Gunpowder through the Ages

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (usually shortened to I. E. du Pont) was born this day in 1771. He moved from France to the USA after the French Revolution. Before that, he worked for French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, chief of the royal powder works. The powder in question wasn't used to whiten wigs (a popular men's fashion of the day), but to blow things up. Every advanced society needs gunpowder, so du Pont started a gunpowder factory in Wilmington, Delaware. His timing was good because the War of 1812 broke out (in about 1812, I think), making him rich. Du Pont diversified into woolen mills, cotton mills, a tannery, and sundry other businesses. Today, we can thank the company for Kevlar, Tyvek, Styrofoam, and many other things that are slowly choking our planet.

Any excuse to post a Bela Fleck video is a good excuse, to say nothing of Billy Sol Hurok.

Well before Du Pont's commercial success, in 1605, a group of Catholics unhappy with King James I tried to blow him up -- a failed attempt that became known as The Gunpowder Plot. One of the conspirators was the infamous Guy Fawkes, who has come to symbolize the creative use of explosives to bring down tyrants.

And as we all know, Alfred Nobel made his fortune in the same business (he's credited with inventing dynamite in 1867).