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Ascanio Sobrero

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Residence
  
Italy

Role
  
Chemist

Nationality
  
Italian

Alma mater
  
University of Giesen

Name
  
Ascanio Sobrero


Ascanio Sobrero httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Institutions
  
University of Giesen,University of Turin

Known for
  
discovery of nitroglycerine

Died
  
May 26, 1888, Turin, Italy

Education
  
University of Turin, University of Giessen

Similar People
  
Christian Friedrich Schonbein, Alfred Nobel, Justus von Liebig

Doctoral advisor
  
Justus von Liebig

Nitroglycerine, Dynamite and the Nobel Prize


Ascanio Sobrero (12 October 1812 – 26 May 1888) was an Italian chemist, born in Casale Monferrato. He was studying under Théophile-Jules Pelouze at the University of Turin, who had worked with the explosive material guncotton.

Ascanio Sobrero Ascanio Sobrero Photos Diagrams amp Topos MBPost

He studied medicine in Turin and Paris and then chemistry at the University of Gießen with Justus Liebig, and earned his doctorate in 1832. In 1845 he became professor at the University of Turin

Ascanio Sobrero Destini Incrociati Blog Archive Alfred Nobel e Ascanio

During his research he discovered, in 1847, nitroglycerine. He initially called it "pyroglycerine", and warned vigorously against its use in his private letters and in a journal article, stating that it was extremely dangerous and impossible to handle. In fact, he was so frightened by what he created that he kept it a secret for over a year.

Ascanio Sobrero Ascanio Sobrero Italian chemist and discoverer of nitroglycerine c

Another of Pelouze's students was the young Alfred Nobel, who returned to the Nobel family's defunct armaments factory and began experimenting with the material around 1860; it did, indeed prove to be very difficult to discover how to handle it safely. In the 1860s Nobel received several patents around the world for mixtures, devices and manufacturing methods based on the explosive power of nitroglycerine, eventually leading to the invention of dynamite, ballistite and gelignite from which he made a fortune.

Ascanio Sobrero Ascanio Sobrero YouTube

Although Nobel always acknowledged and honored Sobrero as the man who had discovered nitroglycerine, Sobrero was not only dismayed by the uses to which the explosive had been put, but also on occasion claimed that he was not given sufficient recognition.

References

Ascanio Sobrero Wikipedia