Alfred B. Nobel. 

 Swedish chemist 



NOBEL 



1 i. I 'lit WM defeu' 



DeltlM-rll. IT!.'? I..,,,.-, till dllk- 



(17i:< ::!), waa made marshal in 

 1775. HH brother I'lnl.pp.- (171.', 

 !'l) duke of Mouchy, an uhl- 

 Mi'-r. also made marshal 1775. 

 WM guillotined with his wife 



is Paul, 5th duke (17.'W 

 I s - 1). WM a chemist, ami Ins 

 brother Kiimmiiuel Marie I.<>m-. 

 i diMin.jiii.shed diplo. 

 mat. t'aul. tith duke (1802-85). 

 was an historian. Jules. 7th 

 (Ink.- (iSL'ti 5). was an economist 

 and piilili.-ist. 



Nobel, Al.FRRD BERNHARD(1833- 



!>ti). Swedish chemist Born at 

 Stockholm, On L'l. Ix'M. and edu- 



i in St 



I'-'tersburirand 

 in the 1 

 he assisted his 

 father, an in- 

 ventor of con- 

 siderable abil- 

 i t v. From 

 1859-61 they 

 devoted them- 

 selves to the 

 study of explo- 

 sives and perfected the manufacture 

 of nitroglycerin. The improved 

 explosive was called pyroglycerin, 

 then glonoine oil, and later Nobel's 

 blasting oil. The inconvenience of 

 a liquid explosive led Nobel, in 

 LSI HI, to mix the liquid with absor- 

 bent earth, forming dynamite. He 

 settled in I'ai u in 1873, and shortly 

 afterwards invented a still more 

 powerful explosive, nitrogelatin or 

 neli-'nite. He died Dec. 10, 1896. 

 See Explosives. 



Nobel Prize. Annual award 

 from a fund established under the 

 will of Alfred B. NobeL By this 

 beset aside the sum of 1,700,000 

 the interest on which was to be 

 devoted to awarding five prizes 

 each year to men and women emi- 

 nent in (1) physics, (2) chemistry, 



(3) physiology or medicine, (4) 

 literature of an idealistic tendency, 

 and (5) the cause of peace. Each 

 prize is of the value of 7,500. The 

 Nobel Foundation is administered 

 by a board of five members, with a 

 president appointed by the king 



ion. The awards in physics 

 and chemistry are made by the 

 Swedish academy of science, in 

 medicine by the Stockholm faculty 

 of medicine, in literature by the 

 Swedish academy of literature, the 

 peace award being made by a com- 

 mittee of five elected by the Nor- 

 wegian storting. The prizes are 

 open to all nationalities. 



The first award was made in 

 1901, when the recipients were re- 

 spectively: (1) W. Rontgen, (2) J. 

 H. Van't Hoff, (3) E. von Behring, 



(4) Sully Prudhomme, (5) H. Dun- 

 ant (Switzerland) and F. Passy 



878S 



I n some yearn, including 

 1 1- (Jrcat War. no prize WM 

 awarded in cerium of th 

 but from l!| . >n ward* one .. 

 prizes has \ I each year. 



1 .n. n- 1!H.| | -,_<) there were 85 

 awards, though the recipient* ex- 

 r.-d.-d th it il. M in some cases 

 tli prize WM divided between two 

 persons, Several women. Including 

 Madame Curie and Baronew Bertha 

 vi.n Siittner, have received a prize. 

 British recipient* include 

 Kiiylci-h, Sir William Ramsay, R. 

 Kipling, and W. R. Cramer. 



In addition there are Nobel In- 

 stitutes, founded to further tin* 

 aims of the foundation. Nobel's 

 will provided for five, but only 

 three have been built, two at 

 Stockholm devoted to physics and 

 chemistry and to literary works, 

 with a library of 40,000 vo. 

 and the Norwegian Nobel Institute, 

 with a library principally devoted 

 to international law and peace. 

