The Story Of Dynamite

Originally Aired: May 12, 1937 Cavalcade of America #82, "The Story Of Dynamite," follows Alfred Bernhardt Nobel, a Swedish chemist whose groundbreaking work with nitroglycerin was dismissed in Europe until America recognized its potential. The episode traces Nobel's journey from his first encounter with the volatile substance at age 15 in Professor Signin's St. Petersburg laboratory, where he witnesses its explosive power, through decades of dangerous experimentation. With his brother Robert, Nobel discovers how to detonate nitroglycerin using gunpowder in 1862, but the substance remains deadly and unpredictable, claiming the lives of his brother and others in tragic accidents. Working from a barge on Lake Malarin with his assistants Jalmer Svensson and Oscar Holmquist, Nobel perseveres despite the constant danger and skepticism. When a can of nitroglycerin accidentally leaks into the kieselguhr packing material and forms a stable crust, Nobel realizes he has found the key to creating a safe, handleable explosive. The episode celebrates how this Swedish inventor's determination and faith in American innovation ultimately revolutionized construction, enabling modern engineering feats like New York's midtown tunnel.