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'Nils Gustaf Dalén' (November 30, 1869 – December 9 1937) was a Swedish Nobel Laureate and industrialist, the founder of AGA, the company and inventor of the AGA cooker and the Dalén light. In 1912 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his automatic valves designed to be used in combination with gas accumulators in lighthouses and light-buoys

Contents

Biography

Early life

Inventor and Industrialist

The 1912 Nobel Prize for Physics

The AGA cooker

Awards

Notes

References and further reading

Biography

Early life

Dalén was born in Stenstorp, in present day Falköping municipality, Sweden.
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. Gustaf de Laval was so impressed by self-taught Dalén and that he encouraged him to start studying.
He was admitted to the Chalmers University of Technology where he earned his Master's degree and a Doctorate on leaving in 1896.
Dalén married Elma Persson in 1901, they had two daughters and two sons, Gunnar and Anders.^[1]

Inventor and Industrialist

Initially Dalén worked with acetylene, an extremely explosive hydrocarbon gas. Dalén invented Agamassan (Aga), a substrate used to absorb the gas allowing safe storage and hence commercial exploitation. In 1906 he became Chief Engineer at the Gas Accumulator Company (manufacturer and distributor of acetylene).
Acetylene, produced an ultra-bright white-light and immediately superseded the duller-flamed LPG as the fuel of choice in lighthouse illuminations. Dalen exploited the new fuel, developing the Dalén light which itself incorporated a further invention, the sun valve. This solar switch controlled the light during the hours of darkness ensuring that the buoys burnt less fuel and would only operate at night. This inevitably prolonged their service life to beyond 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 80%.
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.
To a rugged coastal area like Scandinavia, his mass-produced long-life minimal maintenance buoys were a significant boon to safety and livelihood. Internationally, AGA Lighthouses were built covering the entire Panama Canal.

The 1912 Nobel Prize for Physics

Early in 1912, Dalén was blinded in an Acetylene explosion. Later the same year he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Dalén was too ill to attend the presentation. His brother, ophthalmologist Professor Albin Dalén, of the Caroline Institute stood in his place.
The presentation speech praised the quality of sacrificing personal safety in scientific experimentation, a complement comparing Dalén with Nobel himself.
In comparison with other Nobel laureates there is an element of incongruity in the award to Dalén. However, it was in fact close to the general intention of the terms of Nobel's will.

The AGA cooker

In 1922 he invented the AGA cooker
Despite his blindness, Dalén remained in control of AGA until 1937.

Awards

★ University: MA, Chalmers University of Technology

★ University: PhD, Chalmers University of Technology

★ Nobel Prize for Physics 1912

★ Suffered blindness yet ran multi-national company

★ Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

★ Academy of Science and Engineering

★ 100 patents during his lifetime

Notes

1. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1912/dalen-bio.html

References and further reading

★ About Gustaf Dalén