Nils Gustaf Dalén (; 30 November 1869 – 9 December 1937) was a Swedish
Nobel Laureate and industrialist,
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
, inventor and long-term CEO of the
AGA company and inventor of the
AGA cooker
The AGA cooker oven is a Swedish oven and cooker. Invented and initially produced in Sweden, since 1957 all production has been located in the UK.
History
Originally developed to burn coal or anthracite, the Aga cooker was invented in 1922 by ...
and the
Dalén light
A Dalén light is a light produced from burning of carbide gas (acetylene), combined with a solar sensor which automatically operates the light only during darkness.
Overview
The technology was the predominant form of light source in lighthouse ...
. In 1912 he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
for his "invention of
automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating
lighthouses and
buoys".
Early years
![Gustaf Dalén 1895](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Gustaf_Dal%C3%A9n_1895.png)
Dalén was born in Stenstorp, a small village in
Falköping Municipality
Falköping Municipality (''Falköpings kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Falköping.
The present municipality consists of more than 50 original local government units, jo ...
,
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden.
The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...
.
He managed the family farm, which he expanded to include a market garden, a seed merchants and a dairy. In 1892 he invented a milk-fat tester to check milk quality of the milk delivered and went to
Stockholm to show his new invention for
Gustaf de Laval
Karl Gustaf Patrik de Laval (; 9 May 1845 – 2 February 1913) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the design of steam turbines and centrifugal separation machinery for dairy.
Life
Gustaf de Laval was born at ...
. de Laval was impressed by the self-taught Dalén and the invention and encouraged him to get a basic technical education. He was admitted to the
Chalmers University of Technology
Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international leve ...
where he earned his
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. and a
Doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
on leaving in 1896. Dalén was much the same type of inventor as Gustaf de Laval, not afraid of testing "impossible" ideas, but Dalén was much more careful with the company economy. The products should have a solid market place before he introduced a new product.
Career with AGA
In 1906 Dalén became chief engineer at the Gas Accumulator Company (manufacturer and distributor of acetylene) and in 1909 when AGA was founded, he was appointed the managing director for the company. During his life, AGA was one of the most innovative companies in Sweden and produced a large variety of products that grew every year. Finally in the early 1970s AGA was forced to reduce the number of markets it was involved in and concentrate on the production of gases for industrial use.
In 1909 he ascended to the position of Managing Director of the renamed company Svenska Aktiebolaget Gasaccumulator (AGA). AGA developed lighthouses using Dalén's products. In 1910 the company bought a large real estate in
Lidingö
Lidingö, also known in its definite form ''Lidingön'' and as ''Lidingölandet'', is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2010, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 31,561. It is ...
and built a production plant that was completed around 1912, when they moved out from the facilities in Stockholm.
Dalén light
![Stockholm Sweden Blockhusudden-lighthouse-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Stockholm_Sweden_Blockhusudden-lighthouse-01.jpg)
Initially Dalén worked with
acetylene (
IUPAC
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...
:
ethyne
Acetylene ( systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...
), a flammable and sometimes explosive
hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...
gas. Dalén invented
Agamassan
Agamassan is a porous substrate used to safely absorb acetylene and thus allow the transport, storage and commercial use of the otherwise unstable gas. It was developed and patented by the Swedish Nobel Laureate and industrialist Gustaf Dalén. ...
(Aga), a
substrate used to absorb the gas allowing safe storage and hence commercial exploitation.
Acetylene produced an ultra-bright white light which superseded the less bright
LPG as the fuel of choice for lighthouse illumination.
Dalén exploited the new fuel, developing the
Dalén light
A Dalén light is a light produced from burning of carbide gas (acetylene), combined with a solar sensor which automatically operates the light only during darkness.
Overview
The technology was the predominant form of light source in lighthouse ...
which incorporated another invention, the
sun valve. This device allowed the light to operate only at night, conserving fuel, and extending their service life to over a year.
The 'Dalen Flasher' was a device that, except for a small pilot light, only consumed gas during the flash stage. This reduced gas consumption by more than 90%. The AGA lighthouse equipment worked without any type of electric supply and was thus extremely reliable.
To a rugged coastal area like
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
, his mass-produced, robust, minimal maintenance buoys were a significant boon to safety and livelihood. AGA Lighthouses covered the entire
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
.
AGA cooker
In 1922 he patented his invention of the
AGA cooker
The AGA cooker oven is a Swedish oven and cooker. Invented and initially produced in Sweden, since 1957 all production has been located in the UK.
History
Originally developed to burn coal or anthracite, the Aga cooker was invented in 1922 by ...
. Most of the testing for the cooker was made in his private kitchen in his Villa Ekbacken that was built when AGA moved to Lidingö in 1912 but that he never actually had a chance to see with his own eyes. His family helped him with the development work, checking temperatures, airflow etc., as the development work proceeded.
Personal life
His parents were Anders and Lovisa Dalén. He married Elma Persson in 1901. They had four children, two daughters and two sons:
*Maja, married Silfverstolpe (1904–1995)
*Gunnar (1905–1970)
*Anders (1907–1994)
*Inga-Lisa, married Keen (1910–2004)
The accident in 1912
Early in 1912, Dalén was
blinded in an acetylene explosion during a test of maximum pressure for the accumulators. Later the same year he was awarded the
Nobel Prize for physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
for his work on lighthouse technology. Too ill to attend the presentation, Dalén had his brother, ophthalmologist Professor Albin Dalén of the
Caroline Institute, stand in his place.
The presentation speech praised the quality of sacrificing personal safety in scientific experimentation, a compliment that compared Dalén with
Nobel himself. Despite his blindness, Dalén controlled AGA until his death in 1937. He received over 100 patents during his lifetime.
Dalén died on 9 December 1937 at the age of 68.
Honours and awards
* Nobel Prize for Physics 1912
* Member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
* Member of the
Academy of Science and Engineering
Image gallery
References
Further reading
*
External links
Gustaf Dalén biographyfrom the AGA corporation
*
The Dalén Museum a museum in
Stenstorp
Stenstorp is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Falköping Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,668 inhabitants in 2010.
Railways
The Western Main Line ( sv, Västra stambanan) runs through Stenstorp and regional ...
celebrating Dalén
Clark, R.N. (2003). Nils Gustaf Dalen (1869-1937): inventor, experimenter, engineer, and Nobel laureate. IEEE Control Systems Magazine,
nline23(4), pp. 68–70. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1213605
ccessed 7 Nov. 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalen, Gustaf
1869 births
1937 deaths
People from Falköping Municipality
Blind academics
Nobel laureates in Physics
20th-century Swedish inventors
20th-century Swedish engineers
Swedish physicists
20th-century Swedish businesspeople
Swedish Nobel laureates
Chalmers University of Technology alumni
Linde plc people
19th-century Swedish inventors
Scientists with disabilities