索布雷洛1812—1888

生平

索布雷洛开始在都灵和巴黎学医，后来到吉森大学在李比希指导下学习化学，1832年获得博士学位。回到都灵后曾在Théophile-Jules Pelouze指导下进行对硝酸与棉花反应产物的研究。1845年成为都灵大学教授，一直到1882年退休。

1847年索布雷洛在缓慢的搅拌下，将甘油滴入冷的浓硫酸和浓硝酸混合物中，发现了硝化甘油。该物质远比同年克里斯提安·弗里德里希·尚班发现的硝化纤维猛烈。考虑到硝化甘油是非常易爆炸的液体，索布雷洛表示不愿意开发这一发现的商业价值。 实际上索布雷洛畏惧这个发现，以至于保守了这个秘密一年多。

1860年代，Théophile-Jules Pelouze的另一位学生，阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔开始试图应用硝酸甘油，随即发现正如索布雷洛所言，处理时极为危险。直到1866年诺贝尔开始采用硅藻土混合硝化甘油，形成了一种能够运输且处理不太困难的达纳炸药（Dynamite），硝化甘油才广泛用于各种工程中。诺贝尔继而发展了ballistite和胶质火药，通过专利获得了巨额财富

虽然诺贝尔很感谢索布雷诺，强调是他发现了硝化甘油，索布雷诺对这一发现的军事用途而苦恼，甚至表示后悔做出了这一发现

Ascanio Sobrero (12 October 1812 – 26 May 1888) was an Italian chemist, born in Casale Monferrato. He studied under Théophile-Jules Pelouze at the University of Turin, who had worked with the explosive material guncotton.

Education and career

He studied medicine in Turin and Paris and then chemistry at the University of Gießen with Justus Liebig, and earned his doctorate in 1832. In 1845, he became a professor at the University of Turin.

During his research, he discovered, in 1847, nitroglycerine. He initially called it "pyroglycerine", and warned vigorously against its use. In fact, he was so frightened by what he created that he kept it a secret for over a year.

Another of Pelouze's students was the young Alfred Nobel, who returned to the Nobel family's defunct armaments factory and began experimenting with the material around 1860; it did, indeed, prove to be very difficult to discover how to handle it safely. In the 1860s, Nobel received several patents around the world for mixtures, devices, and manufacturing methods based on the explosive power of nitroglycerine, eventually leading to the invention of dynamite, ballistite, and gelignite from which he made a fortune.

Although Nobel always acknowledged and honoured Sobrero as the man who had discovered nitroglycerine, Sobrero was dismayed by the uses to which the explosive had been put and claimed he was almost ashamed by his discovery.