Blake Hall
Excuse us if you’d hear this one before. We apologize, but it’s too juicy not to past it right here, since we’re about to be on the very subject of one of the most explosive “things” to ever grace our planet.
Sorry. Dynamite.
You’re familiar with the Nobel Peace Prize. Correct? Global honors given to those who have broken barriers in academia or culture or science? The prizes representing the following categories: Chemistry/Literature/Physics/Physiology/Medicine and … PEACE?
Yeah, its namesake — Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel — created the awards in 1895 and um, is pretty much solely responsible for the aforementioned explosive. Because he came up with it.
As the story goes, the prizes were a way to spin his legacy in a better, more forgiving direction. This from Wikipedia:
In 1888, Nobel was astonished to read his own obituary, titled The merchant of death is dead, in a French newspaper. As it was Alfred’s brother Ludvig who had died, the obituary was eight years premature. The article disconcerted Nobel and made him apprehensive about how he would be remembered. This inspired him to change his will.
In his last testament, the accolade system was laid out, “bequeathing” most of his fortune to its establishment. A sum of almost $200 million.
Anyway, in the footage below is Alfred’s baby (a stick of dynamite) being crushed to a crisp by a portable hydraulic press.
Watch what happens?