Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/576

LEFT NIXON 472 NOBEL NIXON, LEWIS, an American ship- builder; bom in Leesburg, Va., April 7, 1861; was graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1882; sent to the British Royal Naval College, by the Navy Department; and was transferred to the construction corps of the navy in 1884. In 1890 he designed the battle- ships "Oregon," "Indiana," and "Mas- sachusetts," He resigned from the navy to become superintendent of Cramps' shipyard, Philadelphia, Pa., and in 1895 he founded the Crescent shipyard, in Elizabeth, N. J., where in six years he built over 100 vessels, among them the submarine torpedo boat "Holland," the monitor "Florida," and the cruiser "Chattanooga." In 1898 he was ap- pointed president of the East River Bridge Commission of New York. Suc- ceeded Richard Croker as leader of Tam- many Hall, 1901-1902. Commissioner Public Works for Borough of Richmond, New York City (1914) ; State Commis- sioner Public Works (1919) ; afterward Commissioner Public Service, New York City; author "Canal Tolls and American Shipping." NOAH, the tenth male in descent from Adam, in the line of Seth; was the son of Lamech and the grandson of Methu- selah. According to the Scriptural story he 'received the divine command to build an ark in which he and his family es- caped the Deluge (Gen. v: 29-ix: 29). NOAILLES, a French family which dates from the 11th century, and played an important part in history from the reign of Louis XIV. to the Revolution. Antoine (1504-1562) was ambassador in England in 1553-1556, and Admiral of France. Anne Jules (1650-1708), son of the first duke, commanded against the Huguenots and in Spain during the war of the Spanish succession, and was made marshal; while his brother, Louis An- toine (1651-1729), was Archbishop of Paris from 1695 till his death, and was made cardinal in 1700. The third duke, Adrien Maurice (1678-1766), won the marshal's baton in the wars of Louis XV. in Spain, Italy, and Germany. The fifth duke, Paul Frangois (1739-1824), attained eminence as a chemist and was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1777; his brother, Emmanuel Marie Louis (1743-1822), was French ambas- sador at Amsterdam (1770-1776), Lon- don (1776-1783), and Vienna (1783- 1792). The sixth duke, Paul (1802- 1885), wrote historical works, and was elected to Chateaubriand's chair in the Academy in 1849. His second son Em- manuel Victorien (bom 1830), was am- bassador at Washington (1872), Rome (1873), and Constantinople (1882-1886), and wrote works on the history and literature of Poland. A grandson of the third duke, Louis Marie (1756-1804), served in the American Revolutionary War under his brother-in-law Lafayette, embraced for a while the French Revo- lution, and defended San Domingo against the British. NOBEL, ALFRED BERNHABD, a Swedish chemist and physicist; born in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 21, 1833. His father, Emmanuel Nobel, originally an architect, and appointed a professor of ALFRED BERNHARD NOBEL geometry at the age of 26, became in- terested in explosives, and founded ex- tensive engineering and shipbuilding works at St. Petersburg, Russia ; in 1859 he left these in charge of his second son, Louis, and, with the rest of his family returned to Stockholm where he founded the Noble firm engaged in the manufacture of explosives. In 1863 Alfred took out a patent for the manu- facture of an explosive composed of ni' troglycerin and ordinary blasting pow- der, and in 1864 a second patent. In 1867 he invented dynamite; in 1876 gela-