–49).

Casino Royale (1953) was the first of his 12 James Bond novels. Packed with violent action, hairbreadth escapes, international espionage, clever spy gadgets, intrigue, and gorgeous women, the books became international best sellers. The Bond books gained wide popularity in the United States after the newly elected president, John F. Kennedy, named a Bond novel on his list of favorite books in 1961.

Bond, with his propensity for gambling and fast cars, became the prototype of the handsome, clever playboy-hero of the late 1950s and ’60s. He was the symbol in the West of the burgeoning consumer age, indulging in only the best brand-name products and enjoying access to the foremost electronic gadgets of his day. To some readers, Bond’s incessant name-dropping of commercial products was off-putting, but the tactic enabled Fleming to create realism unusual in the popular fiction of his day. Bond’s mannerisms and quirks, from the way he liked his martinis (“shaken, not stirred”) to the way he introduced himself (“Bond, James Bond”), soon became famous around the world. All the Bond novels, notably From Russia, with Love (1957), Dr. No (1958), Goldfinger (1959), and Thunderball (1961), were made into popular motion pictures, although many deviated from Fleming’s original plots.

Fleming’s books were roundly criticized by many highbrow critics and novelists. Paul Johnson lambasted the Bond phenomenon in a famous essay titled “Sex, Snobbery, and Sadism,” and the spy novelist David Cornwall (John le Carré) criticized Bond’s immorality (“He’s a sort of licensed criminal who, in the name of false patriotism, approves of nasty crimes”). Feminists have long objected to Bond’s chauvinistic ways, and the Soviet Union, as the enemy in so many of Bond’s Cold War capers, attacked Fleming for creating “a world where laws are written with a pistol barrel.” Fleming countered that “Bond is not a hero, nor is he depicted as being very likeable or admirable. He’s not a bad man, but he is ruthless and self-indulgent. He enjoys the fight—but he also enjoys the prizes.”

Despite (or because of) such criticism, the Bond stories grew in popularity. The 007 trademark became one of the most successful in merchandising history, giving birth in the 1960s to a spate of Bond-related products, from toys and games to clothes and toiletries. James Bond films continued into the 21st century, and they have reportedly grossed more than $1 billion. The book series was also continued after Fleming’s death, by such writers as Kingsley Amis (Colonel Sun [1968], under the pen name Robert Markham) and Sebastian Faulks (Devil May Care [2008]). Charlie Higson wrote a series of Young Bond novels for younger readers, one of which (SilverFin [2005]) was adapted into a graphic novel. The Moneypenny Diaries, which debuted in 2005, was a series written by Samantha Weinberg as the fictional editor Kate Westbrook. The books chronicle the adventures of Miss Moneypenny, a well-known side character in the original novels. There are numerous Bond-related Internet sites and fan clubs around the world.

Fleming also published two collections of short stories featuring Bond. In addition, he wrote a children’s book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1964), which was made into a feature film and whose main character, Commander Pott, perhaps summarized best the Fleming/Bond philosophy of life: “Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes,’ otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.” Fleming’s life and personality—from his wartime service and his caving and shark hunting to his and his family’s hobnobbing with the rich and famous (when Fleming’s father died, Winston Churchill wrote the obituary)—made him, in the opinion of many, a more compelling figure than even Bond, and as such he has been the subject of several biographies, including Andrew Lycett’s Ian Fleming (1995).

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY  -

SYNOPSIS  -

While visiting the grave of his deceased wife, Tracy (whom was killed in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service), James Bond (Roger Moore) is called back to MI6 headquarters. A helicopter arrives to transport him. During the flight the pilot is killed by electricity that surges through his headset and a familiar voice begins to taunt Bond over the chopper's loudspeaker; it is that of Blofeld, Bond's deadliest villain. As Bond struggles to gain control of the chopper, he notices a man in a motorized wheelchair nearby. Bond manages to reach the pilot's seat but cannot operate the 'copter. Blofeld, controlling the 'copter with a small console, flies the chopper into a giant foundry building, with the intention of letting it crash. Bond sees that a set of cables have been wired to the chopper and he rips them out, regaining control of it. He flies after Blofeld and hooks his wheelchair on the end of the chopper's landing skid. Though Blofeld pleads for his life, Bond vengefully drops him down a nearby smokestack.

