Emanuel Nobel

Emanuel Nobel

Emanuel Nobel (born June 23, 1859 in Saint Petersburg , † May 31, 1932 in Sweden ) was a Swedish-Russian oil magnate . He was a grandson of Immanuel Nobel and the eldest son of Ludvig Nobel , Alfred Nobel's brother .

The Nobel family was among the richest in Europe and the world. Emanuel Nobel took over the management of the largest European oil company, Branobel , based in Baku after the death of his father in 1888. Like him, Emanuel was a very progressive entrepreneur and decided to build the first pipeline in Russia as well as the world's first oil tanker and the first railway cisterns.

In 1898 he signed a license agreement with Rudolf Diesel and created the world's first diesel engine works in Saint Petersburg, where diesel engines for his oil tankers (see e.g. Vandal ) were manufactured. He managed his company until he had to leave Russia in the summer of 1918. He was a dominant figure in the global oil industry of his time. In the years 1891-1918 he was a member of the board of directors of the Russian State Bank. After fleeing Russia, he withdrew from business life.

He made a significant contribution to the implementation of the will of his uncle Alfred Nobel and the establishment of the Nobel Foundation.

Emanuel Nobel was a great art lover, but most of his collection left behind in Russia was destroyed in the 1940 Winter War.

He was never married.

Web links

• Emanuel Nobel on museum.ifmo.ru (Russian)
• Obituary for Emanuel Nobel . In: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Yearbook 31, 1933 (Swedish)