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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: Mr. Dynamite
Description: Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who demonstrated it in Britain for the first time on 14th July, 1867. He had discovered that when nitroglycerin, an explosive liquid, was absorbed by kieselguhr, a porous siliceous earth, it produced a solid that was resistant to shock but readily detonable by heat or percussion, making it safer to handle.Nobel named his invention “dynamite” after the Greek word “dynamis,” meaning "power". His invention revolutionized the construction industry and made possible many engineering feats such as the construction of canals, tunnels, and roads, and also had a significant impact o...