You may be interested to know that the founder of the distinguished Nobel Peace Prize, Alfred Nobel, also developed nitroglycerin into the explosive dynamite. This is so
ironic to me!! The founder of the peace prize invented dynamite?!?! Yes! Nobel combined the drug nitroglycerin, originally discovered a few years prior by Sobrero, with a few other materials to make dynamite. This story is especially interesting to me as a fledgling pharmacist because nitroglycerin is still used today as a pharmaceutical. It is most commonly used in angina attacks and works by widening the blood vessels in the body to increase the blood and oxygen flow to the heart. It saves many lives, and I would imagine over its history time course, it has probably killed quite a few too.
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| Dynamite |
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| Alfred Nobel |
On that note, my family had the privilege to meet one such recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize,
Oscar Arias Sanchez, the President of Costa Rica, in 2008 during one of our visits to
Veraqua Rain Forest. If you ever venture to Costa Rica, Veraqua is a must see!
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| Oscar Arais Sanchez |
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The family (minus William) with Oscar and Dad's business
partners on each end. |
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