In the Adriatic Sea, a fishing ship, the St. Georges, trawls off the coast of Albania. Inside is a hidden control room for British defense. The spy ship is equipped with ATAC (Automatic Targeting and Attack Communicator), a valuable defensive and offensive device that the Soviet Union would like to obtain. When the ship's decoy fishing crew hauls in a net, it brings with it an old anti-warship mine which explodes, sinking the St. Georges. At MI6, M's temporary replacement, Bill Tanner (James Villiers), is informed of the incident. When he asks how deep the water is off the coast of Albania, he is told it isn't "deep enough." Hoping to find the St. Georges and the ATAC discreetly, Tanner orders a British underwater archeologist, Timothy Havelock (Jack Hedley), to find the St. Georges. Meanwhile, Tanner's KGB counterpart, General Anatole Gogol (Walter Gotell), is told that the ATAC is in play, and instructs an unknown contact to procure it for him.

Havelock's daughter, beautiful Melina (Carole Bouquet), arrives by plane at her father's yacht near the site of the St. Georges' sinking after taking a vacation in France. While she reunites with her parents, the plane she was brought in suddenly strafes the yacht with a burst of machine-gun fire. Both Havelock and his wife are killed, however, Melina is unharmed. She looks on with a look of despair and rage on her face.

In London, James Bond is called into M's office to meet with Tanner and Minister of Defense, Frederick Gray (Geoffrey Keen). He is ordered to find the ATAC, his first lead being the man, Hector Gonzales (Stefan Kalipha), a pilot and Cuban national who killed the Havelocks. Tanner orders Bond to find Gonzales near Madrid and interrogate him for information.

Bond goes to Gonzales' home where he's throwing a party. Bond observes that Gonzales is meeting with a mysterious man (Michael Gothard) in an elegant suit and octagonal wire-framed glasses, and deduces that he is paying Gonzales for the assassination he performed. Bond is captured by a security guard and brought to Gonzales who identifies him immediately as British Secret Service and orders him taken away. As he dives into his pool, Gonzales is struck and killed by a crossbow arrow fired by an unseen assassin. The distraction allows Bond to escape. The man with the glasses does not intervene and instead leaves with the money that he intended to pay Gonzales with. As Bond makes his escape, one of the security guards chasing him is killed also by a crossbow bolt. The shooter is revealed to be Melina Havelock, who has been seeking revenge for the deaths of her parents. Before they can escape in Bond's Lotus Esprit, it explodes when a guard tries to break one of its windows. Bond and Melina use her car, a small, clunky Citroen, in a furious chase where they evade Gonzales' men in a wild chase through a small town and through an olive orchard.

Back in London, Bond reports back to MI6, where the upset Tanner reprimands him for failing to obtain any information from Gonzales. However, Bond, with Q's assistance, uses a highly sophisticated database called an Identigraph, to identify and locate the mysterious payoff man. The man is revealed to be Emile Leopold Locque, a Belgian assassin who has worked as an enforcer for numerous crime syndicates. The most recent intel suggests he is operating in Cortina d'Ampezzo in Northern Italy.

Bond travels to Cortina and meets Luigi Ferrara (John Moreno), an Italian Secret Service agent who tells him that Locque may be associated with an organization called the White Dove (indicated by the pin Locque and it's members wear). He directs Bond to his most reliable contact in the Greek Underworld, Aris Kristatos (Julian Glover). Kristatos identifies the White Dove's leader as Milos Columbo (Chaim Topol), the kingpin of Greece's heroin trade. Kristatos asks Bond to be an escort for his young skating protege, Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson), while she watches the biathlon. Bibi tries to seduce Bond in his hotel room, but Bond refuses her advances due to her young age.

