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Alfred Bernhard Nobel (21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist.<br/><br/> Known for inventing dynamite, Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments. Nobel held 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous.<br/><br/> After reading a premature obituary which condemned him for profiting from the sales of arms, he bequeathed his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element nobelium was named after him.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel (21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist.<br/><br/> Known for inventing dynamite, Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments. Nobel held 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous.<br/><br/> After reading a premature obituary which condemned him for profiting from the sales of arms, he bequeathed his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element nobelium was named after him.
Abiel Abbot Low (February 7, 1811 – January 7, 1893) was an American entrepreneur, businessman, trader and philanthropist who gained most of his fortune from the China trade, importing teas, porcelains, and silk, and building and operating a fleet of reputable clipper ships.<br/><br/> In 1833, Low sailed to Canton (now Guangzhou), China, and started working as a clerk for the mercantile house of Russell & Company, the largest American firm in China and also the leading American opium trading and smuggling enterprise into China, founded by Samuel Russell, and of which Low's uncle, William Henry Low, had been head for some years. In 1837, after four years of learning the intricacies of trading in China, Low became a partner in the firm.<br/><br/> In 1840, he launched his own business in a joint venture with Wu Bingjian, also known as Howqua, a mentor for young Americans in China, and a very important Hong merchant, head of the Canton Cohong and one of the richest men in China. The company, A. A. Low & Brother named for both him and his brother, Josiah Orne Low, rapidly became one of the leading China and Japan silks and teas trading company.<br/><br/> Having made his fortune in China working with Russell & Co, the largest US opium smuggling enterprise into China at the time of the Opium Wars, and shortly after the launch of his business, Low returned to New York. There, he set up his New York headquarters on Fletcher Street, in a building shared with his father's business. In 1849–1850, Low erected the A. A. Low building at 167–171 John Street, now part of the historic South Street Seaport historic area. The firm was situated at its Burling Slip building from 1850 to after the turn of the century.<br/><br/> Low launched his own fleet of clippers, among which were the Houqua, the first streamlined ship, named after his Chinese business partner who had died in 1843, and the Samuel Russell, named after the founder of the mercantile company in which Low had worked as a clerk. Two other of Low's clippers, the Contest and the Jacob Bell, were subsequently destroyed by Confederate privateers during the Civil War.<br/><br/> He is also known for his philanthropy activities. In 1858, he became president of the Brooklyn Female Academy, later the Packer Collegiate Institute, and remained on the Packer board until his death in 1893. He was known to give bonuses to teachers and anonymous scholarships to deserving students. He also contributed to the development of the Brooklyn Library, the City hospital and many other cultural, educational, social and religious enterprises.
John Murray Forbes (1813 – 1898) was born in Bordeaux, France. His parents were Ralph Bennett Forbes and wife Margaret Perkins, niece of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, founder of a Boston Brahmin family merchant dynasty involved in the China trade. The Forbes family settled in Milton, Massachusetts, where his father was an energetic but unsuccessful businessman who died when John was only six.<br/><br/> Forbes attended school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, then at Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1823-28. He was one of three brothers sent by their uncle to Canton (now Guangzhou), China, and achieved some financial success during a short time spent trading in Canton. However, unlike his brother Robert Bennet Forbes who devoted himself to the China trade, Forbes returned to Boston and became an early railroad investor and landowner.<br/><br/> Although Forbes' is best known as a railroad magnate, much of his fortune was based in the opium trade to China. It is said that his opium millions financed the career of author Ralph Waldo Emerson, who married Forbes's daughter, and bankrolled the establishment of the Bell Telephone Company, whose first president was William Hathaway Forbes, father of Ruth Forbes Paine.
John Murray Forbes (1813 – 1898) was born in Bordeaux, France. His parents were Ralph Bennett Forbes and wife Margaret Perkins, niece of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, founder of a Boston Brahmin family merchant dynasty involved in the China trade. The Forbes family settled in Milton, Massachusetts, where his father was an energetic but unsuccessful businessman who died when John was only six.<br/><br/> Forbes attended school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, then at Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1823-28. He was one of three brothers sent by their uncle to Canton (now Guangzhou), China, and achieved some financial success during a short time spent trading in Canton. However, unlike his brother Robert Bennet Forbes who devoted himself to the China trade, Forbes returned to Boston and became an early railroad investor and landowner.<br/><br/> Although Forbes' is best known as a railroad magnate, much of his fortune was based in the opium trade to China. It is said that his opium millions financed the career of author Ralph Waldo Emerson, who married Forbes's daughter, and bankrolled the establishment of the Bell Telephone Company, whose first president was William Hathaway Forbes, father of Ruth Forbes Paine.
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (Western Armenian: Գալուստ Սարգիս Կիւլպէնկեան; 23 March 1869 – 20 July 1955) was an Armenian-British businessman and philanthropist.<br/><br/> He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development. By the end of his life he had become one of the world's wealthiest individuals and his art acquisitions considered one of the greatest private collections.