The Nobel family (/noʊˈbɛl/noh-BEL), is a prominent
Swedish family closely related to the history both of
Sweden and of
Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its legacy includes its outstanding contributions to philanthropy and to the development of the
armament industry and the
oil industry. Some of its foremost members are
Immanuel Nobel the Younger, the engineer, developer of underwater
naval mines and inventor of the rotary
lathe used to produce
plywood,
Ludvig Nobel, the founder of
Branobel and one of the richest and the most important men in Russia at his time, and
Alfred Nobel, the inventor of
dynamite who left the major part of his estate to the creation of the
Nobel Prizes.
Members of the Nobel family are known not only for their interest in art but also for their inventive ability, which is sometimes referred to as a Rudbeckian trait, inherited from their ancestor
Olaus Rudbeck, the elder.[2] Immanuel Nobel pioneered the development of underwater mines, designed some of the first
steam engines to power Russian ships, installed the first central heating systems in Russian homes and was the first to develop modern
plywood (cut with a rotary lathe).
One of his sons, Ludvig Nobel, was the founder of The Machine-Building Factory Ludvig Nobel, a great armaments concern and the inventor of the Nobel wheel. Ludvig was also the founder of
Branobel, the foremost Russian oil industry of its time, and launched the world's first diesel-driven
tugs and
tankers, besides building the first European
pipeline.[3]Alfred Nobel, who died childless, was the inventor of
dynamite and the founder of the
Nobel Prizes, to the creation of which he left the bulk of his estate.
The Nobel family has created several societies, including the Nobel Family Society, a private society of which only the descendants of Immanuel Nobel, the younger, are eligible as members, the
Nobel Foundation, a private society administering the prizes of Alfred Nobel, and the
Nobel Charitable Trust. Notably, the Director of the Nobel Foundation, Michael Sohlman, and the elected head of the Nobel family disapprove of the institution of the Nobel Charitable Trust (NCT)[4]
The Nobel family is also represented in the Nobel Prizes Award Ceremony, held in
Stockholm every year. In 2007, the Nobel family archives kept in the Archives of
Lund were inscribed in
UNESCO's
Memory of the World Register.[5]
Members
Olof Nobelius (1706–1760), artist, (m.1750) Ana Christina Wallin (1718–1787)
Immanuel Nobel, the Elder (1757–1839), physician, (m.1st.) Anna Kristina Rosell (1760–1795), (m.2nd.) Brita Catharina Ahlberg(1770–1823)
Descendants of Immanuel, the younger, and Andriette Nobel
Robert Nobel (1829–1896), pioneer of the Russian oil industry, m.1860 Pauline Lenngrén (1840–1918)
Ludvig Nobel (1831–1888), founder of Branobel and its first president, m.1st 1858 Mina Ahlsell (1832–1869), m. 2nd 1871 Edla Constantia Collin (1848–1921)
Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), the inventor of dynamite, instituted the Nobel Prizes
Nils Nobel-Oleinikoff (1905–1990, né Oleinikoff), last President of
Branobel, m. 1st 1933 Herta Frieda ter Meer (1911–1939), m. 2nd 1943 Dora Ahlqvist (1906–1985)
Peter Nobel-Oleinikoff (b. 1937), m. 1998 Anna
von Holstein (b. 1943)
Nils Nobel-Oleinikoff (b. 1944), m. 1968 Monique de Lamare-Singery (1947–1995)
Christianne Nobel-Oleinikoff (b. 1970), m. 2006 Bruno Ferraz-Coutinho (b. 1972)
^Tolf, Robert (1976): The Russian Rockefellers : the saga of the Nobel family and the Russian oil industry Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, p. 1.
ISBN0-8179-6581-5
^Schück, Henrik, Ragnar Sohlman, Anders Österling, Carl Gustaf Bernhard, the Nobel Foundation, and Wilhelm Odelberg, eds. Nobel: The Man and His Prizes. 1950. 3rd ed. Coordinating Ed., Wilhelm Odelberg. New York: American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc., 1972, p. 14.
ISBN0-444-00117-4 (10).
ISBN978-0-444-00117-7 (13). (Originally published in Swedish as Nobelprisen 50 år: forskare, diktare, fredskämpar.)
^Yergin, Daniel (2003): The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power, Free Press, p. 58.
ISBN0-671-79932-0