At the biathlon, Bibi points out a friend of her's, Eric Kriegler (John Wyman), a competitor in the event. Bond bids Bibi farewell and leaves the event; as he skis away, he is attacked by a small group of thugs on winterized motorcycles. One of them is Kriegler himself, who tries to kill Bond with his sniper's rifle, another is Locque. Bond is able to escape his attackers, killing several of them in the process.

Bond meets Bibi later at the Olympic skating rink where Bibi is practicing. He asks her about Eric and finds out that he is an East German defector. After Bibi leaves, he is again attacked, this time by three hulking hockey players. Bond beats them all and returns to his car. There he finds that Ferrara has been killed. In Ferrara's dead hand is a White Dove pin.

Bond goes to the business section of Cortina the next day and spots Melina buying a crossbow. As he approaches her, they are both attacked by men on motorcycles, much like Bond the previous day. Bond kills both attackers and orders Melina to leave Cortina. He also tells her that her need for revenge may get her killed too. She agrees to return to her father's yacht and wait for word from Bond.

Bond travels to Greece to continue his investigation of Columbo. At a nightclub, he meets with Kristatos and asks how to meet Columbo, not knowing that Columbo's men are secretly recording their conversation. Columbo is at the same club and is sitting with a woman, Lisl von Schlaf (Cassandra Harris), a countess. She becomes openly insulted by one of Columbo's comments and proceeds to leave. Seeing an opportunity to learn more about Columbo, Bond approaches Lisl and offers to have Kristatos' valet, Apostis (Jack Klaff), drive her back to her hotel. After Apostis leaves, Bond and Lisl spend the night together. Lisl confesses that Columbo knows that Bond is a secret agent, and has asked her to learn more about him. Unbeknownst to either of them, Apostis is secretly listening in on their conversation.

In the morning, the two walk on the beach and are attacked by Locque and another White Dove member, Claus (Charles Dance). Locque kills Lisl by running her down in his dune buggy, and he and Claus capture Bond. Claus is suddenly shot by a harpoon and several men wearing the White Dove emblem appear out of the surf and capture Bond.

Bond is taken to Columbo himself on a yacht, who tries to convince the spy that Kristatos is actually the real villian and the one behind the search for the ATAC. As a means to prove this, he invites Bond to accompany his men to Albania, where Kristatos is using a shipping warehouse to process heroin. Bond reluctantly agrees, and they find Locque overseeing a shipment of raw opium smuggled in enormous rolls of newsprint. They also discover some old naval mines, implying that the sinking of the St. Georges was no accident. As his men provide cover, Locque wires explosives to one of the mines, taking the detonator with him to a nearby escape car. Locque detonates the explosives to cover his escape, but Columbo's raiding party are able to flee the warehouse before it explodes. Using an underground tunnel, Bond is able to get to the shipyard's entrance before Locque does. He opens fire on Locque's car, hitting the assassin in the shoulder and causing him to lose control of the vehicle, which careens of the road. As Locque's car precariously teeters on the precipice of a cliff, Bond shows him the dove pin he'd gotten from Ferrara, throws it to Locque; the tiny shift in weight causes the car to slide off the cliff. Bond gives the car a hard kick and it plummets, killing Locque.

Bond travels to the Havelock's yacht and finds Melina. Bond asks Melina if her father possibly left behind any information about his work for the British government. Melina shows Bond her father's journal and they discover that her father had been diving in an unusual underwater location.

