Andrietta Nobel started a grocery store which provided a modest income. Meanwhile Immanuel Nobel was successful with 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 (the King) and his generals that naval mines could be used to block enemy naval ships from threatening the city. Immanuel Nobel designed the naval mines which were simple devices consisting of submerged wooden casks filled with gun powder. Immanuel Nobel brought his family to St.Petersburg in 1842. His sons were given a first class education by private teachers. When Alfred Nobel was 17 he was fluent in 5 different languages. His primary interests were in English literature and poetry as well as in chemistry and physics.
Alfred visited Sweden, Germany, France and America. In Paris, the city he came to like best, he worked in the private office of professor T.J Pelouz, a famous chemist. There he met a chemist who had invented nitroglycerine, a highly explosive liquid. Alfred became interested in nitroglycerine. Alfred and his brother Emil returned to Stockholm. After his return to Sweden in 1863, Alfred concentrated on developing nitroglycerine as an explosive. Several explosions occurred including one in which his brother Emil was killed. He was not allowed to experiment with nitroglycerine within the city of Stockholm and moved to an anchored barge on a lake. In 1866 he invented dynamite and later built up laboratories in more than 20 countries worldwide.
By the time of his death in 1896 he had 355 patents. Several years before he died he read a news paper article which said that Alfred Nobel the inventor of dynamite has died. Alfred did not want to be remembered for inventing dynamite so he invented the Nobel prize.