Robert Nobel

Robert Nobel (1829–1896) was a Swedish engineer and industrialist, the elder brother of Ludvig Nobel Ludvig NobelLudvig Nobel (1831–1888) was a Swedish-born engineer and industrialist based in St. Petersburg, a brother of Alfred Nobel and Robert Nobel, who founded the Ludvig Nobel engineering works and in 1879 co-founded the Baku oil company Branobel, building oil pipelines and the tanker Zoroaster.Open the full entry and Alfred Nobel Alfred NobelAlfred Nobel (1833–1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor and industrialist who invented dynamite, the blasting cap, blasting gelatine and the smokeless powder ballistite and founded enterprises in more than 20 countries. Through his will he left his fortune to establish the five Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.Open the full entry, who bought a refinery in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the 1870s, starting the Nobel family’s oil business, and was one of the co-founders of the oil company Branobel BranobelBranobel (Товарищество нефтяного производства братьев Нобель, Petroleum Production Company Nobel Brothers) was an oil company founded in St. Petersburg in 1879 by Ludvig, Robert and Alfred Nobel and others; centred on Baku, it pioneered oil pipelines and tankers in Russia and by the early 20th century ranked among the world’s largest oil companies, before its Russian assets were nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1920, the year half of its shares were sold to Standard Oil of New Jersey.Open the full entry.

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Key facts

1829Born in Stockholm

Robert Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1829, the eldest son of the engineer and inventor Immanuel Nobel Immanuel NobelImmanuel Nobel (1801–1872) was a Swedish inventor, engineer and industrialist who worked as a builder and inventor in Stockholm before founding an engineering works in St. Petersburg and developing naval mines for Russia; he was the father of Robert, Ludvig, Alfred and Emil Nobel.Open the full entry and Andriette; of the couple’s six children, those who survived childhood were Robert, Ludvig (1831–1888), Alfred (1833–1896) and Emil (1843–1864).⁠[1][2]

1842Moves to St. Petersburg

In 1842 Robert moved with his mother and his brothers Ludvig and Alfred to St. Petersburg, where his father had set up a mechanical factory. He was taught languages, mathematics and chemistry by outstanding scholars, did practical work in his father’s factory and became an engineer.⁠[1][3]

1853–1856Mines in the Crimean War

During the Crimean War, Robert, then just over 20, worked with his father on mines for the Russian War Office; the mines were used in the defence of Sveaborg in 1855, among other places.⁠[1]

1859Stays in St. Petersburg

After his father’s bankruptcy in 1859, his parents and youngest brother Emil returned to Sweden, while Robert, then 30, stayed in St. Petersburg with Ludvig and Alfred. He worked on repairs to the Kazan Cathedral, tried making firebricks and rebuilt the Russian steamer Kryloff.⁠[1][3]

1860sBusiness in Finland

In the early 1860s Robert married Pauline Lenngrén and settled in Helsinki; their children were Hjalmar (born 1863), Ingeborg (1865), Ludvig (1868) and Thyra (1873).⁠[1]

In 1864 he became a part-owner of Aurora, a lamp and lamp-oil business, which went into liquidation amid tough competition. When Alfred formed the Nitroglycerin Company that year, Robert obtained the right to produce blasting agents in Finland, but the venture failed; he returned to Stockholm and became a major director of the Nitroglycerin Company.⁠[1][4]

While Ludvig was away on a honeymoon of almost a year, Robert managed the machine-building factory in St. Petersburg; he declined to take part in the rifle-making venture of Ludvig and Peter A. Bilderling, instead selling the factory’s civilian products on commission.⁠[1]

1873–1875Starts the Oil Business in Baku

In 1873 Robert became the first member of the Nobel family to go to Baku, Azerbaijan, initially to find walnut for the rifle stocks of Ludvig’s arms factory, but his search of the forests around Baku failed; he saw the commercial potential of Baku’s oil wells and persuaded Ludvig to join him.⁠[5][6][2][4]

In early 1874 he returned to Baku and bought a refinery and a plot of land from the Dutch shipmaster Debour; production began in autumn 1875, making paraffin. That October he found excellent crude oil on the island of Cheleken in the Caspian. Alfred, Ludvig and the Finnish major general C. A. Standertskjöld invested in his plant.⁠[6][1][4]

1876–1879Expansion with Ludvig

After Ludvig and Emanuel came to Baku in 1876, Robert and Ludvig planned refining, transport by ship and rail, storage and sales together; Robert profited from laying pipes from the wells to the refinery and sent the engineer Alfred Törnqvist to gather information on competitors in Pennsylvania. The 300,000 roubles the brothers had invested were not enough.⁠[1]

1879Opposes the Formation of Branobel

In 1879 Ludvig and Alfred formed the limited company Branobel against Robert’s will; Robert was listed as a co-founder and managed operations in Baku. Feeling outmanoeuvred by his brothers, he left Baku and the company’s management in 1880, returning a year later for a farewell party with fireworks he had made himself.⁠[1][7][8][9]

He then returned to Sweden for health reasons but remained a part-owner of Branobel, staying in close contact with Ludvig and Alfred about the company’s business; his shareholding gave the family a secure income.⁠[2][1]

1888Death of Ludvig

At the end of March 1888 Robert came to Cannes, France, to see the dying Ludvig and urged Alfred to visit. On April 12 he was in Florence when he received a telegram from Carl Nobel saying all hope was lost; on April 20 he wrote from Florence to his wife Pauline about his grief.⁠[10]

August 7, 1896Dies at Getå

Robert Nobel died at his manor at Getå, Sweden, on August 7, 1896, before his brother Alfred, who died on December 10 that year. Alfred’s will, which left most of his fortune to found the Nobel Prizes, was subsequently contested by Robert’s family among others.⁠[1][4][11]