Ludvig Nobel

Ludvig Nobel

Ludvig Immanuel Nobel (born July 27, 1831 in Stockholm , † April 12, 1888 in Cannes ) was a Swedish industrialist and oil magnate. He was the brother of the Nobel Prize donor Alfred Nobel .

Early years

Ludvig Nobel was the son of the Swedish entrepreneur and inventor Immanuel Nobel . Together with his brothers Robert and Alfred Nobel , he completed technical training in Russia , where his father worked as a self-employed industrialist from 1842. Ludvig Nobel gained practical experience in the family machine factory in Saint Petersburg in the 1850s . There he became one of the father's closest collaborators. In particular from 1853 to 1856, during the Crimean War , the company was economically very successful and employed over a thousand workers.

Entrepreneur

After the end of the war through the Peace of Paris , the orders failed to materialize. In 1859 the company was liquidated and the father moved back to Sweden. However, the creditors persuaded Ludvig Nobel to continue working there as managing director. Ludvig Nobel soon had success again with the company, which from 1862 also bore his name. With social measures, including the reduction of the working day for workers from 14 to 10½ hours, he gained reputation. With other ventures such as a rifle factory near Perm , Nobel also had great success from 1871 to 1880. Like his father, Ludvig Nobel was a formidable inventor who constantly strived to improve machines.

Branobel

Branobel oil tanks in Baku (1912)

On the initiative of his brother Robert, Ludvig Nobel also got involved in southern Russia, primarily to process wood for rifle butts. It was there that Robert recognized the possibilities that oil discoveries offered. From 1878 Ludvig Nobel and his brother Robert became involved in the Branobel company they founded in 1876 , an oil company in Baku which, under his leadership, rose to become one of the largest companies in Tsarist Russia . Important inventions in the industry, such as modern oil refining , the construction of pipelines or the use of oil tankers, come from Ludvig Nobel. The park they both created in Baku, Villa Petrolea, can still be visited today. In 1890, 40% of the world's oil production came from Baku. Due to the economic success Ludvig Nobel became one of the leading, most innovative and richest industrialists of his time.

After Ludvig Nobel's death, his son Emanuel Nobel continued the business of Branobel.

Private life

Ludvig Nobel was married twice. In 1858 he married his cousin Sofia Vilhelmina Ahlsell, and in 1870 Edla Constantia Collin. His sons were Emanuel and Carl Nobel.

literature

• Ludvig Nobel . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 184 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).