The image: Alfred Nobel's chemicals

Alfred Nobel’s chemicals

■ In collaboration with the Swedish 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 daylight, 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 someone 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.”

/ ANNICA HULTH Professor Adolf Gogoll of Uppsala University’s Department of Chemistry – BMC.

Bottles from Alfred Nobel’s laboratories.

The University environment of tomorrow

■ Our physical environment and our interaction with the city, whether that be Uppsala or Visby, are important factors in enabling Uppsala University to be a forum for excellent research and education and a regional creative hub. But how should the University’s physical environment evolve over the coming decades?

To answer this question, in broad dialogue both internally and externally, the University has developed a roadmap containing guiding principles for Uppsala University’s future spatial structure and physical shape: Development Plan 2050.

Among other things, the plan features increased collaboration and sustainability, as well as the development of a cohesive university area in Uppsala, rather than several different campuses. This will involve the development of urban cycling and pedestrian corridors linking the various parts of the University to one another, as well as to other stakeholders.

In Visby, there is a perceived potential to develop the area around the inner harbour to accommodate additional university operations.