The two go there in her father's mini-submarine and find the St. Georges. The enter the wreck and find the ATAC attached to an explosive charge which had failed to be activated. Bond disarms the bomb and takes the ATAC when the two are attacked by a diver in a JIM suit. Bond manages to escape the killer and attaches the ATAC bomb to the JIM suit, destroying it. Nearly out of breathable air, he and Melina return to the mini-sub but are again attacked by another mini-sub. They are able to escape this man as well.

They return to the surface to find that Kristatos, accompanied by Kriegler and Apostis, has seized the Havelock yacht and killed the crew. Kristatos takes the ATAC with the intention of selling it to the Soviet government; Kriegler is revealed to be his KGB contact. Using Melina and Bond as "bait" they tow them behind Kristatos' yacht hoping that sharks will eat them. Bond is able to snap the line binding them and they retreat to a SCUBA tank Melina left on the ocean floor. Kristatos, assuming Bond and Melina are both dead, leaves.

The two make it back to their yacht and hear her father's parrot reveal the destination of the ATAC, a location only called "St. Cyril's." Q informs Bond that there are over 300 locations with the same name in all of Greece, however, Bond knows that Columbo will know where Kristatos has retreated to.

The St. Cyril's that Columbo knows of is a monastery in the northern mountains of Greece and sits atop a series of sheer cliffs. It is only accessible on the ground by a cabled basket; Bond must scale the cliff to reach the machinery controlling the basket. As he climbs, he is found by Apostis, who tries to loosen the spikes and climbing rope Bond is using as a safety line. Bond is able to make it up the cliff far enough to throw a spike at Apostis and send him off the cliff. He makes it the basket house and lowers it for the rest of the crew to come up.

General Gogol is on his way to the monastery to collect the ATAC. Kristatos attempts to flee with the ATAC, with Columbo and Melina in hot pursuit. Kriegler attacks Bond, nearly overpowering him due to his size, before Bond takes him out with a spiked candelabra and races after Columbo and Melina. Kristatos and Columbo fight. Kristatos knocks Columbo out, only to be cornered by Melina, who seeks to kill him to avenge her parents' death. While Bond and Melina argue over whether to execute Kristatos or simply arrest him, Kristatos pulls a switchblade out of his jacket. Before Kristatos can attack Melina or Bond, Columbo regains consciousness and kills him with a throwing knife. Gogol arrives and genially asks for the ATAC; Bond suddenly throws it over the side of the mountain where it shatters hundreds of feet below. Gogol is visibly shocked at first but Bond replies "Detente, Comrade! You don't have it, I don't have it." Gogol suddenly smiles and leaves, obviously humored.

Melina and Bond share a romantic evening on board the Havelock yacht when a call arrives from MI6 on Bond's wristwatch. The British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher wishes to speak to Bond personally. Bond gives the watch to Melina's parrot and the PM is tricked into thinking she's still speaking to Bond, who has joined Melina for a nude moonlight swim.

The king of all espionage dramas “For Your Eyes Only” was a roller coaster movie experience which gives goosebumps.  The beautiful girls have a crush on the prince charming James Bond 007.  The super intelligent spy with his wonderful micro gadgets, guns and girls elevates you to take a ride in the aerial route with blood-curdling fights and electrifying blitzkrieg chases always lingering in your mind’s frame. 

I thought it is befitting to write a BLOG about the super spy’s world with his spectacular action, adventure, thrills and chills with sci-fi glorified fiction. 

If there is a "WILL' there is peace - Alfred - Nobel Prize

If there is a ‘WILL’ there is peace - Alfred – Nobel Prize

                              

                                  

                             





Nobel Prize was founded by Alfred Nobel.     The man who made arms, ammunition and explosives turns out to be a spokesperson for peace.  He amassed his millions through manufacturing and selling dynamite and other explosives and became a wealthy man. 

Alfred Nobel was the inventor of Dynamite and founder of Nobel Prizes.   Apart from Peace the Nobel Prize is awarded to outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Economic sciences. 

Alfred Nobel at the time of his death instituted a will from the fortune he left behind for prize money awarded as “NOBEL PRIZE” for extraordinary achievements in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Economics and Peace.

Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and other explosives. He used his enormous fortune from 355 patents to institute the Nobel Prizes.

There is no other Award as popular as Nobel Prize in the world for excellence in various categories.  Nobel Prizes are selected from nominations for the greatest achievements in the above said categories from throughout the world.

Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences was introduced latter.  Sweden’s central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, established the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1968 in honor of Alfred Nobel.  Amartya Sen from India is a Nobel Prize winner for Economics.

Rabindranath Tagore was the First Indian to receive a Nobel Prize Award.  He received the award for literature for his work 'Gitanjali'. 

Mother Teresa received Nobel Prize for peace.  

The other Indian Nobel Laureates are  Sir C.V. Raman, Dr Hargobind Khorana, Dr.Subramanian Chandrasekhar, Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Kailash Satyarthi and  V.S. Naipaul.

Between 1901 and 2014, the Nobel Prizes and Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded  567 times to 889 people and organizations.

 If two warring factions use nuclear weapons the entire world will be reduced to ashes in seconds. 

            

                   

The Nobel Prize Awards for 2015 will be announced between 5th October, 2015 and 12th October, 2015.

His name also survives in modern-day companies such as Dynamit Nobel and AkzoNobel, which are descendants of mergers with companies Nobel himself established.



Alfred Nobel Biography

Business Leader, Engineer, Chemist, Scientist, Inventor (1833–1896)

Synopsis

Born on October 21, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden, Alfred Nobel worked at his father's arms factory as a young man. Intellectually curious, he went on to experiment with chemistry and explosives. In 1864, a deadly explosion killed his younger brother. Deeply affected, Nobel developed a safer explosive: dynamite. Nobel used his vast fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes, which has come to be known for awarding the greatest achievements throughout the world. He died of a stroke in 1896.

Early Years

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born on October 21, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden, the fourth of Immanuel and Andreitte Nobel's eight children. Alfred was often sickly as a child, but he was always lively and curious about the world around him. Although he was a skilled engineer and ready inventor, Alfred's father struggled to set up a profitable business in Sweden. When Alfred was 4, his father moved St. Petersburg, Russia, to take a job manufacturing explosives. The family followed him in 1842. Alfred's newly affluent parents sent him to private tutors in Russia, and he quickly mastered chemistry and became fluent in English, French, German and Russian as well as his native language, Swedish.

An Invention and A Legacy

Alfred left Russia at the age of 18. After spending a year in Paris studying chemistry, he moved to the United States. After five years, he returned to Russia and began working in his father's factory making military equipment for the Crimean War. In 1859, at the war's end, the company went bankrupt. The family moved back to Sweden, and Alfred soon began experimenting with explosives. In 1864, when Alfred was 29, a huge explosion in the family's Swedish factory killed five people, including Alfred's younger brother Emil. Dramatically affected by the event, Nobel set out to develop a safer explosive. In 1867, he patented a mixture of nitroglycerin and an absorbent substance, producing what he named "Dynamite."

In 1888, Alfred's brother Ludvig died while in France. A French newspaper erroneously published Alfred's obituary instead of Ludvig's, and condemned Alfred for his invention of dynamite. Provoked by the event and disappointed with how he felt he might be remembered, Nobel set aside a bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes to honor men and women for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine and literature, and for working toward peace. Sweden’s central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, established the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1968 in honor of Alfred Nobel.

He died of a stroke on December 10, 1896, in San Remo, Italy. After taxes and bequests to individuals, Nobel left 31,225,000 Swedish kronor (equivalent to 250 million U.S. dollars in 2008) to fund the Nobel Prizes.

               

           

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. His father Immanuel Nobel was an engineer and inventor who built bridges and buildings in Stockholm. In connection with his construction work Immanuel Nobel also experimented with different techniques for blasting rocks.

                                    

Alfred Nobel.