 The headquarters of the Nobel 

 Foundation are Nobelstiftelsen, 

 Norrlandsgatan 6, Stockholm. 



Nobel's Ballistic Test. Method 

 of testing explosives whereby their 

 relative strength may be deter- 

 mined. This test in a development 

 of the eprouvette and was intro- 

 duced by Alfred Nobel to deter- 

 mine the relative strength of in- 

 dustrial explosives. The test con- 

 sists in determining the distance 

 to which a heavy shot can be 

 thrown from a mortar elevated to 

 45", by a small charge of the ex- 

 plosive under test, and comparing 

 the result with that given by a 

 standard explosive. It has been 

 superseded to a great extent by the 

 ballistic pendulum (q.v. ). 



Nobile Officium (I-at., superior 

 function). Term in Scots law for 

 the power of the court of session in 

 matters of equity to give a 

 measure of relief not obtainable in 

 courts bound by the strict letter of 

 the law. 



Nobility (Lat. nob Hi*, from 

 noscere, to know). Literally, the 

 state of being noble. In a narrower 

 sense it suggests belonging to an 

 old and noted family, and is used 

 for the peers and their relatives M 

 a body. See Peerage. 



Noble. Term used for one who 

 is regarded as of superior birth. 

 It is of Roman origin, and is also 

 found among Teutonic peoples, 

 where the word adel. or c'hel, may 

 be translated noble. Some held the 

 belief that the nobles were the de- 

 scendants of the gods. In the class 

 distinctions that were accentuated 

 by the feudal system, the nobles 

 formed a separate class in most 

 European countries, becoming one 

 of the estates of the realm where 

 these arose. In England they 



Noeue 



formed the House of Lords. To-day 

 a noble simply means a peer, and 

 includes sometime* the relatives of 

 The phrase of noble birth 

 means related to a peer. See 

 Aristocracy ; Baron ; Duke; Lord ; 

 Peerage. 



Noble. Obsolete English gold 

 c.-ui lint struck by Edward III. 

 Its original value WM 6s. 8d It 



Sir Andrew Noble. 

 British physicist 



Noble. Obvtne and reere of (Old 



coin of Elward III. Actual nut. 



li^ in. diameter 



WM also coined M |- and {-noble 

 pieces. See Angel. 



Noble, SIR ANDREW (1832- 

 1915). British physicist and 

 artillerist. Born at Greenock, 

 Sept. 15, 1832. 

 he entered the 

 Royal Artil- 

 lery 1849, be- 

 came secretary 

 to the commit- 

 tee on rilled 

 cannon, 1858, 

 to that on 

 plates and 

 guns, 1859, 

 and a member 

 of a number 

 of other committees on explosives 

 and ordnance. In 1860 he joined 

 Sir W. G. Armstrong, and began a 

 scientific investigation into the 

 effects of various powders, in- 

 venting the chronoscope. His in- 

 vestigations had a revolutionary 

 effect on the construction of big 

 guns, and brought him many 

 honours. In 1880 he received the 

 gold medal of the Royal Society. 

 Made a K.C.B. 1893 and a baronet 

 in 1902, he died Oct. 22. 1915. 



Noble Pressure Gauge. In- 

 strument devised by Sir Andrew 

 Noble for estimating the pressure 

 developed in the chamber of a gun 

 by the propellant charge. It is a 

 modification of an earlier gauge in- 

 vented by Major Rodman, of the 

 U.S. army, in 1861, and the prin- 

 ciple is employed in a variety of 

 instruments for deducing different 

 characteristics of explosives. A 

 il illustration of the gauge 

 shows the tubular steel body, which 

 U threaded to screw into the wall of 

 the gun barrel at the point ur 

 points where it is desired to esti- 

 mate the pressure. A piston, A. is 

 fitted at one end with a copper cup. 

 ('. which serves M a gas check, its 

 opposite end being in contact with 

 a copper cylinder, B, supported on 



