Gustaf Dalén

Nils Gustaf Dalén was born on November 30, 1869, in Stenstorp, Västergötland. Educated in mechanical engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, he became chief engineer of Svenska Karbidlampfabriken (later AGA).

Dalén solved the extreme explosion hazards of acetylene by inventing Agamassan, a porous mass capable of safely dissolving acetylene in acetone. In 1907, he invented the brilliant Solventil (sun valve), which automatically extinguished lighthouse beacons at sunrise and relit them at nightfall, saving 93 percent of gas fuel and automating global maritime navigation. Blindingly injured in an acetylene test explosion in 1912, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year while recovering in hospital, continuing to lead AGA as a blind industrial visionary for twenty-five years.