Alfred's mother, born Andriette Ahlsell, came from a wealthy family. Due to misfortunes in his construction work caused by the loss of some barges of building material, Immanuel Nobel was forced into bankruptcy the same year Alfred Nobel was born. In 1837 Immanuel Nobel left Stockholm and his family to start a new career in Finland and in Russia. To support the family, Andriette Nobel started a grocery store which provided a modest income. Meanwhile Immanuel Nobel was successful in his new enterprise in St. Petersburg, Russia. He started a mechanical workshop which provided equipment for the Russian army and he also convinced the Tsar and his generals that naval mines could be used to block enemy naval ships from threatening the city.

Immanuel Nobel	Andreitte Nobel

The naval mines designed by Immanuel Nobel were simple devices consisting of submerged wooden casks filled with gunpowder. Anchored below the surface of the Gulf of Finland, they effectively deterred the British Royal Navy from moving into firing range of St. Petersburg during the Crimean war (1853-1856). Immanuel Nobel was also a pioneer in arms manufacture and in designing steam engines.

          

Painting by Immanuel Nobel demonstrating his sea or naval mines to the Tsar of Russia.

Successful in his industrial and business ventures, Immanuel Nobel was able, in 1842, to bring his family to St. Petersburg. There, his sons were given a first class education by private teachers. The training included natural sciences, languages and literature. By the age of 17 Alfred Nobel was fluent in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German. His primary interests were in English literature and poetry as well as in chemistry and physics. Alfred's father, who wanted his sons to join his enterprise as engineers, disliked Alfred's interest in poetry and found his son rather introverted. In order to widen Alfred's horizons his father sent him abroad for further training in chemical engineering. During a two year period Alfred Nobel visited Sweden, Germany, France and the United States. In Paris, the city he came to like best, he worked in the private laboratory of Professor T. J. Pelouze, a famous chemist. There he met the young Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero who, three years earlier, had invented nitroglycerine, a highly explosive liquid. Nitroglycerine was produced by mixing Glycerin with sulfuric and nitric acid. It was considered too dangerous to be of any practical use. Although its explosive power greatly exceeded that of gunpowder, the liquid would explode in a very unpredictable manner if subjected to heat and pressure.

Alfred Nobel became very interested in nitroglycerine and how it could be put to practical use in construction work. He also realized that the safety problems had to be solved and a method had to be developed for the controlled detonation of nitroglycerine. In the United States he visited John Ericsson, the Swedish-American engineer who had developed the screw propeller for ships. In 1852 Alfred Nobel was asked to come back and work in the family enterprise which was booming because of its deliveries to the Russian army. Together with his father he performed experiments to develop nitroglycerine as a commercially and technically useful explosive. As the war ended and conditions changed, Immanuel Nobel was again forced into bankruptcy. Immanuel and two of his sons, Alfred and Emil, left St. Petersburg together and returned to Stockholm. His other two sons, Robert and Ludvig, remained in St. Petersburg. With some difficulties they managed to salvage the family enterprise and then went on to develop the oil industry in the southern part of the Russian empire. They were very successful and became some of the wealthiest persons of their time.

Explosion in the laboratory in Stockholm.

After his return to Sweden in 1863, Alfred Nobel concentrated on developing nitroglycerine as an explosive. Several explosions, including one (1864) in which his brother Emil and several other persons were killed, convinced the authorities that nitroglycerin production was exceedingly dangerous. They forbade further experimentation with nitroglycerin within the Stockholm city limits and Alfred Nobel had to move his experimentation to a barge anchored on Lake Mälaren. Alfred was not discouraged and in 1864 he was able to start mass production of nitroglycerin.

