TH E I M AG E
A N D F I N A L LY
Alfred Nobel’s chemicals ish National Heritage Board and Uppsala University, the Nobel Prize Museum has determined the contents of 43 old bottles and tins from Alfred Nobel’s laboratory. “A surprisingly well-preserved collection of chemicals,” according to Professor Adolf Gogoll of the Department of Chemistry – BMC. The chemical analyses were performed by Gogoll after the 40 or so bottles and tins were shipped to Uppsala from the Nobel Museum in Karlskoga. There were large tins containing inorganic salts and oxides, as well as bottles containing various liquids. When exposed to air and day light, chemicals can either oxidise
(react with oxygen) or polymerise; however, Gogoll confirms that this had not happened. “Many of them appeared to be completely pure. If someo ne had told me they had bought them yesterday from our usual chemical supplier, I would not have had the slightest suspicion about it. Of all of these organic substances, only a few showed signs of decay.” ANALYSIS REVEALED heavy
metals such as lead and chromium. Some of the bottles contained substances used in the manufacture of dynamite, while others contained mixtures and possible traces of chemical reactions that Alfred Nobel or his
colleagues were working on. Having had a long-standing interest in the history of chemistry, when the department moved to Uppsala Biomedical Centre (BMC) from the old Kemikum building on the English Park Campus in 2002, Professor Gogoll helped to create a small exhibition of old objects, flasks and other laboratory glassware on the staircase. A doctoral student who assisted the professor was subsequently employed by the Swedish National Heritage Board. “When the need arose to determine the contents of Nobel’s old bottles, she thought of me and that’s how I came to be given the task.”
Professor Adolf Gogoll of Uppsala University’s Department of Chemistry – BMC.
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Bottles from Alfred Nobel’s laboratories.
PHOTO: DAN LEPP
■ In collaboration with the Swed-
