Nils gustaf dalen biography

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in Gustaf loved to invent things. One of the most famous stories from his childhood concerns the alarm clock he invented when he was 13 years old. Gustaf liked to have his coffee first thing in the morning. With this in mind, he rigged up an old wall clock his father had given him with a bit of sheet metal, a striking mechanism and a cylinder covered in sandpaper.

Fifteen minutes before the clock was supposed to strike, the cylinder would begin to spin and strike a match. The match hung over a gas oil lamp and over the lamp was a kettle of coffee. As an adult, Gustaf worked as a gardener and ran a dairy, and became more and more interested in technology and engineering as time went on. He took his invention to Stockholm to meet the renowned inventor, Gustaf de Laval.

It turned out that de Laval had just been awarded his own patent for a similar device.

Nils gustaf dalen biography: Gustaf Dalén. Nils Gustaf Dalén

While in school, he worked on the family farm and also started a market garden and opened both a seed store and a dairy. Inhe invented a milk—fat tester to measure the quality of the milk he sold. He presented his invention to the prominent Swedish inventor Gustaf de Laval, who suggested he pursue a career in engineering. The couple had two sons and two daughters.

Lighthouses and light buoys at the time were powered by petroleum gas, which provided only low—wattage illumination. Furthermore, the technology required constant personal inspection.

Nils gustaf dalen biography: Nils Dalén was a

The need for an improved, automated system was especially great in Sweden, with its long coastline and large collection of archipelagos, where light sources were needed but could not be regularly accessed and maintained. Inscientists devised a method for large—scale preparation of the gaseous hydrocarbon acetylene from calcium carbide. This discovery was significant to the lighthouse industry because acetylene produces a strong, white light.

The petroleum used in lighthouses at the time was compressed and enclosed in large iron containers. Acetylene, it was discovered, became highly explosive under pressure and, thus, could not be treated the same way. Another attempted method involved the storage of calcium carbide in light buoys, allowing acetylene to escape under automatically supplied water pressure.

This setup proved unwieldy, unreliable and unworkable in cold weather, however. Intwo French chemists discovered that acetylene, when dissolved in acetone, produces a non—explosive solution. Acetylene could not be stored this way, however, because even in a pressurized container filled to the brim, explosive acetylene gas would be produced in the space above the liquid's surface upon consumption or cooling.

The discovery was then made that acetylene would remain non—explosive if compressed in a porous mass. Numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to devise such a substance. He became the first to devise a workable solution. These conditions produced non—explosive acetylene at times the volume of the container, creating a ready supply of what became known as aga, to be used in a lighthouse or lightbuoy.

The invention was also used in early traffic signals, on public transit systems and in aviation lighting equipment. Honours and awards [ edit ]. Image gallery [ edit ]. Some of the remaining AGA-buildings, today working as a center for small companies.

Nils gustaf dalen biography: Nils Gustaf Dalén was born at

The AGA head office with about employees is still in some of the buildings. Photo: October Today the residence for Canada's ambassador in Sweden. References [ edit ]. Physics Today. Further reading [ edit ].

Nils gustaf dalen biography: Nils Gustaf Dalén was a Swedish

External links [ edit ]. Linde plc. Linde Air Products Co. Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Curie Rayleigh Lenard J. Bohr Millikan M. Wilson O. He studied at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys.