Q 01/05

Alfred Nobel was born in 1833 in which city?

A) Stockholm

B) Gothenburg

C) Oslo

D) Copenhagen

Answer · why

A) Stockholm

Stockholm was where the family's money ran out: his father went bankrupt in the year Alfred was born, and only four of the couple's eight children liv...

Q 02/05

Roughly how many patents did Alfred Nobel hold in his lifetime?

A) 35

B) 350

C) 3,500

D) 35,000

Answer · why

B) 350

350 or so is right: the usual count is 355, registered in several countries, and the fortune they earned him is what paid for the prizes that carry hi...

Q 03/05

Away from explosives, Alfred Nobel experimented with synthetic rubber, artificial leather and an artificial version of which fabric?

A) Wool

B) Cotton

C) Linen

D) Silk

Answer · why

D) Silk

Silk was one of many sidelines he pursued in the private laboratories he set up wherever he settled; he also wrote poetry and, late in life, a play.

Q 04/05

Which Swedish iron and steel company did Nobel own and turn into a major cannon manufacturer?

A) Sandvik

B) Husqvarna

C) Saab

D) Bofors

Answer · why

D) Bofors

Bofors was his for only the last two years of his life, yet it became famous for an anti-aircraft gun used by both sides in the Second World War.

Q 05/05

Nobelium, the element honouring Alfred Nobel, was officially credited to scientists from which country after a Swedish claim fell apart?

A) The United States

B) The Soviet Union

C) West Germany

D) Japan

Answer · why

B) The Soviet Union

The Soviet Union's Dubna laboratory got the credit in 1992, but the Swedish team's name was kept because it had been in print for some thirty years.