To make the handling of nitroglycerin safer Alfred Nobel experimented with different additives. He soon found that mixing nitroglycerin with kieselguhr would turn the liquid into a paste which could be shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes. In 1867 he patented this material under the name of dynamite. To be able to detonate the dynamite rods he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be ignited by lighting a fuse. These inventions were made at the same time as the diamond drilling crown and the pneumatic drill came into general use. Together these inventions drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work.  Dynamite established Nobel's fame and was soon used in blasting tunnels, cutting canals and building railways and roads all over the world.

Alfred Nobel's laboratory in Bofors, Sweden.

The market for dynamite and detonating caps grew very rapidly and Alfred Nobel also proved himself to be a very skillful entrepreneur and businessman. By 1865 his factory in Krümmel near Hamburg, Germany, was exporting nitroglycerin explosives to other countries in Europe, America and Australia. Over the years he founded factories and laboratories in some 90 different places in more than 20 countries.

Although he lived in Paris much of his life he was constantly traveling. Victor Hugo at one time described him as "Europe's richest vagabond". When he was not traveling or engaging in business activities Nobel himself worked intensively in his various laboratories, first in Stockholm and later in Hamburg (Germany), Ardeer (Scotland), Paris and Sevran (France), Karlskoga (Sweden) and San Remo (Italy). He focused on the development of explosives technology as well as other chemical inventions, including such materials as synthetic rubber and leather, artificial silk, etc. By the time of his death in 1896 he had 355 patents.

Intensive work and travel did not leave much time for a private life. At the age of 43 he was feeling like an old man. At this time he advertised in a newspaper "Wealthy, highly-educated elderly gentleman seeks lady of mature age, versed in languages, as secretary and supervisor of household." The most qualified applicant turned out to be an Austrian woman, Countess Bertha Kinsky.

After working a very short time for Nobel she decided to return to Austria to marry Count Arthur von Suttner. In spite of this Alfred Nobel and Bertha von Suttner remained friends and kept writing letters to each other for decades. Over the years Bertha von Suttner became increasingly critical of the arms race. She wrote a famous book, Lay Down Your Arms and became a prominent figure in the peace movement. No doubt this influenced Alfred Nobel when he wrote his final will which was to include a Prize for persons or organizations who promoted peace. Several years after the death of Alfred Nobel, the Norwegian Storting (Parliament) decided to award the 1905 Nobel Peace Prize to Bertha von Suttner.

Bertha von Suttner.

Alfred Nobel's greatness lay in his ability to combine the penetrating mind of the scientist and inventor with the forward-looking dynamism of the industrialist. Nobel was very interested in social and peace-related issues and held what were considered radical views in his era. He had a great interest in literature and wrote his own poetry and dramatic works. The Nobel Prizes became an extension and a fulfillment of his lifetime interests.

Many of the companies founded by Nobel have developed into industrial enterprises that still play a prominent role in the world economy, for example Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), Great Britain; Société Centrale de Dynamite, France; and Dyno Industries in Norway. Toward the end of his life, he acquired the company AB Bofors in Karlskoga, where Björkborn Manor became his Swedish home. Alfred Nobel died in San Remo, Italy, on December 10, 1896. When his will was opened it came as a surprise that his fortune was to be used for Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The executors of his will were two young engineers, Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist. They set about forming the Nobel Foundation as an organization to take care of the financial assets left by Nobel for this purpose and to coordinate the work of the Prize-Awarding Institutions. This was not without its difficulties since the will was contested by relatives and questioned by authorities in various countries.

                                                                   

                                          


A living man one day awoke to read his obituary script written by a journalist in a newspaper mistaking his brother’s death as his own and horrified and determined to change the world’s notion about the true purpose of his life.  The dynamite legacy paved way for instituting a Nobel Prize monetary award for the work towards bringing peace in the world.

The saying “If there is a will, there is a way” is true in the case of Alfred Nobel’s mission towards bringing peace into this world.  He left behind in his will a large legacy earned from selling dynamite and other explosives for the cause of peace.  

Let me end this blog post by wishing everyone “Peace be with you”, Amen !